Quarterbacks, Money and More Money

Money makes the world go round and the Bucs are no exception. Roughly $19 million over the salary cap, the Bucs have to cut or restructure most of the costlier contracts on their roster by March.

The Buc's number one priority going into the offseason was to keep restricted free agent Chris Simms. To that end, the Bucs are ready to slap a two million tender on Simms that would guarantee if Simms signs with another team, said team would have to give up a first and third round picks (hat tip to Adam Schefter of the NFL Network for this bit of news).

Brian Griese, able to read the tea leaves, has gone on the offensive in an attempt to get released from his contract early. Griese's agent has already fired a shot at the Bucs organization, surprisingly through the fanzine Pewter Report. Besides declaring that his client will not restructure his contract (and thus guarantee the Bucs will cut Griese), agent Cindrich mentioned that Griese is "close to 100 percent healthy."

The St. Pete Times, which actually has journalistic integrity, broke the same story a day after Pewter Report, but did not mention Griese's health. Conventional wisdom says a torn ACL takes a year to a year and a half to fully heal. So when Griese's agent say his client is almost fully recovered from a torn ACL he suffered a mere four months ago, there's a good chance Cindrich is not being fully honest (then again a sports agent lying is not really breaking news).

So good job Pewter Report, what you lack in journalistic integrity you make up for in over charging foolish Bucs fans for useless reports on third string linebackers.

Speaking of journalistic integrity, tip of the hat to the St. Pete Times for actually doing some research for the story about the Bucs raising ticket prices. The Tampa Tribune, most likely since they have a business relationship with the Bucs, ran a mostly glowing review of the hike in ticket prices. Now it may be hypocritical for someone who does almost no research for his posts, to attack some one else for putting as little effort into their column, but the Tribune has a responsibility to research and report on their stories. I guess the Tribune is too busy handing advertising checks to the Bucs to do any useful reporting.