Someone Confiscate Rick Stroud’s Keyboard, Please

Rick Stroud is really pushing this Jeff Garcia salary issue. Garcia said last week that he was disappointed that the Buccaneers hadn't reworked his contract and acted like that was a story. Every NFL player who has a decent season is disappointed that they're not the first in line to get a new contract. It's the nature of the game these days. I'm not sure why they even have long-term contracts anymore. It seems like players would prefer to get paid based on production per game. $250,000 per touchdown catch, $300 per passing yard, $500,000 per interception, etc. That would work well until they had an off year; then they'd bitch about "security" or that there's more to their job than statistics. The point is that players are never truly happy with their contract situations.

Jeff Garcia is no different. He is earning $2 million this year and he wants more because he did well last year and none of Stroud's arguments makes any sense.

The Bucs made some promises to Garcia they have not fulfilled, presumably agreeing to revisit his contract and make up for some of those lost wages. Salary cap rules prevent them from handing him the cash in an envelope.

Who said the Bucs made promises? Garcia? I read this article several times and nowhere does it say that the Bucs made any kind of promise to Garcia to revisit his contract. Garcia isn't a shy man. If he feels like he's being cheated, he'll say something.

At the very least, he deserves to earn the $3-million salary paid to linebacker Derrick Brooks and cornerback Ronde Barber.

Really? Because Derrick Brooks is going to be wearing a gold blazer inside of ten years, and that $3 million he is earning is after he took a salary reduction to help the team. And Barber has long been considered one of the best at his position and was arguably underpaid for much of his career. After 11 years of exemplary service to the team, yeah, I think $3 million is fair. Garcia was with the team for one season and faded during the stretch. He hasn't earned what Brooks and Barber have earned.

he's worth as much to the Bucs as Chris Simms, who hasn't played in 18 months.

Oh, fuck you. Everybody thought is was so nice of the Bucs to give Simms a healthy extension even after his injury and applauded their commitment to him. That salary is part of the reason why Simms will be traded or released this offseason. Is that the company Garcia really wants to keep? That statement was only made because Stroud noticed their salaries were the same and thought it would make his point without him having to back it up. If Simms and Garcia were both on the roster on opening day and their salaries were still the same, he would have an argument. In April? Yeah, fuck you again.

Then he starts talking about how many backups they don't have to scare us...

A little review. Simms wants to be traded.

Right. Which is why your salary argument above doesn't hold.

Brian Griese never wanted to be traded to the Bucs and let Gruden have it for doing so.

Again, who said this? Griese? Gruden? A quote would be nice. I would have thought that if there was something concrete about Griese not really wanting to be a Buc, Stroud would have written a full article on that as soon as he heard it.

Jake Plummer retired rather than play here.

Plummer never intended on playing for the Bucs and Gruden has admitted that even he has given up Plummer ever playing for him. The team doesn't include Plummer when they think of potential backups for Garcia, so it's not fair for Stroud to add him to the list in an attempt to pile on.

Now Garcia is unhappy. So far, he hasn't missed any "voluntary" offseason workouts. But that could change unless progress is made on a new deal.

God, I hate him. It's all so unnecessary. Remember, Garcia just said it was disappointing that more progress hadn't been made to redo his contract. I was about to remind everyone that Bruce Allen and even Joel Glazer had said that current players would be rewarded for their contributions last year and locked up with extensions. But Stroud did it for me.

The Bucs have about $25-million in salary cap room, money they plan to use to lock up players such as safety Jermaine Phillips, fullback B.J. Askew, cornerback Phillip Buchanon and running back Earnest Graham.

In time, the Bucs will get around to addressing Garcia's gripe.

Then why write the article?!? Garcia isn't going to hold out, it's still early in the offseason... why do this? Why stir up shit? Just to make me write a response? Does he really need a picture of Carmella that badly? Fine. Here.