2009 Veteran Signing Bonuses Topped $8 Million
January 6th, 2010
Joe always enjoys studying the annual NFL salaries breakdown published by USA Today.
For every NFL team, the searchable report provides the salaries, bonuses and salary cap value of each player.
Joe was intrigued to learn Team Glazer dished out more than $8 million in signing bonuses to veterans in 2009.
Gobbling up most of the cash was Michael Clayton ($3 million) and Derrick Ward ($2 million). Ryan Sims ($1.25 million) did pretty well for himself, and Jermaine Phillips and Will Allen each grabbed $750,000.
Josh Freeman is listed as having no signing bonus. (Yes, Joe checked, Mark Sanchez and Matthew Stafford didn’t get one, either) But the other Bucs draft picks did pretty well.
To nobody’s surprise, the Bucs 2009 payroll ranks 30th in the NFL, above the Chiefs and Rams. Per the database, the Bucs purged $20 million from their 2008 payroll.
Joe can’t imagine the Bucs will climb out of the 30th spot for the uncapped 2010 season.
January 6th, 2010 at 2:05 pm
There won’t be a salary floor either. The Glazer’s are licking their chops. Fu*k them.
January 6th, 2010 at 2:11 pm
“Joe can’t imagine the Bucs will climb out of the 30th spot for the uncapped 2010 season.”
Why? We offered Haynesworth $120 million last season, tried for Culter, tried for Vilma, and traded for Winlsow, signing him to a large contract immediaitly. We also fired a coach and GM even though they still cost us $8 million a year. We gave Clayton a 5 year $25 million deal…stupid, but far from stingy.
Maybe the reason we have a small payroll is because we draft shitty players and don’t offer them big contracts when it’s time to resign? We lost two first round picks for Gruden, then drafted poorly in the first round after that. Why would we have a big payroll when we have no bigtime probowler first round picks on our team?
I think the Glazers being tight wads is greatly exaggerated. Some folks think they should just throw money away of shitty players so they have a higher patroll I suppose. I’m betting we surprise alot of people this offseason.
January 6th, 2010 at 2:20 pm
Joe here,
JDouble, so you ask why they wouldn’t climb out of the 30th spot?
First, not even half of that money to Haynesworth is guaranteed. But the answer to your question is that revenue is down at One Buc Place, and the Glazers have been low spenders for five years or so. No reason to think they would change their business plan at this point. …But I guess you never know.
January 6th, 2010 at 2:50 pm
I suppose it’s in the eye of the beholder. To me it seems like as soon as we got out of cap hell, we have tried to sign big name FAs and bring guys in here worth paying big contracts too. Last year Hayneworth and Vilma didn’t want to come here ven though we offered more money. What else can you ask them to do?
If they resign Ruud, Penn, and Bryant…we will already move out of that 30 spot. After we draft and sign 3 players in the first 40 picks of this years draft, we will move up further. If we sign one big name FA this year or trade for a WR like Boldin or Marshal…I can see our payroll ranking much higher this coming year.
I guess I see it as they have tried to make moves which would cost alot of money (Hayensworth, Vilma, Farve, Cutler) but they haven’t seemed to work out. When they do get a guy that is worthy, like Winslow, they pay. Even when they only think a guy is worthy (Clayton, Ward) they pay.
In my eyes have not been cheap, the front office just hasn’t been able to get the deals done that would bring the big contract guys into Tampa.
January 6th, 2010 at 2:52 pm
If we had managed to get the Hayneworth and Cutler deal done, the Glazers were obviously ready to pay. We would rank much higher on the payroll chart…but we would have very little cap room, and would we really be any better off?
