Posted by  WilliamL, Tampa on 05/16  at  08:43 AM

Like I said before, he could become another Rhett. Rosenhaus is poison and is only looking out for himself, not his clients.  He has done this to players over and over. Why they continue to listen to him is beyond me. I guess it’s because he’s good at telling them what they want to hear.

Posted by  WilliamL, Tampa on 05/16  at  08:42 AM

Graham is not being smart holding out. NO ONE will give him top starter money after 1 above average season in which he didn’t gain 1000 yards and got banged up. He has been in the league 5 years and just now gets a chance due to 2 injuries ahead of him. Let him do it again in the final year of his contract and then he will have more leverage. He can’t expect top tier starter money now and if he locks himself into less than that long term, he will be holding out again if he has a monster season. He should try to negotiate a reasonable short term deal, and if the 2 sides can’t agree, go blow up this season and drive your price up. He has done nothing to warrant teams paying hand over fist to get him.

Posted by  Shawn Golan, Los Angeles, CA on 05/16  at  08:16 AM

Braheem…I agree with you completely.  Well, maybe not “completely,” but almost.  With Dunn and Bennett healthy and on the payroll, and Caddy seemingly ready to make a comeback attempt - Graham has very little bargaining power.  EG getting a new deal depends a lot on what he’s asking.  If he’s looked for #1 RB money, he’s going to be waiting a long time.  But, if he’s just looking for a moderate raise, he can get it.  That’s the trick in this situation, the price.  For the right price, its worth locking him up.  If he’s looking to win the lottery, then we need to trade him while he still has some value.

Posted by  JVand, Nashville on 05/16  at  05:37 AM

WE NEED SOME NEW NEWS!!

Posted by  Braheem Ackmadia, Phoenix on 05/16  at  12:41 AM

Let em all sit out!  There is always somebody who is willing to step up and take their place.  Graham has to remember who lined his pockets with what would be 3 to 4 times what the average man earns to run down and “Maybe” tackle a guy 3-4 times a week.  I’m sure Michael Bennett is enjoying the reps he is getting and he might actually do far better than Graham.  Maybe Graham needs to think “What if Bennett excels and he is released when the season starts”.  Hmmmmm Oh…Caddy is still the Man until he proves he can’t come back so why would the Bucs make any sizable financial committment to Graham.

Posted by  James R. Kinzer, 351 Winfield Ave. Winfield WV 25213 on 05/15  at  11:15 PM

Go get em John, you are right on !!!!!

Posted by  fernando, Lakeland on 05/15  at  10:47 PM

I thought this blog is about football not spelling!!!! asswipes

Posted by  Dan, Titusville,FL on 05/15  at  10:08 PM

John,
Are you a f(*&ing school teacher?
Is that all you do is sit on here and look for everybodys misstakes on misspelled words? If it is, your a freaking idioit. Anyway if you want to start pointing misstakes out, what is: Can’t you spell in Titusville? Lets break it down: “Can not you spell in Titusville?” What the H*&L is that mister intelligent? Nobody on here wants to here your corrections on everybodys misspelled words.We can be on here all day doing that you moron!!

Posted by  John Klopfer, Ocala, Florida on 05/15  at  08:47 PM

Hey Dan,

Can’t you spell in Titusville? Nonsence is spelled nonsense. Catagory is spelled category. Your spelling is almost as comical as Graham’s holdout!
William L is correct…Graham may have developed the Eric Rhett syndrome. He deserves a raise…but the Bucs shouldn’t give him the keys to the vault. At least not yet!

Posted by  RICHARD D SMITH, MO. on 05/15  at  05:29 PM

It smells like the Man. U. purchase is biting the Glazers behind. Just because G.Allen knew his stuff does not mean a genetic passdown,see Bobby Bowden.Brucie is, was, and always will be a cap guy, he has no more say than Chuckie on personnel. If Graham wants an incentive laden contract go for it. Yugo’s career is shot, and he wasn’t worth what he was paid.Had season tics for 20 yrs, and I want to see the Buc’s succeed. I feel the ghost of Hugh hovering around 1 Buc.

Posted by  Dan, Titusville,FL on 05/15  at  05:21 PM

Charles, Come on man think! The ONLY reason they played their starters was because it was against the Patriots the undefeated team that was supposely suppose to win the superbowl. They wanted to see how they whould match up with them. That was a smart move. If they had to play against somebody or anybody else like the K.C. Chiefs they would have rested their starters for sure.

Posted by  Dionte, Inbredness, FL on 05/15  at  04:34 PM

Charles, you are right. Not all teams rest there starters, but when you have a QB who is as old as the hills and has an injury you rest him. You could see the pain in the old mans eyes during the Giants game, he still wasn’t healthy. As far as Graham he should get paid. He isn’t a fluke.

Posted by  charles fiske, KC, MO on 05/15  at  03:23 PM

Dan, not all teams rest thier starters after clinching the playoffs.  Look at the Giants.  they played all their starters against the Patriots when it didn’t matter if they won or not.  Look what it did for them, it gave them momentum going into the playoffs and they won the super bowl.

