Buccaneers: Truth about the Salary Cap and Chris Simms

People are still whining about 4 draft picks giving up to obtain Gruden’s services from the Raiders back in 2002 and the lack of cap space well into the 6th season of the Gruden Era.  It is time to take off the Pewter colored glasses and recognize the truth.

No Gruden Era draft pick has produced for 2 consecutive seasons, with the possible exception of Sean Mahan and Dewayne White.  They are both gone this past off season by a decision of Gruden & Allen.  The amount of available salary cap space had nothing to do with the decision.

The latest question is what to do with Chris Simms or Bruce Gradkowski for the number three QB spot and who to send packing.  Simms is still injured, despite “passing” a pre-training camp physical and Gradkowski is still showing why he was drafted so late in 2006 and floundered inthe NFL after 5 quarters of success as a starter.

USA Today has the official payroll and cap figures from 2006. 

Simms signed a RFA tender for the 2006 season, but has an additional $3 million bonus paid by the Bucs for over $5 million put in this bank account in 2006.  Only $1 million was added to the Bucs 2006 salary cap space after base salary and the token workout bonus money.

That would mean the signing bonus of Simm’s latest contract ($3 million) was paid before the official end of the 2006 season.  A two-year contract for the 2007-2008 seasons signed during the official 2006 season allowed the pro-rated portions to be spread out over three years, 2006-2008 at the cost of $1 million per season. 

The remaining $2 million of tSimm’s signing bonus is split over the next two seasons, regardless of how the Bucs use or terminate Simms’s services.

Since keeping Simms on the active roster for Week One or placing him on IR has the identical cap effect (Bucs pay the full $2 million base salary),  the wise move would be to release Gradkowski.  Simms still gets recovery reps running the scout team each week as the #3 QB.  No team, no matter how desperate at QB, would pick up Gradkowski during the season except for the Buccaneers.  Simms on the other hand, may recover or could be placed on IR later if another injury occurs at the QB position (likely with the new make shift OL).  The Bucs could then have their choice of unemployed QBs with NFL experience, including Gradkowski.

When copying the USA Today figures into an Excel spreadsheet, something else jumped out at me.

With $102 Million cap for all teams in 2006, the Bucs spent less than $80 million of the Glazer’s hard earned money (payroll) in 2006 and had just under $82 million charged to their 2006 cap.  That includes the $1 million on Simm’s contract signed after the final regular season game.

Unfortunately, the figures revealed through the USA Today website only represent the 60 players that finished on the 53-man roster & Injured Reserve.

Where did the other $20 million in cap space go?

1.  Eight  Practice Squad players ($180K per player $1.44 million).  Money paid to Practice Squad players still count against a team’s cap.

2.  The trade of Anthony “Booger” McFarland.  McFarland’s prorated base salary (Colts picked up the rest) and the 2006 pro-rated portion of bonuses paid to McFarland.   That probably was about $3 million, with more to be added to the 2007 salary cap figure due to new CBA change allowing spread of bonus money over two seasons on a trade. Remember that  Allen reworked McFarland’s contract during the 2005 season in order to obtain Tim Rattay and his over $1 million base salary contract from the 49ers instead of signing an unemployed free agent QB at minimum cost.

But the Bucs did get the Colts 2nd round pick for McFarland. McFarland actually earned his 2nd Super Bowl ring.  Tony Dungy and Peyton Manning have shaken the “Can’t Win the Big One” label.  All sides of that trade should be happy.

3.  That leaves over $15 million of dead money (money spent on players no longer on the roster) from players released after June 1, 2005 through the end of the 2006 season.  I really can’t think of a single released/traded player after June 1, 2005, including McFarland, that didn’t have the last contract/extesion done with Allen at the helm.
 
An Orlando, Florida sports columnist recently wrote an unflattering article about the Buccaneers and to an extent, I agree.

Buccaneers are a bad franchise from top down

After 5 years, Gruden and his “paranoid puppet”, they need to be held accountable for the current product headed onto the field for 2007.

Misleading comments for public disclosure is only believable for so long, except to the gullible that do not want to hear the truth or those that make a living off the gullible.  Credibility of the organization goes straight out the window.

released for “not passing a physical” that signed with a new team, Kenyatta Walker, has also been quoted with less that flattering words towards the Bucs Organization.

Charlotte Observer and picked up by wire services.

Walker had other ups and downs with Tampa Bay. Coach Jon Gruden shuffled Walker between right and left tackle and benched him at times.

“I have nothing bad to say about Gruden and all that,” Walker said. “But the record speaks for itself. They only won one Super Bowl over there, and I was the starting right tackle for that team. I don’t think they’re going to win any anytime soon. When we won the division, I was the starting tackle. What happened over there, a lot of it goes with how young I was at the time. There was not a lot of trust and appreciation for each other.”

“I definitely wanted to stay in the division, because obviously there wasn’t a lot of love in Tampa,” Walker said. “It was definitely surprising that (the Panthers) showed as much interest as they did. Right now, I’m just trying to stay healthy and get on the field. I’m here for the opportunity.”