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Bucs GM Allen Talks Contracts |
 Tampa Bay general manager Bruce Allen discussed the contract situations for Earnest Graham and Jeff Garcia on Wednesday (Reinhold Matay) |
Buccaneers general manager Bruce Allen spoke to the media on Wednesday following the team's latest organized team activity. Allen discussed the contracts of QB Jeff Garcia and RB Earnest Graham.
Buccaneers quarterback Jeff Garcia sounded off about the concerns regarding his contract situation yesterday. Today, it was general manager Bruce Allen's turn.
Allen addressed the media about Garcia's remarks and also spoke about running back Earnest Graham's contract situation and quarterback Chris Simms' status with the team.
Garcia, who has one year remaining on a two-year deal that will pay him $2 million in base salary this year, is clearly frustrated about the pace of the negotiations, and gave a possible indication that he could be contemplating a hold out.
"Each player has to handle his business the way he handles it," Allen said, noting that he didn't have a problem with Garcia going public with his unhappiness over his contract. "I've had plenty of conversations with our players' representatives and our players, and I know what their feelings are.
"Jeff has ... over the last five years - it's been well documented - been on five different teams. I know he enjoyed great success with [head coach Jon Gruden] and wants that to continue. That part isn't bad news - it's good news. We've got seven months until free agency and we've got plenty of time. But our focus is that we have 70 days until training camp and we want to get our best 80 players ready."
Per his policy, Allen wouldn't discuss the specifics of the contract negotiations with Garcia other than to say, "We have offers out to a lot of our players. We're looking at this year and we're looking to the future to make sure we're doing what is best for the Bucs.
"You always take a four or five year glimpse at it," Allen said. "We really feel good about the core of this team. We have a lot of young players that we feel have a very bright future here. That's who we're looking at."
The fact that Garcia, who was a Pro Bowl performer last year for the Buccaneers by throwing 13 touchdowns and only four interceptions, is the team's starting quarterback and he's disgruntled didn't seem to phase Allen.
"Really, it doesn't create any problem for us," Allen said. "We just have a pretty clear idea of what is going to take place in the future and we're prepared for it.
"What we're looking at is all the players and making sure that our future with the Buccaneers is secure. We have a very clear picture of where the [NFL] labor negotiations are going we feel we're going to act appropriately with our team. ... We're in good shape. Everything that we're focused on is for the upcoming season and the seasons to come, and we want to make sure that our team is prepared for that."
Graham, who is angling for a new contract himself, was a no-show for the fifth OTA (organized team activity), but his absence didn't seem to bother Allen.
"Earnest really performed well for us last year and he wasn't at most of the offseason program last year," Allen said. "He's a young man who takes care of himself and I'm sure he'll be prepared.
"Like most of the other negotiations, it's ongoing. We'll see what transpires."
Allen said that the status of Simms, who has decided not to participate until his role with the team can be made clear, has not changed. There has been speculation that Simms may be traded or released prior to the start of training camp.
"I've talked to his representatives a number of times - no change," Allen said. "My talks with all of the representatives are confidential."
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Comments
Horse
GM Allen, you're the man. They need to honor their contracts and ask for some bonus money if they improve in their performance this year.
Garcia and Graham should have kept quiet. Now there is no way they are going to get what they think they are worth especially Garcia. Yes Garcia made the Pro Bowl as an alternate. He's a good player, but not worth more than 3 mil because of his age. He will not be faster or quicker than last year and nor probably as healthy either.
Go Bucs
4:18pm, May 14, 2008
tb_buc
Garcia should have signed a few years ago, he likely would have surpassed his present day yearly contract by now. He would have made less in year one, but after Cap space opened up, he would have been well compensated.
4:41pm, May 14, 2008
stone1
i agree with both of you. allen doesn't play great gm mansges cap well the bucs have a plan while most teams do not.garcia five teams five years i don't think that happens if you are a 7 mil a year qb(supposedly what he is asking)graham is average at best we won't miss him at all.we might miss garcia maybe not full team with Mc at qb he probably looks a little better Griese was once best passer in 2000, but could probably play pretty good taking all the reps, the only jeff does extremely better than both is he doesn't throw as may ints.realistically this team is decent the d's getting younger,but the offense is all about the line holding up graham is replaceable and jeff has to do what he has to do but i'd hate to be him if he lets the contract affect him caue gruden won't have it. tb its nice you opint out how jeff could have been here awhile back,he starting to look like a money chaser
4:57pm, May 14, 2008
orlandobucsfan
Nothing really new here from Allen. The most critical things he said are "we have 70 days until training camp" and "there's no hurry". Time is indeed on the GM's side. The QB and RB played very well last year. All (or nearly all) of us want to see Garcia and Graham sign, perhaps for more money, but I don't hear anyone saying the Bucs should break the bank to do it. In my opinion, a continued good job by the GM.