January 6th, 2010 at 3:03 pm
Joe, you didn’t answer Jdouble’s question. I happen to agree with Jdouble very strongly on this. Yes the Glazers have not spent with the top spending teams in recent years, but they also have had no one and I mean no one that has been drafted since 1997 that has been worthy of big extension come contract time. They even reached with big deals for Booger and Clayton who were not worthy of the money they got. The Bucs do not currently have a draft pick on their roster worthy of a big extension besides posiibly Aqib Talib, Tanard Jackson, Geno Hayes, and Davin Joseph. The Bucs Do need to resign Donald Penn and if they don’t do that then I think that will be the real clue that they are not spending to win. You do not let a Left Tackle who looks to be among the best in the League and who is still pretty young walk. LT is one of the hardest positions to fill with a solid player and they have no other options at this point to replace him anyways. So for all the fans that believe the Glazers aren’t committed to winning, just pay attention to Donald Penn, he may tell you all you need to know. While I am not of the opinion that the Glazer’s don’t want to spend, if they botch up resigning Penn then I will have no choice but to join the ranks of those questioning our owners. I look forward to the 2010 offseason which should provide us many insights on the future of this team.
January 6th, 2010 at 3:03 pm
Joe here,
JDouble — It’s not that simple. First, per the database here, Haynesworth got a $5 million signing bonus and $6 million in the first year of the deal (part of the $40+ million guaranteed that was reported).
If the Bucs did indeed get him, none of us know if that would have meant payroll would have been cut somewhere else. For example, Hovan earned $3 million last year. Would the Bucs have kept him if they had Haynesworth and drafted Roy Miller? I wouldn’t have bet on that.
For 2010, keep in mind the Bucs will not have $2 million for Leftwich and $2.5 million on the payroll for Angelo Crowell. Plus Clayton made $7 million-plus with his signing bonus in ’09, so he’s only got $3 million left guaranteed. If the Bucs dump Hovan on top of that, that’s $11.5 million less than last season right there in total.
January 6th, 2010 at 3:45 pm
Rob, I agree on Penn. He is a solid LT and young. Seeing as LT is a very important position, there is no doubt we should resign him. The only worry I have is that some other team will offer him more than us. The Glazers aren’t cheap, but they are smart. If Penn wants a Jason Peters contract, then he won’t be here next year. He is very good, not great. He is only turning 27 in April though, so he could very well be great in the future.
Let’s all hope we get Penn and Bryant resigned. I also hope they give Tanard a better deal. He has yet to earn $1 million dollars per year. To be one of the top 5 players on a team, and get paid like the bottom ten has to bother him just a bit. We got two cheap years out of him, let’s pay the man a starters salary now.
January 6th, 2010 at 3:49 pm
Low spenders for 5 years…Hmmm..What happened 5 years ago? Ah yes, Malcolm and his sons bought the kickball team in jolly old England.
January 6th, 2010 at 3:59 pm
worst owners in the nfl at least all the other bad owners are not afraid to talk to media if anyone could get a glazer interview it would be a miracle
January 6th, 2010 at 4:46 pm
Does the J in JDouble stand for Joel, as in Joel Glazer? Anyone still defending the Glazers lack of spending is smoking crack. They have a bargain coach and a bargain GM who managed to keep their jobs after winning only 3 games!!! They have the most undrafted FA’s of any team in the NFL, they purged the team of big-name, big-salary veterans who are on the downside of their careers, but those guys would have helped groom the young guys.
These guys are the 2nd coming of Hugh Culverhouse. They only spend the minimum. It will be interesting to see what happens this offseason when there is no minimum. They could reach a new low. I seriously doubt they will resign AB, Penn and Ruud. If they do, it will just be one of them. I guess they think they’ll be able to find more undrafted FA’s to take their place.
January 6th, 2010 at 4:47 pm
Who cares about them talking to the media? Do you want a Dan Snyder or a Jerry Jones? I’m glad they stay silent. Who wants to hear what business men think about thier football team? That’s why owners have GMs and coaches.
January 6th, 2010 at 4:53 pm
JDouble has to be Joel Glazer.
January 6th, 2010 at 5:00 pm
JDouble:
Bryan and Joel talk to “the media” all the time in casual conversation; every game.
When team executives talk to reporters on the record, they are talking to you and I. Reporters are little more than conduits or liasons.
