Restricted Free Agent Blount
October 5th, 2011Previously, Joe wrote about how LeGarrette Blount’s contract is up after this year but the Bucs will be able to somehow keep him as an “exclusive rights” free agent entering 2012, his third season an undrafted free agent.
However, Joe doesn’t know how things might have changed in the labor agreement on that front after the asinine lockout ended and a new labor agreement was reached.
But it seems NFL.com scribe Jeff Darlington has the answer, as he stated in an excellent feature about Blount. No. 27 will be a restricted free agent after this season.
With salaries of $320,000 last year and $405,000 this year, Blount missed out on millions, since he was originally slated as an early selection. Even the Bucs originally graded him as a second- or third-round talent, but his off-the-field history made him too much of a risk for a high pick.
Blount is scheduled to hit restricted free agency, so his time to get paid could be coming soon. After suffering the financial pitfalls of a career nearly gone completely bad, that possibility is something that should motivate him to produce more than a few big games this year.
Assuming Blount continues as the engine of the Bucs’ offense and passes the 1,000-yard mark again — he’s on pace for about 1,150 — this will be a darn interesting offseason for Blount and the Bucs.
Joe can only imagine what the street value of Blount might be. Ironically, his famous punch, which led to his undrafted status, might end up leading to him getting paid sooner versus what he might have signed for as a second- or third-round pick on a four- or five-year deal out of college.
October 5th, 2011 at 12:26 pm
There is no question we need to pay Blount whatever it takes to keep him around. Other than Free he is the most important player on our offense. No question.
October 5th, 2011 at 12:36 pm
In my primetime voice:
“PAY THE MAN”
October 5th, 2011 at 12:38 pm
Also, has anyone else besides me noticed how much better Blount’s blocking is this year than last year? It isn’t quite where it needs to be, but he’s not a liability in the blocking game like he was last year. That’s huge. Not to mention his hands are looking pretty decent when he’s the check down. And all that without losing the trucking and the leaps!
October 5th, 2011 at 12:43 pm
Gawd…I hate to think what would happen to teh Bucs if we lost Blount or Freeman. Yikes….
October 5th, 2011 at 12:59 pm
Joe,
You still doing the bus to Jacksonville?
October 5th, 2011 at 1:02 pm
Let’s hope the front office doesn’t F@$k this up. Keep our young group of players together for a few years. Everybody knows the Bucs have plenty of cash under the cap agreement. Go Bucs!
Was that not a helluva check down and run he had the other night?! He is definitely getting better as a player who can do more than pound the rock.
October 5th, 2011 at 1:06 pm
They need to pay the man NOW. Glazers don’t cheap out on this guy he is the reason we are winning beyond Freeman.
October 5th, 2011 at 1:09 pm
I want to keep Blount just as much as everybody, especially after the way he’s been running the last two weeks…..
But RB’s are a dime a dozen……give the guy a nice contract (on par with what Ahmad Bradshaw brought in this year) but don’t break the bank
October 5th, 2011 at 1:11 pm
Anyone want to speculate on what kind of contract he would get? AP got 7 years 100m, Chris Johnson got 4 years 54m, so they are making roughly 14m a year.
Blount though great, may not be in the same elite level as those two just yet, but I can’t imagine him being much far behind, especially considering he is the straw that stirs the offense’s drink.
6 year deal worth 60-70m would seem pretty fair maybe?
October 5th, 2011 at 1:14 pm
He’ll be back dont worry. I have all the confidence in the world mark d. knows this as much as we do and is working to get him signed. We were the only team that took a chance on blount last year and hell be grateful when it comes to this time. Freeman and blount gonna be in the backfield for a long time together.
October 5th, 2011 at 1:18 pm
The Bucs are 27 million under the cap and have the room to pay him and Freeman to long term deals. I expect both to be done this offseason.
