Why The Brian Griese Trade Made Me Angry (But I’m Better Now)

Well, last night I drank my weight in rum and woke up this morning covered in what I have only now identified as llama fur. There's also a mysterious video on my cell phone of me crying into the shoulder of an obvious transvestite dressed as Courtney Love simultaneously consoling me and picking my pockets. The only intelligible phrases I can be heard saying through my slurred sobs are "Fuck Tiger Woods" and the outline of some fairly intricate plan to trade up in this draft to pick the Diet Pepsi machine.

Hmm. Now that I look at the video again, it actually is Courtney Love.

Anyway, now that I've sobered up with my own personal blend of crank and coffee, I think I'm ready to reflect on the Brian Griese trade.

First of all, I have nothing against Griese. He was fine when he was on the team a couple years ago, but I was glad to see Chris Simms get the chance I thought he deserved when Griese was injured. It's not like he got any better in his last couple years with Chicago, but he's still a better choice for a third quarterback than, say, Bruce Gradkowski. My point is that it doesn't hurt to have him on the roster at this stage in the offseason.

But we were promised something. We were promised a big splash in free agency. We were all anticipating it, and when Bruce Allen released Greg Spires and Kevin Carter last week to create the largest amount of cap space in the league, we could all feel that this was going to be big. My personal thought was maybe Asante Samuel and Justin Smith, but definitely one of them, whoever the best receiver in free agency was not named Randy Moss, and then some second-tier guys later on to add depth and fill in some gaps. Jeff Faine was a nice way to kick it off, even if they did pay a lot for him. But he didn't justify the hype Allen built. No center could unless it was a converted Alan Faneca, and then I would have been pissed that he wasted the money to make the conversion. No... there had to be someone else. We just had to wait.

But there never was. Rumors would pop up that the Bucs were interested in someone, only to be nullified by that player signing with a different team. Running backs, cornerbacks, wide receivers... they all went through free agency as if they took a full turn in a revolving door, just barely exposed to the fresh air of freedom before walking right back into a contract that would make some other team better. In the end, the Bucs signed a backup tight end, their own backup linebacker, and a defensive end even the Chiefs didn't want. I don't want to sell Allen short; maybe all of these players have been meticulously scouted and each of them are the kinds of diamonds in the rough that Allen and Gruden have made a career of polishing into genuine contributors. That would be great. But it's not what we were told to expect. We were told to expect Tiger Woods. I don't know anything about golf, but I know who Tiger is. I would expect a golf fan who didn't know anything about football to at least recognize the name of the player the Bucs were going to sign. Even I didn't know who Jimmy Wilkerson was when the Bucs signed him.

The Griese trade just pushed me over the edge. If he had just materialized on the roster in mid-May with no notice, I would have welcomed the competition to backup Jeff Garcia. But bringing him on after the disappointment of the feeding frenzy weekend and having to give up a draft pick... ANY draft pick for him was just too much. Ski said something about the cost of the trade on his site.

I'm assuming the Bucs traded at most a sixth or seventh round draft pick for Griese, which is nothing for a decent quarterback with playing experience. Personally, I think sixth and seventh rounder draft picks are worthless (although there are always exceptions such as Tom Brady and Marques Colston).

Exactly. There are always exceptions. Low draft picks are like lottery tickets you were given for Christmas. Most of the time they're quickly exposed and discarded. Every now and then you win $10 or $25 and you feel good about it. Ellis Wyms and Jameel Cook are a couple of good sixth rounders the Bucs had in 2001. Hell, Brad Johnson was a ninth rounder. Every year there are a couple steals. But every once in a while, someone wins huge. Terrell Davis huge. Bart Starr huge. Trading a low pick for Griese was like selling your lottery ticket for $0.50. Sure, you've got a little change in your pocket and I suppose in an emergency you could always use an extra $0.50, but it hardly seems worth it.

I didn't mind when Allen made a draft day trade for Luke McCown because he was still largely an unknown and had only been drafted the year before. He had a little experience but was still really a lump of clay for Gruden to mold. But we all know what we're getting with Griese. He was the third stringer last season behind Rex Grossman and Kyle Orton. Christ, I made a joke about Griese being the odd man out in that situation just last week. It's almost comical how pathetic that is. Yes he knows the system and yes he did all right when he was in Tampa the first time and no his contract isn't unreasonable. But Allen could have had all that without selling his lottery ticket short.

So, now the Bucs have Brian Griese. Assuming he makes the team and no other quarterbacks show up, it probably makes the backup quarterback position a little more predictable and solid. I would still like to see McCown win the backup spot because I like his upside and would like to see him get some more reps to really make a run at the starting spot in 2009. It will also be interesting to see how Simms fits into all this, whether he is truly back to 100% and if he will be given a true chance to compete for a roster spot. We'll see how it all shakes out in the coming weeks. But I'm done bitching about the trade. There's so much more to bitch about, and going on anymore about this would start to make it weirdly obsessive.