January 6th, 2010 at 5:44 pm
What you aren’t getting is that they would have only moved up a spot or 2 on the cap. They might pay one or two players but not all. And do you really think at the same time that other teams are not going to spend some money as well. I think we would have only jumped a spot or two if we had landed Vilma and Haynesworth. Even if the Chiefs and Rams are not trying to spend to get better most of the other 29 teams ahead of us are. So still around the bottom of the bottom feeders. The Glazers are Cheap. One day I’ll tell you about Joel Glazer Hassling me over a TV for the old One Buc Ghetto by the airport when I was a sales mgr for the old Sound Advice that used to be on Dale Mabry s. of 275 (the old one). The Glazers are the epitome of cheap.
January 6th, 2010 at 6:12 pm
Spending your money wisely and looking for deals, is not being cheap. There is a big difference.
January 6th, 2010 at 6:13 pm
Ha Ha!
Awesome responses.
January 6th, 2010 at 7:19 pm
A multi-millionaire haggling over a tv who would have guessed!
January 6th, 2010 at 8:07 pm
I’m not sure why you guys are surprised a millionaire would haggle over the price of a TV. Why would he not want to get the best deal possible? Because he’s rich? How do you think he got that way? How do you think he stays that way? By being thrifty and spending his money wisely.
Just cause you see guys like P. Diddy bathing in Crystale and making it rain everywhere they go, does not mean that’s how rich people should act.
I’m really not trying to be the almighty crusader for the Glazers here. To be honest I don’t care for them, but that is besides the point. I just think they get called cheap when in reality they are being smart with thier money, making good investments. I’ll bet you the whole Clayton thing has them more pissed off than anything else this year.
January 6th, 2010 at 9:22 pm
i know this is off the subject Joe but is there any word on the bucs canning that thing we call our OC?????? man needs to go!!!! down 17-10 with plenty of time and on first down he calls for Freeman to throw deep??? i mean is he the dumbest OC in the league??
January 6th, 2010 at 9:46 pm
He didn’t just want a deal he wanted the TV that literally had 25 cents in profit marked down another $50. Yes, I said 25 cents like 25 pennies worth of profit. As a commissioned saleman it would have cost me $10 to sell it. I’m all for being frugal but when you are that frugal and it only puts up 3 wins for the season tells me they were too frugal to the point of making lots of stretches. Did Joe not mention earlier that Clayton has given us 1 td for 7.5 million dollars. Sounds more like stupidity than frugality. He didn’t haggle over the TV he threw a fit like I was ripping him off because he was part of the family that owned the Bucs. Let me assure you I dealt with many so called Rich folks and they got discounts for buying expensive shit and multiple pieces. These guys were just cheap bastards. Tony Dungy got a discount when we did his home automation in Avala but he bought shit that had some play room not a quarter. Hey JDub please come back from La La land and join the real world. Holy shit!
January 6th, 2010 at 11:28 pm
Be careful Sgt Mike, you know how Joel G-loser is when people start exposing him for who he really is. Not to mention he probably trys to walk across his pool every morning without getting his feet wet.
January 7th, 2010 at 10:28 am
Here is a very informational article. It’s a few months old, but very interesting…
http://www.tampabay.com/sports/football/bucs/cheap-ways-dooming-bucs-numbers-say-no/1054806
January 7th, 2010 at 10:38 am
JDouble:
In perhaps one of the greatest examples outside of John Romano’s juvenile “weakly” Bucs take each Monday of why newspapers are dying was that link you posted.
Joe discussed that story in length over a month before the St. Petersburg Times touched upon it.
https://www.joebucsfan.com/?p=18661
January 7th, 2010 at 10:56 am
Some how I missed that one Joe. Very good read none the less.
January 7th, 2010 at 8:39 pm
the other reason they look as if they are spending money is the fact that Gruden did go after patch work free agents and overspent on them. All the while not making the most of the draft. I’m sure somewhere in that managerie of previous articles and coverage it shows how much dead money is still counted towards the cap. Giving the illusion of some money spent. Albeit on a guy who is gone or out of the game. Angelo Crowell comes to mind.
January 7th, 2010 at 8:54 pm
Jon gruden now comes to mind!!!