Buccaneers put their money up front

General Manager Mark Dominik has made one thing clear since taking the reins of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2009: if you can protect the quarterback, you'll get a top flight salary.

The 2012 offseason has only solidified how much value Dominik puts on the offensive line. Even with the free agent contracts for WR Vincent Jackson and CB Eric Wright landing in the Top 5 of the current team payroll, the entire starting offensive still occupies half of the Top 10 slots:

#2 G Davin Joseph $9,500,000
#6 G Carl Nicks $6,500,000
#8 T Donald Penn $5,100,000
#9 T Jeremy Trueblood $5,000,000
#10 C Jeremy Zuttah $3,375,000

This is not something new this offseason. Center Jeff Faine, who was recently released, spent his entire Buccaneers career in the Top 5 of the team payroll, and Davin Joeseph has been a fixture there as well. How much Dominik valued Faine also shows in his buyout: $2.4 million for this year.

There are young players up and coming in the persons of Ted Larson and Derek Hardman (as was Zuttah until this offseason). Thus far, Dominik has been fortunate to not need to spend a significnat amount of draft capital on the offensive line. Except for recently signed Carl Nicks the starting squad is made of players remaining from the old regime.

At some point the defense-heavy drafting by Dominik will have to give way; one would think OL will be where picks will need to be spent. But there is another angle which is in play: If Tampa Bay becomes known for spending big bucks in the trenches, the best young linemen may beat a path to the door of One Buccaneer Place (like Carl Nicks). With the salary structure of the team already built to pay big along the line, Tampa Bay is well positioned to take advantage of anyone who comes knocking.

This could allow the drafting of young talent into the defensive unit to continue for a couple more seasons, resulting in a very talented young defense which can grow together for years to come. In essence, spending along the offensive front may allow for more opportunities on both sides of the ball in the near future.

And that is exactly where this team needs to be.

Offensive Line Showing Strength

If there is one thing we now know about the 2010 Tampa Bay Buccaneers it is the offensive line is ready to go.

Facing a blitz on nearly every down last Saturday night against the Kansas City Chiefs at Raymond James Stadium, the quarterbacks and offensive line worked in tandem to audible out to quick hit pass plays and slowly dissected the Chiefs.  How good was it?

Zero sacks.  None, nada, zip, zilch, zero.  Granted the Chiefs were a 4-12 team last year and gave up the most yards in team history against the Cleveland Browns last year.  But still it was mostly 6-8 versus the Buccaneer's front 5 for most of the night.  And zero sacks against anyone in the NFL is not easy to do.

The Buccaneers 53-yard touchdown from Josh Johnson to Micheal Spurlock was a prime example:  facing an all out  blitz (including the Cheifs top draft choice Eric Berry from the safety position) the offensive line reacted correctly and accounted for all the defenders, Spurlock evaded one-on-one coverage from Kansas City corner Brandon Flowers, and Josh Johnson laid in a quick but accurate throw.  Touchdown!

I think, looking at both games so far this preseason, it's becoming obvious that the offense is quite a bit ahead of the defense so far.  It should not be a surprise -- rookies on the defensive line take time to adjust to NFL schemes and trickery.  If it is the case the defense needs more time to jell, then it will be up to the offensive line to move the chains and win time of possession which will limit the number of opportunities for the opposing team.  It appears the offensive line is up to the task.

The same unit has started both preseason games so far in 2010 and is the same group that started most of the 2009 season:
Left Tackle:  #70 Donald Penn
Left Guard:  #76 Jeremy Zuttah
Center:  #52 Jeff Faine
Right Guard:  #75 Davin Joseph
Right Tackle:  #65 Jeremy Trueblood

Coach Morris has already announced the Keydrick Vincent, a 10 year pro and 2010 free agent signing, will replace 3rd year pro Jeremy Zuttah at Left Guard this Saturday night against Jacksonville.  Zuttah was pressed into service with the unexpected departure of Aaron Sears during the 2008 offseason.  Zuttah has shown some versatility this preseason:  when Vincent entered the game Zuttah moved inside and took snaps at center.  This is an important need for this team -- when Center Jeff Faine went down with an injury for a few weeks last season the offense sputtered and the team had to go to the waiver wire to find a suitable replacement.  Was it actually because there was no suitable backup for Zuttah?  It would explain the offseason signing of Vincent, but only the GM knows for sure.  Nonetheless, if Zuttah can back up both Left Guard and Center his value to this team skyrockets, and anything he learns from Vincent is icing on the cake.

The opponent this Saturday night is the Jacksonville Jaguars, well known for their defensive-minded coach and recent efforts to rebuild a defense which has been very stout in the past.  If the offensive line can continue to protect the quarterback in passing situations and furthur develop the running game this week it could establish itself as the strongest unit on the team going into Week 1 against the Cleveland Browns.  It may even be possible to control and win some of the early season games with ball control, giving the youthful defense more time to develop.

