Not Much Room At The Inn

March 29th, 2023

Todd Bowles explains.

Very interesting chatter yesterday from the NFL Annual Meeting in Arizona that Joe had with a relaxed Bucs coach Todd Bowles.

It seems the Bucs are still shopping for defensive tackles. Yes, the Bucs signed free agent defensive tackle Greg Gaines earlier this month.

Bowles referred to the Gaines’ signing as “a big plus for us there.”

That’s not enough for Bowles. He then stunned Joe and the rest of the NFL media at his table when Bowles admitted veteran Akiem Hicks is still in the mix.

When Bowles was then asked if the Bucs might bring back veteran defensive lineman Will Gholston, Bowles smiled and nodded his head saying, “Yeah, Will’s an option too.”

Joe cannot imagine there is room on the salary cap for both Hicks and Gholston to return since the signing of Gaines. So, could the Bucs be playing both of those guys, Hicks and Gholston, against each other?

Sort of like saying, “The first guy who puts pen to paper and signs a contract is our last free agent at defensive line.”

With Hicks and Vea on the field, the Bucs’ run defense was quite good. And, strangely enough, when both Hicks and Vea each started a game together last season, the Bucs were 6-3.

14 Responses to “Not Much Room At The Inn”

  1. BA’s Red Pen Says:

    Joe, The salary cap isn’t real. They can sign anyone they want at anytime.

  2. Joe Swanson Says:

    There is no salary cap its all for show.

  3. Hodad Says:

    It ain’t the money, the guy just can’t stay on the field.

  4. Voice of Truth Says:

    They signed Senat back yesterday, he’s the 4 DT – we are missing the 3rd DT (Hicks) and a rotational player for Hall (WillG)

    Probably depends if we draft for these spots or not in the top 4 rounds

    The world knows we need safeties, a LT, edge/OLB very badly

    More likely the vets come back after the draft

  5. Tampabaybucfan Says:

    Would rather have Gholston than Hicks…..and would not want to be stuck drafting a DT this year.

    We need OT, S, TE, WR, Edge …..perhaps RB.

  6. doolnutts Says:

    I still think we extend Evans or White maybe both. It would free up a ton of cap depending on the structure but I think Evans should be made a buc for life.

  7. Buccaneer Bonzai Says:

    Teams can actually exceed the cap…there are just penalties for it.

  8. Buccaneer Bonzai Says:

    Teams must remain under the set cap limit throughout the season and are fined upwards of $5 million for each infraction. In more severe cases, draft picks can be confiscated and player contracts can be voided.

  9. Defense Rules Says:

    Bonzai … Yes the rules say that teams can exceed the CAP (with penalties imposed), but teams don’t do that for obvious reasons. The salary CAP is VERY REAL, but that doesn’t mean that it can’t be ‘finessed’. It’s easy to push some of today’s costs down the street to tomorrow, BUT … like the old Fram filter commercial used to say, ‘Pay me now or pay me later’.

    As of today, the Bucs are actually $3.5 mil UNDER the CAP with almost all of our recently signed FAs accounted for (Dean, LVD, Gaines, Mayfield, Stinnie, Edmonds, O’Connor, Gill, Delaney, Leverett) except for Senat & McLaughlin. We managed to do all that by kicking the can even further down the street to next year & beyond, just like we did last year (apparently the goal is to survive to fight another day).

    We COULD re-sign BOTH Hicks & Gholston for close to $0 because we owe their Dead CAP ($4.9 mil for Hicks & $2.4 mil for Gholston) could be slid to future years if we re-sign them. However, for all the talk of signing someone like Lamar Jackson, that just isn’t gonna happen without some MAJOR cuts elsewhere. Not very realistic IOW.

  10. Lakeland Steve Says:

    Hall better play his ass off this year or he may end up in JTS area, one foot on a banana peel and the other one out the door. Still believe we could sign Hicks and Gholston if they wanted.

  11. Goatfarmer Says:

    Might as well resurrect Chuck Bednarik. Bloweszo would ruin him too.

  12. Jason Says:

    Re-sign Gholston. He’s a Buccaneer Man.

  13. August 1976 Buc Says:

    SUH
    6-3 ? Great, ah lets see, what about the other 8 games? How long did Hicks last to start the season? 1.25
    Availability is #1 His spot was a gaping hole compared to when Suh played.

    This reminds me of the day, when post after post by a multitude of posters was “SUH ” for a comment

    SUH

  14. Goatfarmer Says:

    Suh.