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Allen To Pursue Free Agents

Posted Jan 10, 2008 by Anwar S. Richardson

Updated Jan 10, 2008 at 02:11 PM

Bucs GM Bruce Allen said his team was around $23 million under the salary cap and intended to pursue “Tiger Woods-like” free agents that would make Tampa Bay better in 2008.

Allen spoke with the media around noon on Thursday and believed this season was successful enough for coach Jon Gruden to at least finish off the final year of his contract in Tampa Bay. He also did say Tampa Bay has resigned assistant coaches Bill Muir (offensive coordinator/offensive line), Richard Bisaccia (special teams coordinator) and Richard Mann (wide receivers)

Here are some of the subjects Allen addressed on Thursday:

On resigning defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin
“Monte is probably the mayor of — I don’t know where Redington Beach is. Is that St. Pete or Clearwater? He really is a fixture and an important part of the Buccaneers and he has said he wants to come back. Coach (Jon Gruden) has said he wants him to come back. So we’ll let him work on his timetable.”

On a Gruden extension helping to lure free agents
“I think our coaches are very confident of the plan we have in place here. Actually free agents aren’t supposed to be calling us until March 1, even though our phone number is published so they can find it. I don’t see that as an obstacle whatsoever, but at the right time we’ll deal with it. The team is really excited about where we are right now and there’s players that got some valuable experience this year from games one through 16 and are excited about the chance to come back. The players and young guys on this team know what is expected of team in an offseason program. They know what’s expected of them in the classroom. The best way we can improve our team is to get those 14 guys from the injured reserved list healthy again. Because that would be the greatest increase in talent. We finished the season with 53 men on our roster but we also had the 14 injured reserve players who we’re looking at as a new group of free agents. We got to get them back into they system, healthy again competing for starting playing time and special teams playing time in order to improve this team. If you add that type of quality to a 53-man roster, that’s a great leg up on free agency.”

On chasing higher priced free agents
“We got the opportunity to go after anybody that is available. We look at things a little bit differently. There are values we put on someone and some other teams could put a different value on that player. The amount of money you receive doesn’t make you a better player, and circumstances sometimes dictate that if you line up next to someone you can be a better player in that system. I think Cato June could have received more money to go somewhere else. The fact that he wanted to come here and play alongside the linebackers we have in our system made him the perfect fit for us. There’s no limit to who we can go after, which is a nice feeling entering into free agency.”

On Mike Alstott’s future
“Mike is contemplating his situation. We get together at this time each year. We’ll discus it. I don’t think there’s any hurry in making a decision. After Mike and I get together I’m sure we’ll let you know what we decide.”

On the quarterback situation
“Jeff as you all saw is a tremendous competitor, which is what we ere looking for when we brought him in and he delivered. Once again Luke McCown, I really believe showed some special skills that show promise for the future. Chris Simms we’re hoping is healthy and can play this year and compete. There’s someone in a Montana or is Idaho mountain right now that we hope he honors his contract. And Bruce Gradkowski gives us more competition and depth at the quarterback position. As of right now we feel good and as you looked around the league this year that is the story. I don’t think you’ve seen as many backup quarterbacks forced into playing football this year in a starting role, and teams that really went through four quarterbacks has to be near an NFL record. And the play of some quarterback in this league really hurt some franchises badly this year.”

On ever getting Jake Plummer
“I’m a really hopeful guy. That I am. He got to see what we were doing this year and he has a contact and we expect him to honor it.”

On giving RB Earnest Graham a new deal (he has one year remaining on his contract)
“We have several players who would be in the last year, someone mentioned Jeff Garcia, and Earnest is one and I’ve already had a conversation with his representative and we’ll set up a meeting later on to talk about it.”

On having a playmaker at wide receiver or needing to sign somebody?
“I think Joey Galloway has been one of the most dominant receivers in the NFL with the Buccaneers. Talk about somebody who changes all of the formulas of how you’re supposed to evaluate players when you put consideration into age. He is the fastest player on our team. I have a feeling he’s going to be the fastest player on the Buccaneers four or five years from now because we didn’t play anybody faster or more explosive than Joey Galloway the entire year. Can we help out and add to our receiving core? Absolutely we can, but when you talk about dominate player, Joey Galloway’s numbers are dominant in this league. Now, we don’t throw the ball 45 times a game. At least we don’t want to go into the game throwing the ball 45 times a game. If you put him in some of these other offensive that do throw the ball 50 times a game, Joey Galloway could be a 2,000 yard receiver. We’re proud of what we have and what Joey’s accomplished. Can we add to every position? Absolutely, including receiver.

On why Michael Clayton had not gotten back to his rookie year?
“When you look at his rookie year and then he got banged around for a couple of years. Michael Clayton did come back for us this year in a very strong way. I’m actually very proud of the comeback that he did. He was an important part of the special teams and an important part of our offense. He sets a tone that you don’t see in a lot of wide receivers in the NFL. I think the playoff, he made some nice grabs in the playoff game. I don’t look at it so much as like he had, whatever he had, 30 catches and Ike had 50 catches and Stovall had 20 catches. Those are all Buccaneer receptions. If you can work within our mix and be a good teammate and not give a darn if you caught the ball or your teammate caught the ball, but you can free up an extra reception yard … that is the type of guys we want. I think Michael made a good comeback from his injuries and I think his future is still in front of him.”