Strange to watch a person in denial about what led the Bucs to this spot. Eric, if the Bucs drafting was to continue to be as atrocious as it was under Gruden/Allen (how many Pro Bowl palyers drafted in 7 years? Heck, ho many premium picks still on team?) then maybe you give up the picks, but the process, at a minimum, is very different (witness Price a pick that many said was wrong) and the results will likely be too (hard to do worse).

Just fire yourself off this site for making stupid comments. The hater club is already full and is no longer accepting new members.

Get used to it, Raheem Morris is our head coach this year. You don’t have to like it, but get used to it.

You are assuming that certain things “could be done”. That’s not necessarily the case. Once again, we don’t know the details. Unless you have the front office bugged, nobody but them know what was or was not offered to anyone. It was stated last year that the Bucs actually offered “more” for Fat Albert than the Skins, but he chose them (Thank goodness!!!). It is also possible that the Bucs would have offered more to teams in trade, that the team may have been more willing to trade with us, but the player told the Bucs they wouldn’t play or would hold out or….

What could have been done is all speculative, similar to predictions of what is to come this season. Even I would have loved to see more done in the offseason, but I also have to speculate that they did what they could and didn’t publicize what they couldn’t. I mean really, do you think they’d appease unhappy fans by saying “We tried to sign him, but couldn’t get the deal done”? or is it just best to “let it go, and keep your mouth shut”.

But I like incessant whining!

I have been getting paid well for it for years!

As you said, we shall see and hopefully it puts an end to your incessant whining after its clear Price and Benn are beasts.

To the contrary I think the offseason presented numerous golden opportunities to significantly upgrade the team for the short and long term.

Your Marshall speculation is interesting, but unsupported. Bucs were in better position to get him than Miami. After all he is from Winter Park, and the bucs had more valued picks to offer.

I am aware you cannot get every player, and have not advocated that.

I suppose my opinion is contrary to the conventional wisdom that the bucs properly re-stocked their roster. I dissagree in that they did that in the draft (or attempted to), but I think they left a lot on the table that could have made a huge difference.

IMO it is fair to assess what they did, and also what they could have done. Unlike many, I am unwiling to grant a pass for what they could have done.

All speculation at this point, we shall see.

You keep saying that as if it would be SOOOOO easy to just go out and get every player out there and bring them to Tampa. Once again, we don’t know what went on behind closed doors, and that means we don’t know if the Bucs made any attempt to get those guys you keep bringing up (Marshall, Boldin, etc). They may have made offers, but either got beat out on their bid (it did require a trade, maybe the other teams just offered more) or it is also possible they didn’t make offers because they talked to the players and the players didn’t want to play here. Maybe they wanted to play for “a contender”. I was around when Bo Jackson said he wouldn’t play for us, we drafted him anyway, and we never saw anything good come from that. John Elway said he’d never play for the Colts, so they traded him immediately to the Broncos, but if they’d kept him they wouldn’t see anything from it. It’s possible the team got the feeling the players didn’t want to come here, and decided to take another approach.

It’s not as easy as you make it sound to get those players. It’s not like this offseason was overloaded with free agent talent (one of the worst years for FA ever, actually). Most players that moved were via trade, not FA signing. I don’t think the team would publicly state they made a play for someone like Marshall and lost out because he didn’t want to play here, they’d keep it quiet, behind the scenes.

If it were that simple to obtain any and every available player out there, because it’s an uncapped year, the Dallas Cowboys would have a roster so stacked with talent it would be ridiculous. It’s not like Jerry Jones is afraid to spend money.