Official 2022 Tompa Bay Gronkaneers Thread

[crawhammer]

the Titans are the one team I hope he doesn’t go to. PFF had their OL graded as the worst in football and their WR/TE room is lacking

Agreed. I think Tennessee would be a total waste of time for Brady. The team isn't that good and they're nowhere close to having an explosive offense. And Henry is a season or two away from a major decline. And Vrabel is completely overrated.

 

[crawhammer]

It has been a strange offseason IMHO. Not many HCs fired but there sure have been a lot of assistants and coords. TB is another example.

Bowles gets an F for the season. Does anyone disagree with that? Seriously is there anyone who would even argue he's worth a D-.

 

[Tottie]

Finally some honest takes in here in regards to Brady declining. This does not absolve the coaching imo. Brady still got you a few comeback wins but when it was obvious that with this OL he would not be able to carry the offense like he had the last 2 years, they should of adjusted. They kept doing the same thing over and over on both sides of the ball.

 

[Bill Lee]

Many Buc fans want to move on from Brady too. Time for Viva Las Vegas. Brady will be joining legions of show biz stars who ended their career in Vegas.

As for the Bucs, what's with the hurry to rebuild and be bottom of the league for years?(similar to eager Pats fans to reload in 2019. Now 2023 and still reloading (should have just done a rebuild))

Difference with the Pats who were old is Bucs still got a core group of good players that are signed for a year or two and in their prime. They should get a veteran QB like Carr or JG and kick the cap hit down the road. They'll make the playoffs then who knows. In 2 years time is when they should tank. They'll probably suck for a decade again.

The Bucs have a bleak future without Brady. Their core just showed they could just barely win a weak division. Carr lacks football IQ. JG lacks stamina. They'll be carrying $35M in dead cap due to pushing much of Brady's money forward each of the last three years. If they get into a bidding war for QB, they won't have the money they need to retool (OL, RB, pass rush, etc). Sportrac ( NFL 2023 Salary Cap Tracker ) has them dead last in cap space, and this is with no one signed for QB except Kyle Trask. They're going to have a lot of decisions to make.

They'd be best off for next season cap-wise if Brady resigns. That would let them push the money down the road yet again, try to milk the rest out of this generation of players and coaches rather than blowing things up. Yet we just saw where Brady is these days. Still has a great football IQ, but is losing mobility, not making the throws he used to make, avoids any contact, and doesn't seem to connect with his teammates. He also seems checked out to the whole Tampa situation, looks ready to move on. I have a hard time seeing him wanting to sign up for another year with Tampa.

 

[Nehalem]

Bucs should be looking at Licht and personnel decisions rather than passing the buck to the coaches. These coaches aren’t idiots. The Bucs just had one of the top offenses in the NFL two straight years. Too much money spent on vets (JPP, Fournette) whose drop-offs were imminent based on their age. Non-star players paid like stars (Barrett, Davis.). Most importantly, team goes “all-in” for 2021 but spends 2nd round pick on Trask and refuses to deal picks for win-now vets via trade. End result is a scramble to address holes through the draft (TE, OL) which is always risky. Still I do think this is a 10/11 win team if Brady is Brady.

The bolded is where you went wrong.

Especially considering that one of the primary differences between 2021 and 2022 was the HC.

 

[VectorPrime]

Brady was miserable in Tampa Bay this season. He should scratch a return there completely off his list.

He was. But he had no choice but to play there if he wanted to play since they weren't trading him. He was trapped. If he goes back there another year its because HE personally wants to, which is a very different dynamic and likely inspired by organizational changes.

Basically Brady had zero leverage if he wanted to keep playing football. It was either come back to the Bucs and hope things work out or retire. Now? He holds the leverage. He can freely go somewhere else and the Bucs will go completely in the tank and go into a full rebuild and likely not be good again for a generation. That's leverage over the organization.

 

[Bill Lee]

Tampa had a top defense playing in the weakest division in the NFL.

We just saw how they perform against a top team.

 

[TB12TheGoat]

I saw the Raiders could sign Brady and franchise Jacobs and have around 30-35 million in cap to spend on defense and/or OL. and the 7th pick in the draft

at the very least, Brady with Jacobs, Adams, Renfrow, Waller, maybe Gronk and in a McDaniels offense will be fun to watch. watching the Bucs offense this year was miserable

 

[VectorPrime]

Tampa had a top defense playing in the weakest division in the NFL.

We just saw how they perform against a top team.

I mean, they sucked this year but were good the prior two years when the NFC South was better. In 2020 the Saints won the division!

 

[crawhammer]

Bucs should be looking at Licht and personnel decisions rather than passing the buck to the coaches. These coaches aren’t idiots. The Bucs just had one of the top offenses in the NFL two straight years. Too much money spent on vets (JPP, Fournette) whose drop-offs were imminent based on their age. Non-star players paid like stars (Barrett, Davis.). Most importantly, team goes “all-in” for 2021 but spends 2nd round pick on Trask and refuses to deal picks for win-now vets via trade. End result is a scramble to address holes through the draft (TE, OL) which is always risky. Still I do think this is a 10/11 win team if Brady is Brady.