For those of you that were screaming for the Bucs to sign a big name free agent, THIS is the reason why you want to keep your guys and not get to close to the cap. I am happy they are in the position to sign both those studs for long term deals.
October 5th, 2011 at 1:32 pm
Joe here,
@Chris — Yes, that will be posted this week. And you’ll get an alert email if you wrote to Joe about it a while back.
October 5th, 2011 at 1:47 pm
I see something around 10-12 million the 1st 2 years, then 6-8 million the last 3-4 years. 1st 2 years guaranteed
October 5th, 2011 at 1:51 pm
Pro football had an article, Stating that Blount is the Number one Power back in the NFL. They said it obvious that by game end, the colt defenders didn’t want to tackle Blount.
His blocking is much improved. But I can’t figure out why we aren’t throwing him the ball more?? He’s diplayed surprisingly soft hands. And he has had several big runs when we threw it to him. I wanna see more of Him one on one with safeties and CBs.
We often say we need a change of pace back. I think we need another big power back. If Blount need a breather, we still keep slamming the hammer on the defense! That’s fun to watch!
October 5th, 2011 at 1:57 pm
Capt Tim, another big back would also hopefully keep Blount fresh enough to pound and pound on tired defenses at the end. He does that well even after a heavy workload, imagine if he was pretty fresh late.
October 5th, 2011 at 2:03 pm
Capt.Tim…. That is why we drafted Bradford. I agree with the 2 big backs to pound them game plan.
October 5th, 2011 at 2:06 pm
Capt Tim I could not agree more. Why are we throwing to Earnest Graham only to have him fumble. Plus when he starts to catch passes out of the backfield it will totally open up the offense to the play action truly has a meaning to it. Nobody fears Earnest running anymore unfortunately Blount needs to catch some damn passes now!! Also does anybody see the technique Freeman uses when he hands off to Blount??? He holds it out like HEY DEFENSE ITS GOING TO BLOUNT, almost like he puts it on display. What is up with that???? I know Freeman was taught that but I have never seen that kind of technique it makes me nauseus to watch.
October 5th, 2011 at 2:18 pm
@NIck2 They aggrandise the run like that to set up play actions. They’ll do the same exaggerated hand off on PA pass. I have seen Rodgers and Brady do the same on many occasions.
October 5th, 2011 at 2:23 pm
Ya, what Deeb says. It’s a setup for play action later. Free can slip it to him (and does) when they want to be sneaky. Usually you’ll see that on a play where they run but were more likely to pass.
October 5th, 2011 at 2:25 pm
Roll the Blount…….each time, with hundreds!
October 5th, 2011 at 9:35 pm
IMO the Buccaneers ARE ready for this. By not paying millions to 30 year old CB’s
or WO’s, they are enough under the CAP to compete with teams interested in our players. There’s no doubt it will cost a LOT of money to keep this team together. Money that will be available thanks to FO management.
Having typed that, it WILL be up to the Glazers to come up with the money and they damn well better or there’s going to be some LOUD noise from more than a few fans.
October 5th, 2011 at 10:50 pm
and people wondered why the Bucs weren’t spending big this offseason. Agreed we still have a couple holes to fill. But with that is happening on the field. We are going to have to write some pretty BIG checks just to keep this team in tact for 5+ years. I think this is a good problem to have honestly. Am feeling more assured knowing we have the money to do it too.
October 5th, 2011 at 10:59 pm
Speaking of this. How scary is it to think About Blount and Cj2k rotation. Man, if the coin fell the other way. It’s crazy to think huh? Thank god it fell in our favor.
October 6th, 2011 at 9:51 am
Joe,
I’m a Bucs fan living In Jacksonville and plan to go to that game. If you can send me an email of where the bus tour is meeting for for pre-game drinks. It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to party with other Bucs fans. Also if you get a block of tickets, let me know where so I can try to join. Thanks
October 6th, 2011 at 9:56 am
SRQBucFan:
What or Who is Cj2k?