Posted by  charles fiske, KC, MO on 05/15  at  02:38 PM

Next Gradowski never won any game for us.  He never score any points for us.  Our great Defense held off the Redskins long enough to win that game.  Bruce only threw for 106 yards and 0 INT 0 TDs. Our D got us 6 turnovers in that game.  Garcia came back 2 weeks later and played a full game and won37-3.  He played the following week for 2 quaters before he was pulled(not due to injury but fear of future injury) and we were up by seven when he was pulled.  Then Mcnoun came in threw an INT and fumbled away teh ball.  We would have won that game had Garcia stayed in.  Even sitting that last game and half he still took 67% of teh snaps.  I think he deserves his bonus.

Posted by  charles fiske, KC, MO on 05/15  at  02:36 PM

A player on an incentive based contract should not get penalized for having to sit because thier team won thier division early is what i was saying.  If you read what I said earlier, I said that if he took 70% of the snaps before teh games he was forced to sit then he should get the bonus.  Otherwise we are encouraging our players to play bad so they dont win thier division early so they can take 70% of the snaps and play all the games.  we should reward Garcia for clinching the division early so he could sit, dont penalize him for that.

Posted by  Dan, Titusville,FL on 05/15  at  01:45 PM

Thats what most teams do after winning their division, “they rest the starters before the playoffs.” Why do you want to play them in a game that totally doesn’t mean anything? Then you are risking a injury that can hurt you in the playoffs. The last thing on their minds are incentives. Anyway why are we talking about Garcia on the EG post?

Posted by  Skylar,  on 05/15  at  01:27 PM

Both of you are wrong. Garcia got hurt due to an ill-advised run on the second play of the 12th or 13th game. He hurt himself and missed the majority of the final 3 games. It was his own fault for making a boneheaded decision to dive instead of slide early in the game. That’s all on Garcia, not Gruden. If I’m not mistaken we had to rely on Gradkowski to win that game (Redskins?) which he did, and Garcia was gimpy from there on out. If he had played that game out, he would have had his 70%. That’s not Gruden’s fault and to slide on a run is QB101 - something a veteran should know.

Posted by  charles fiske, KC, MO on 05/15  at  12:58 PM

Mitch,  All garcia had to do was take 70% of the snaps.  So you can miss 3 games out of 10 and still get your incentive.  Do the math.  it was gruden sitting him the game and a half that made him miss his incentive.

Posted by  Mitch R, NYC on 05/15  at  12:54 PM

Charles, we clinched the division with 2 games to play, so resting Garcia was a priority in order to get ready for the playoffs.  I do think that Garcia played the entire 1st half vs the 49ers in game 15 and didn’t take 1 snap in the final game.  He missed his incentives not from Gruden holding him back in the final game and a half, but due to him missing almost 3 games due to injury.  THAT’S WHY INCENTIVES ARE IN CONTRACTS, to ensure that the player is geting paid for what the team is expecting.

Posted by  charles fiske, KC, MO on 05/15  at  12:38 PM

Even if Garcia had been 100% heathy, Gruden still would have sat him to prevent a injury.  It wasn’t just garcia that rode the bench, it was alot of the key players for the Bucs that did not play those 2 games.

Posted by  charles fiske, KC, MO on 05/15  at  12:34 PM

Mitch, if teh Bucs had to win those last 2 games of the season to make the playoffs would gruden have sat garcia with a sore back?  I dont think so.  Garcia would be playing with a sore back.  Would he have made it through both games is the question.  I dont think gruden sat him so he did not have to pay him the bonus, but I do think if he took 70% of the snaps prior to those 2 games he should get his bonus.  You are right in the fact he did sign a 2 year contract so he should play this year out for what he signed for.

Posted by  Mitch R, NYC on 05/15  at  12:18 PM

Charles, Gruden forced him to sit the last 2 games?  Or was Gruden keeping him out because Garcia had a balky back?  There’s a fine line between pre-caution and resting.  I think Gruden was doing both.  He wanted his QB fresh and his back 100% for the playoff run.  He wasn’t holding him out to keep him from making his bonus.  Again, if Garcia wasn’t happy with the money in his contract, he shouldn’t have signed last year or he should have signed a 1 year deal.  JEEZ.

Posted by  charles fiske, KC, MO on 05/15  at  12:12 PM

Why not offer graham an inncentive based contract?  If he gets so many touches and so many yards he should get the millions he would deserve.  As for Garcia, the Bucs should pay him the bonus he would have got had Gruden not forced him to sit the last 2 games last season, he earned that money.  After that he should play out the rest of his contract and be happy he is still playing for a great team at his age.

Posted by  Skylar,  on 05/15  at  11:13 AM

At least we’re all on the same page now. Thanks for the candor and honesty gents.

Posted by  Dan, Titusville,FL on 05/15  at  11:11 AM

Skylar, Sorry about that. You are right
and I am wrong. I just read the first couple of sentences that you posted and couldn’t go on reading that nonsence. I shouldn’t put you in the same catagory as Kinzer. He is in a catagory all by his self.