A strong showing by the offensive line this week will set a strong tone for early part of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers season.  If it gets contagious for this young team big things could happen this year!

Penn To Get Top Ten Money

If everyone signs on the dotted line, Donald Penn will report to the Buccaneers training camp firmly entrenched as one of the ten highest paid offensive linemen in the NFL at around $8 million/year, joining fellow Buccaneer Jeff Faine near the top of the offensive-line-salary-cap-hit chart:

Top 10 2009 Offensive Line Salaries
Player (Team)	Total Salary	Cap Value
Staley, Joe (SF)	$ 12,677,280	$ 13,527,280
Peters, Jason (PHI)	$ 10,504,680	$ 12,704,680
Jones, Walter (SEA)	$ 6,206,240	$ 9,806,240
Long, Jake (MIA)	$ 8,006,240	$ 9,606,240
Clifton, Chad (GB)	$ 6,373,610	$ 8,040,280
Faine, Jeff (TB)	$ 2,006,760	$ 8,006,760
Faneca, Alan (NYJ)	$ 7,000,000	$ 7,890,000
Hutchinson, S (MIN)	$ 5,500,000	$ 7,500,000
Backus, Jeff (DET)	$ 4,500,000	$ 7,273,176
Dielman, Kris (SD)	$ 5,506,630	$ 7,206,630

Don't forget: Davin Joeseph's contract will be up after this season as well. Excluding labor unrest, the cost to keep this group of offensive linemen together will be a big topic for the 2011 offseason.

Penn Contract: Very Little Up Front, Big Incentives

It appears the initial rumors are starting to pan out -- Penn will sign a contract which is multi-year (what he wanted) and has low up front number with lots of incentives (what the Buccaneers wanted).  Looks like a good deal for all.  Quiet talk is that Dominik and Penn agreed for Penn to have the most success this season Penn needed to get to camp on time -- and this formed the basis for the negotiations today which appear to have paid off in the form of a new contract and no more lost time for Penn.

Here is a look at the offensive line salaries last year:

2009 Buccaneer OL Salaries
Player	Total Salary	Cap Value
Faine, Jeff	$ 2,006,760	$ 8,006,760
Penn, Donald	$ 2,797,200	$ 2,797,200
Joseph, Davin	$ 1,511,760	$ 1,711,760
Trueblood, Jeremy	$ 541,760	$ 849,260
Economos, Andrew	$ 541,760	$ 646,760
Zuttah, Jeremy	$ 391,760	$ 570,260
Lee, James	$ 391,760	$ 391,760
Fulton, Xavier	$ 491,000	$ 355,250
Dotson, Demar	$ 310,000	$ 310,000
Murphy, Shawn	$ 390,980	$ 249,118

CBA Impact: Four- To Six-Year Players

With the CBA now officially heading for it's Final League Year (starting March 1st) some of the fog for the 2010 offseason has been lifted.  The first group of players to be examined are players with four, five, or six years of NFL experience.  For players in this experience range who's contract ended with the 2009 season the news is probably not what they want to hear.  Instead of being unrestricted free agents (can sign with anyone for any price) in an uncapped year, they are instead restricted free agents (giving Tampa Bay the option to match the best offer they can find).  Here is a list of Bucs players with 4-6 years of experience (in jersey number order):

24  Williams, Cadillac (5) -- signed 5-year contract in 2005; will be a Restricted Free Agent (RFA)
48  Economos, Andrew (4) --    signed 5-year contract in 2008; under contract through 2012
50  McCoy, Matt (5) -- drafted in 2005, signed with Buccaneers in 2008, on and off roster for 2009, suspect short term contract; will be RFA(?)
51  Ruud, Barrett (5) -- 2009 was last contract year; will be an RFA
65  Trueblood,  Jeremy (4) -- signed 4-year contract in 2006; will be an RFA
70  Penn, Donald  (4) -- signed one year tender in 2009; will be an RFA
75  Joseph, Davin (4) -- signed 5-year contract in 2006; under contract through 2010
85  Stovall, Maurice (4) -- contract expires at end of 2009, will be an RFA

I have no doubt that the one year tender offer given to Donald Penn last year was, in his mind, a bridge to unrestricted free agency.  That bridge is now gone. 

Williams was the team's leading rusher last year and showed great promise in returning from severe injury.  Penn played well against most of the best defensive ends this past season and solidified his position as a rare talent at left tackle.  If the deep pockets come calling, those will be the first places they stop.  Trueblood has also shown he is a more than capable right tackle, and Stovall and Ruud were important contributors as well.

The good news is that Tampa Bay gets to match any offer other teams bring to the table.  The bad news is that all five players highlighted above were important contributors last year and losing any of them will be problematic.

Donald Penn: Guess Who Found Him?

Notes from the Audio Archive at Buccaneers.com reminded me of this nugget:

Guess who brought in Donald Penn?

The story is in this interview starting 8 minutes in. 

Enjoy!!