7:25pm, May 14, 2008
rayehnle
Very poor judgement on Garcia's part. So many good things are going on. Not a good time to be negative, if there ever is one. A shame when someone starts thinking they are not replaceable. If there is any team with a lot of Quarterback talent it is the Bucs. I support Gruden and Allen. That is what Garcia should do sooner rather than later.
v
7:48pm, May 14, 2008
orlandobucsfan
rayehnle: You're right about the timing, although it's probably NRVER good timing for a player to complain about his contract publicly. Not that Garcia cares, but fans (and the media) will likely remember this and if Garcia starts to play poorly, they'll turn on him faster than we can say "QB"...For this reason and the fact that Average Joe can't even relate to $7 mil a year are good reasons that contracts (and salaries for that matter) should have never been available to the public...oh well...too late now.
8:10pm, May 14, 2008
beniro
I like Garcia. I even agree with him, to a degree. Allen is a serious guy, though. For him it is 100% business, and that doesn't make him likable. He is concerned with what this team needs at QB in 1, 2 and 5, 10 years down the road. I hope Garcia can finish out his career here.
11:14pm, May 14, 2008
BuccanAy
Since when does throwing 13 TD's give you the right to demand a raise. There are QB's in this league throwin' 30, 35 and 50 TD's. 13 TD's!?! Give me a break! Honor your contract jackazz, and maybe throw 20 TD's before demanding 7 mil.
12:42am, May 15, 2008
Buc-Up
PR staff, if Garcia holds out while under contract do the Bucs have the right to get back this portion of his original signing bonus like they did with Keenan McCardell?
1:03am, May 15, 2008
cremdonado
None of this makes me like Garsizzler any better.He is in his professional "golden years",and unfortunately he moved around with 5 teams in 5 years.In that time period,if someone was gonna give you the cash you wanted you wouldnt even be on this roster.He is a band aid folks,thats all.7 mil is alot for band aids.He is 38 with maybe one good season in the tank.His future is now,the Bucs future isnt. The QB that will take us to the Superbowl isnt here yet.It aint Jeff or Brian-MAYBE(big maybe)Luke will bring the force.That position for the moment is held together with a band aid. Sorry Jeff but its too much too late.Its almost time to hang em up,do it with class.If you would have honored your contract im sure they might have given you another year as a back up to teach the youth. Instead you stepped in s#@t.....Im not a Bucs fan for our QB-im a fan of the team.And if you aint with us Sizzler,then you are against us...
3:52am, May 15, 2008
Bucsitaly
Shut up and play jeff, you are well paid for a 13 td season .
6:25am, May 15, 2008
bucfan47
BuccanAy/cremdonado - You guys are totally off on your comments.
Yes I'll agree with you, I think Jeff is looking out for himself during his final playing days but guess what, every player is like that so it's not like it's just Jeff. C'mon now.
And BuccanAy/Bucsitaly - Yes he only threw a mere 13 TD's "BUT" and this is a big BUT, he only three 4 Int's and had the 6th best QB rating in the league.
Bottomline: He deserves more money. Regardless of what you guys think of him personally. How much more? Well, that's why they pay Bruce Allen to be GM.
Guys, I personally hate to see these guys whine about wanting more money, but that's the name of the game. If the team has success, and those players have major roles in that success, ala Garcia/Graham, it's only natural for any player to attempt to get more money. I have no problem with that. I also have no problem with Garcia throwing only 13 TD's.
I know he can throw more. Just go back and look at last season. It's not like our O-line is the best in the league right now. It's still improving and if you look at the number of games Garcia missed, adding on the games he didn't play in towards the end of the season, that could have pushed his TD numbers closer to 20 on the season.
And the comment about Garcia not being able to lead us to the SuperBowl is insane. If you firmly believe that then you are basically calling the Bucs front office and coaching staff idiots.
No question they believe he can lead us to the SuperBowl and the players and coaches believe it as well. For anyone not to see that on the field is just not watching us play.
And you know, the only other QB to have Garcia type numbers last season that's comparable to his style of play is Garrard, who by the way, just signed a 60-million dollar deal.
So that's crazy to think Garcia can't lead us, if you are brainwashed into thinking that way, that's just because your mad at him for wanting more money or mad because of his age. The guy can get the job done and deserves more money.
$7 million for next season is not a bad investment for our team. The reason? He's getting ready to retire and we have plenty of cap room in which to sign all of our draft picks plus re-sign our other players. He is going to play for 1-2 seasons tops (more than likely) and once he retires, the money drops off the books. There's no reason not to pay him in all reality.
Griese and McCown are no where near Garcia's level and you guys should easily know that.
