It’s the Running Back Position Stupid Welcome to the 2005 NFL Off-season, and the Bucs free agent bonanza that never occurred. After last springs “sign up anything over 30 that moves” strategy the Bucs, now haunted by a salary cap situation as gruesome as Jade Goody in a bikini, have had to reel it in completely with our main strategy seemingly to try to re-sign as many of last seasons squad as possible, remembering of course the wildly successful 5-11 season we had. I knew we were skint but when it transpires that a kicker from Atlanta is out of our price range, then you know how piss poor the situation really is. Our main marquee pick-ups so far appear to have been the retention of Greg Spires who was a must-have, and one Joey Galloway who can arguable be described as the most explosive eight games a year receiver the NFL has never seen. Regular readers of this rubbish (if there are any) will recall I’m not in Mr Galloway’s cheering squad, and I’m still firmly of the opinion that paying free agent dollars to a 33-year old receiver who relies on his speed but has the durability of Candy Floss, is complete folly. Gruden seems to love this guy and maybe Mr Galloway has dirty pictures of our GM, but otherwise I just think we are heading for heartbreak again with Joey once again poised for a spell on IR before week five is complete. Five things I think 1. Quincy Carter becoming a Buc? What the f**k – are we low on our criminal players quota now that Dwight Amateur Gunfighter Smith has left? Err, no thanks Mr Gruden. 2. Shaun King returning to the Bucs – even more no thanks. The sound you can hear in the background is Bruce Allen scraping at the bottem of the free agent barrel. 3. I think our offensive line was bad enough over the past two years, but to give up Cosey Coleman so easily was madness. It only serves to highlight what a complete cock-up last years pick-ups of Stinchcomb, Steussie, Deese and O’Dwyer were with none of them worth a fart compared to the veteran guard we’ve just let walk out of the door. 4. I think if I’m Chris Simms I’m beginning to come around to the idea that my storied career in Tampa is not going to happen under the current regime. Perhaps a trade of Simms Junior for a decent back is in the offing, especially if Quincy “no off the field troubles since February” Carter is signed up. 5. I think I’m hoping out of somewhere Mr Gruden and Mr Allen have some masterplan up their sleeves that their not telling us about. If optimism in Tampa deteriorates any further Mr Glazer might have to consider knocking down RJS and building the Sombrero back up. It was nice to see Mike Alstott retained and the novelty of a professional athlete taking less money in order to remain and finish his career with one team – hats off to you Mike, we are glad your still aboard. The main free agent signing so far is that of Anthony Becht at Tight End whom we are assured is a great blocker and will improve the running game – to earn a $7.5M over five years for a 13-catch Tight End, he effing well better had be a decent blocker. Correct me from wrong but I thought we already had a couple of 10-15 catch/blocking Tight Ends with us already at a far cheaper clip? We’ll see what Mr Becht can do anyway, he’s a large body if nothing else. What really would improve the running game is a decent game breaking back which I have whinged on about for the past 2 years. We have the fifth pick in the draft, and the chance to acquire one of Ronnie Brown, Carnell Williams, or Cedric Benson – at least 2 of which should be there by the time we pick. These player represents young legs and decent manageable contracts, and this in my book makes them far more attractive propositions that Edgerrin James or Shaun Alexander who already have mileage on their clocks, and would demand compensatory draft picks and megabucks deals. Reading the Tampa area press over the past week the Bucs though appear to be all but licking the backside of Mike Williams, who I have no doubt is an extreme talent and a local product to boot. If the strategy is to draft Williams and then trade a second or third round pick for Travis Henry, then I would be more agreeable to his selection. Drafting Mike Williams has some merit and would mean we had two quality young wideouts and would not have to worry about that position for the next 10 years. However if you’ve no running game or decent blocking up front, the wideouts will never get the ball at all when your QB spends every second snap running for his life. We have seven picks in the first 135 so if Mike Williams is our number one target, then surely the next six must be utilised for the offensive line and running back position to try to get something going. The 5th pick of the draft offers us a great opportunity to select a premier offensive player, specifically a premier skill position player at Running Back or Wide Receiver and it is essential we utilise this and all our other picks to start the make-over of the team and drag us back to some sort of respectability. If we rate Mike Williams above the three aforementioned runners considered worthy of the 5th selection, then lets select him but for gods sake lets not go into the season again without a back who we can rely on to at least hold on to the ball, or even run out the clock in the fourth quarter. The master plan we may all have overlooked in all of this if that if we stink up the joint again in 2005, at least one more offensive stud will arrive with another top pick in 2006, and then we really can start the climb back updwards. Yipee, what an optimistic thought that is. Barring a draft for the ages in the next fortnight, I can’t see anybody in their right mind thinking a winning season is possible for us at the moment. I’m off now to slit my wrists. Nod of Acknowledgement to - Brett Favre. Good to see the old gunslinger coming back for one last season. He’s a player who I admire and didn’t deserve to finish on a horrible play-off showing last January. I truly he believe he plays for the love of the game unlike many others throughout American Sports. Get in the Real World Award – Plaxico Burress. This guy wants a fat contract for multiple years of underachievement in Pittsburgh, and coming off the back of a 35 catch contract year. Good job he changed his agent but the NY Giant contract he turned down will haunt him.