Brady wasn't the problem for Tampa Bay this season. He didn't play his best but he got them to 8 wins, which sounds ridiculous, but they're probably a 4-5 win team without him. The win-now personnel decisions caught up with the team this season along with the injuries and awful coaching. The dismal state of their running game was a huge drain on the offense, it just never got any better despite the persistence. Fournette really screwed over his teammates by showing up completely out of shape. The Trask pick was inconsistent with the overall approach but I don't dislike the player. Licht did a nice job assembling that 2020 team, starting of course with signing Brady. Licht looks worse this season in part because some of the players underperformed (again Fournette, Evans, Godwin coming off the ACL, Devin White). However, Licht does have to be saddled with some of the blame for promoting Toilet Bowles.

 

[crawhammer]

He was. But he had no choice but to play there if he wanted to play since they weren't trading him. He was trapped. If he goes back there another year its because HE personally wants to, which is a very different dynamic and likely inspired by organizational changes.

Basically Brady had zero leverage if he wanted to keep playing football. It was either come back to the Bucs and hope things work out or retire. Now? He holds the leverage. He can freely go somewhere else and the Bucs will go completely in the tank and go into a full rebuild and likely not be good again for a generation. That's leverage over the organization.

I get what you're saying but Brady should run from that organization and not look back.

 

[crawhammer]

I saw the Raiders could sign Brady and franchise Jacobs and have around 30-35 million in cap to spend on defense and/or OL. and the 7th pick in the draft

at the very least, Brady with Jacobs, Adams, Renfrow, Waller, maybe Gronk and in a McDaniels offense will be fun to watch. watching the Bucs offense this year was miserable

Vegas seems like the most obvious landing spot for Brady. Especially if Gronk joins in, that offense will be very good. There's some talk of Evans getting traded so maybe Vegas could work a deal there. With Adams clearly demanding attention, Evans could get some good looks on the other side of the field.

 

[TB12TheGoat]

Vegas seems like the most obvious landing spot for Brady. Especially if Gronk joins in, that offense will be very good. There's some talk of Evans getting traded so maybe Vegas could work a deal there. With Adams clearly demanding attention, Evans could get some good looks on the other side of the field.

damn didn’t know that. don’t even know how the money would work with them needing defense but Adams and Evans out wide with Renfrow in the slot would be disgusting. according to Raiders fans both their tackles are actually solid, it’s the interior that needs improvement

 

[VectorPrime]

I get what you're saying but Brady should run from that organization and not look back.

Yeah but the only thing holding me back is the easy schedule next season.

 

[VectorPrime]

Brady wasn't the problem for Tampa Bay this season. He didn't play his best but he got them to 8 wins, which sounds ridiculous, but they're probably a 4-5 win team without him. The win-now personnel decisions caught up with the team this season along with the injuries and awful coaching. The dismal state of their running game was a huge drain on the offense, it just never got any better despite the persistence. Fournette really screwed over his teammates by showing up completely out of shape. The Trask pick was inconsistent with the overall approach but I don't dislike the player. Licht did a nice job assembling that 2020 team, starting of course with signing Brady. Licht looks worse this season in part because some of the players underperformed (again Fournette, Evans, Godwin coming off the ACL, Devin White). However, Licht does have to be saddled with some of the blame for promoting Toilet Bowles.

He would have gotten them to 9 wins if they played out the Atlanta game too. Now that doesn't matter much at the end of the day but it is a winning record versus a losing record.

 

[TB12TheGoat]

He would have gotten them to 9 wins if they played out the Atlanta game too. Now that doesn't matter much at the end of the day but it is a winning record versus a losing record.

outside of playoff losses, I think that’s the angriest I’ve ever been at football. one of the things I’ve always loved about his career is no losing record then the coaches pull that BS in the Atlanta game

 

[crawhammer]

Yeah but the only thing holding me back is the easy schedule next season.

The postseason won't be an easy schedule. We don't need another hollow division title.

 

[VectorPrime]

The postseason won't be an easy schedule. We don't need another hollow division title.

Well the NFC stinks so maybe it will be in the playoffs too.

 

[VectorPrime]

outside of playoff losses, I think that’s the angriest I’ve ever been at football. one of the things I’ve always loved about his career is no losing record then the coaches pull that BS in the Atlanta game

Thank Christ that Joe Montana, Peyton Manning and Aaron Rodgers have had losing seasons because otherwise we'd never hear the end of it.

 

[venecol]

Bucs should be looking at Licht and personnel decisions rather than passing the buck to the coaches. These coaches aren’t idiots. The Bucs just had one of the top offenses in the NFL two straight years. Too much money spent on vets (JPP, Fournette) whose drop-offs were imminent based on their age. Non-star players paid like stars (Barrett, Davis.). Most importantly, team goes “all-in” for 2021 but spends 2nd round pick on Trask and refuses to deal picks for win-now vets via trade. End result is a scramble to address holes through the draft (TE, OL) which is always risky. Still I do think this is a 10/11 win team if Brady is Brady.

Yea, look at the guys that got paid:

Davis - play dropped off
Fournette - play tanked
Vea - still a beast but play dropped
Barrett - at least he tries
Godwin - baller, gave 100% effort

They should've never extended Smith. Tom made him look better in '20 than what he always was.

They need to trade Smith & Fournette. A post Jun-1 trade yields $29M in '23/'24.

JTS and Hall aren't looking as good draft picks and Goedeke is a disaster. Licht made a lot of bad moves trying to run it back.