9:18am, May 15, 2008
docbravo
It's a business guys, and I can see both sides. But I think players have to remember this.....
IF THE CONTRACT YOU SIGN IS GOOD ENOUGH THE DAY YOU SIGN IT, THEN IT SHOULD BE GOOD ENOUGH THIS YEAR, NEXT YEAR, AND THE NEXT YEAR!!!!!!
No one is holding a gun to these guys head and making them sign these contracts. Maybe they should make sure incentives are built into the contract in fthe form of these "Likely to be earned" or "Not likely to be Earned" clauses we hear about all the time.
Here's a novel idea: "If you think you are going to out perform your contract......Then Don't Sign IT!!!!!"
Luke McCown (QBoF)
10:54am, May 15, 2008
cremdonado
Blah Blah Blah!!-I still think Garcia is being a douche.Bucfan47-Garsizzler is not the answer..He did a decent job last year-but the only play i can remember is his scramble for nothing that got him banged up for weeks.It was an opening drive,not a 4th quarter play..Yeah he plays "tough and reckless",but look what happened,he missed out on a paycheck because of it.We were in the hunt,and his injury slowed the team down.He should know better,thats why you want a vet.Making critical decisions is his job.Look how hes chosen to deal with this matter.Strong arming Bruce is no way to get things done.If Jake the snake wants to all of a sudden show-Sizzlers in real trouble..(but so would the Bucs)He should have dealt with this differently,now hes opened himself up for alot of criticism.
11:34am, May 15, 2008
bveghte
Bucfan47,
Thank you for balancing out these comments a bit! It amazes me how so many of us always instinctively take management's side of any dispute, no matter what the facts. I guess we also fantasize about being managers, and some of us probably already are.
But I disagree with Bruce both in substance (for the reasons Bucfan47 wrote) and, especially, in tone.
Bruce is acting like a xxxx, plain and simple. Jeff gave his heart and soul for this team last year, running for key first downs with no regard for his personal safety, returning fast from injury, playing pro-bowl quality football and being a strong team leader. Do you really think we make the playoffs last year with any other QB on our roster?
Then the xxxed him out of his playing time incentives at the end of the year to rest him for the playoffs, promising to make it good this year with a new contract. What happens? They nickel and dime him and leave him twisting in the wind. And then Bruce even implies he may twist there until free agency 2009!!!!!! It takes my breath away. What a jerk!!!! And this to the best QB we have had here in the last 20 years.
Sure, Bruce has to think long-term, but he should keep his promises and treat Jeff with RESPECT. Jeff's press conference was not disrespectful, he repeated that he does not believe in holdouts. Then Bruce comes out and says basically that Jeff is a journeyman QB who did well just because Gruden was coaching him, and then talks about Bruce's own focus is on other things, no urgency, screw you Jeff ...
If one were to run a company like this, one would lost one's best talent in a hurry.
He should at least say Jeff is a great QB, played great last year and we want to make him happy, but of course also have to think long-term, and we're doing our best to work things out.
11:34am, May 15, 2008
bucfan47
cremdonado - I respect your opinions, but we missed out on making a good player run last year because of many injuries outside of Jeff Garcia. We had over a dozen players missing and there's no need to go through the entire roster, but we had tons of talent missing that are needed to win a SuperBowl. Not to mention our very best WR in Galloway, who really had no business even playing in the game against the Giants. Although I do commend his performance, it was gutty.
But to say Jeff Garcia doesn't bring another level to this offense is crazy. He is not the long-term answer (I don't think anyone here is arguing that) but he's playing great football now and we have an opportunity "WITH HIM" at QB to get to the SuperBowl this season. It's a tough hill to climb to get to the SuperBowl regardless of how good your team plays and even harder to win it all (just ask the Patriots).
But if our guys are healthy and Galloway was at 100%, I firmly believe we had the chance in our house to beat the Giants this past season. That doesn't mean we would have won it all, but we have a great chance with Garcia under center.
Bruce Allen and Co. know this, and that's why eventually you'll see Garcia extended for a couple more years. Anytime you have someone at the tail-end of their career, it makes contract talks more difficult to work out, but they'll do it. I think very soon.
12:03pm, May 15, 2008
rfletcher15
They need to redo Graham's contract, He earned it. Garcia signed a 2 year deal last year, enuff said
9:39pm, May 16, 2008
Bucsitaly
Ok garcia throw only 4int ,"but" in the playoff game if i remember well he has 2int.
4:53am, May 17, 2008
sumosam
Pay both of these guys the NFL average for starters at their positions. They deserve it. Although this is a business, you have to pay competitively in the marketplace. For the most part, the Bucs usually step up and do the right thing. I am sure they will in this case.
Wow! Some guys on this board are cheap and impossible to please. I'm glad you are not my boss.
9:05am, May 17, 2008
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