Don’t Get Too Excited About Alex Brown
April 6th, 2010
This afternoon, Twitter was all aflutter from Bucs fans over the fact Adam Schefter of the Kremlin’s favorite network, BSPN, reported on his Twitter account that former Bears defensive end Alex Brown would be kicking the tires of the Bucs Thursday for a visit.
Initially, Joe wondered aloud if the Bucs would cough up the cash to pay Brown. Cash may not be the only concern.
eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune, via the TBO.com Bucs Twitter feed, suggests Brown’s best days are gone.
Don’t see the Bucs signing DE Alex Brown, who will be 31 in June. TB needs help up front, but Brown has been underachieving for years.
Kaufman brings up an interesting point. The Bears, specifically coach Lovie Smith and general manager Jerry Angelo are panicking, signing just about any warm body they can find, both players and assistant coaches, in an effort to keep their jobs.
It’s not like the Bears are stocked at defensive end to begin with, especially after the death of Gaines Adams (yes, Joe knows the Bears signed Julius Peppers). Joe suspects that if the Bears had an inkling Brown has anything left in the tank, he wouldn’t be knocking on doors looking for work.
April 6th, 2010 at 4:08 pm
Don’t worry Joe, I’m not too excited. First of all, if there is any competition for his services the Bucs will swing and miss as usual. Second, you hit it on the head. If he had anything left in the tank its unlikely he would have made it out of the Windy City.
April 6th, 2010 at 4:20 pm
I have forgotten what it is like to get too excited.
April 6th, 2010 at 4:21 pm
Eric:
The 2010 Bucs cheerleading squad will be announced tomorrow. Perhaps that may help?
April 6th, 2010 at 4:22 pm
Alex Brown is a good player and Im not sure where Ira is getting the “underachieving” thing from. He has over 40 career sacks which isn’t hall of fame worthy but still pretty good. He will get you 6 or 7 sacks most years which means he is at least worth a look. The question is whether or not he is willing to play left end which is where our need is.
As for the Bears they had been trying to replace him with Mark Anderson for years but never could because Anderson couldn’t beat him out. They probably decided to cut Brown to give Anderson a chance since his contract is coming up soon. Id say it wasn’t because of his play as Brown was one of the only guys who showed up to play for them this year.
And the Bucs aren’t exactly the only folks taking a look at him either.
April 6th, 2010 at 4:34 pm
Thank you Steve as always you are the voice of reason on here.
It’s not like our D-line has exactly been over-achieving if they are able to work out a deal for this guy I think it would could only help.
As we have seen with the Buc’s the last couple of years just because a team cuts someone doesn’t mean that player isn’t any good. He just may not fit into their plans.
April 6th, 2010 at 4:38 pm
Whoops. That last comment was from me, wrong screenname
April 6th, 2010 at 5:13 pm
“As we have seen with the Buc’s the last couple of years just because a team cuts someone doesn’t mean that player isn’t any good. He just may not fit into their plans.”
The Bucs have done fairly well at getting decent production off of other teams castoffs over the years. Conversely, the players the Bucs shed have not shown that they have little if any worth at all. Garcia, Dunn(2nd time), Brooks, Galloway, Simms, McCown, Adams (prior to death wasn’t performing well), Pittman, Mahan, Bryant. Not only did they not fit into our plans, but they didn’t fit into any team’s plans. You really have to think about ones that have produced well for other teams, Thomas Jones, Warrick Dunn (1st time) and arguably John Lynch (although I still think that was a good decision).
April 6th, 2010 at 5:28 pm
What is the scouting report on Brown’s run defense skills?
April 6th, 2010 at 5:40 pm
I see Haynesworth wont participate in ota’s up in Washington, and doesn’t want to play nose in a 3-4 defense.
Reportedly, he isn’t impressing Mr. Shanahan with any of that.
Glad to see a man so grateful for getting 100 million!!!!!!!!!!!!! 42 guaranteed!
Unbelievable!
April 6th, 2010 at 7:17 pm
@Eric
Alex is good vs the run or the pass. Might be better against the run than he is at getting to the QB quite honestly but he has really good technique for both.
As for Haynesworth, the truth is he isn’t a nose and wouldn’t fit well there because he is so tall. I know folks will focus on his contract and that he wasn’t exactly a world beater last year but football wise the Redskins putting him at nose was non sensical. Look at Sapp when he went out to Oakland. They didn’t put him at nose, they put him at End which is where Haynesworth should play in a 3-4 and he still took awhile to get the hang of it. Now yeah you would want a high paid guy to just do whatever the team wants but let me give you the flip side. Lets say the Skins put Haynesworth at nose and he is horrible. Then a year or two later they cut him. Do you think he is going to see all that bread that he signed for?
HELL NO.
Do you think another team is going to forget his play at nose and sign him for big bucks to play his more natural position of undertackle/End in a 3-4?
HELL NO.
So its a business decision for him. Hell in that situation I might force a trade too. Its times like this that I’m reminded of that old North Dallas Forty movie when one of the players says (paraphrased) “Whenever we say its a game, you say its business. “Whenever we treat it like a business, you say we should treat it like a game” And then proceeds to cuss the coaches out. Hell I might watch that movie again tonight for the hell of it. Classic.
April 6th, 2010 at 7:26 pm
BTW, came across this link to video of Lovie speaking on Alex Brown. Seems clear he wasn’t exactly happy for him to be gone.
http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com/2010/04/lovie-smith-on-alex-brown-it-still-wont-be-the-same.html
April 6th, 2010 at 8:15 pm
@Steve
I see your point. I suppose it is a knee jerk reaction when you see a guy who gets a signing bonus and guaranteed money larger than most of us on here would see in 20 lifetimes.
But, on the other hand, I see the owners arent willing to open up the books and allow the players association to review them for the revenue sharing component of the CBA. So, plenty of BS on both sides I guess. Id love to see those books myself.
If Brown is good against the run he might be very very valuble to the current squad. Perhaps he can tackle one of those Carolina running backs so they both don’t get over 100 yards rushing against us again.
April 6th, 2010 at 8:16 pm
@Steve
I see your point. I suppose it is a knee jerk reaction when you see a guy who gets a signing bonus and guaranteed money larger than most of us on here would see in 20 lifetimes.
But, on the other hand, I see the owners arent willing to open up the books and allow the players association to review them for the revenue sharing component of the CBA. So, plenty of BS on both sides I guess. Id love to see those books myself.
If Brown is good against the run he might be very valuable to the current squad. Perhaps he can tackle one of those Carolina running backs so they both don’t get over 100 yards rushing against us again.
April 6th, 2010 at 9:32 pm
Hey da Bears signed Gaines Adams – their front office must suck worse than ours right?
But seriously I wouldn’t be upset about the Bucs signing Brown – but if it involves spending money – especially up front – forgetabout it
April 6th, 2010 at 10:26 pm
Last I checked R. Morris was still the HC, a QB that people HOPE will at the very least be average and the roster only has maybe 4 or 5 decent quality players so their is NO FEAR in getting excited much less TOO excited {UGH!!!}.