Something Smells Fishy.............

As I reported a short time ago, a breaking story is unfolding. It seems that GM Bruce Allen has told everyone that the Buccaneers are $19 million over the 2006 Salary Cap with NO new CBA. However, this is turning out not to be true. It seems that the NFL, ESPN, the NFL Network and the Buccaneers' very own Radio Network has discovered the figure is more like $8-9 Million over the cap. This is huge! Why would Mr. Allen lie about this number? Was it to scare the top 15 paid players on the Buccaneers roster to renegotiate their contracts? Why did the Buccaneers tell Mike Alstott that they do not have the $1.5 million to resign him that he is asking for, but they offered him a lower price? Was this a way to get more money to sign top free agents, that Mr. Allen and Coach Jon Gruden know might be available after the CBA fell through and big named free agents would be cut and available?

I am kind of pissed about being lied to, however, if there is a plan like they need the money to sign Pro Bowl, Free Agent, Offensive Line men then this might be ok, but they should have told us.. If you do not believe that Mr. Allen is capable of lying read this article.

Misunderstanding
It seems in this article by the St. Pete Times, Anthony McFarland was asked to restructure his contract to bring Shaun King back, which he agreed to do, because he is close friends with King. However, after the Buccaneers had their money they did not bring King back, they signed Tim Rattay instead. Now don't get me wrong, I would much rather have Tim Rattay instead of King, however would McFarland have gave up his money knowing that Rattay was coming instead of King. Do you considered this lying.

Here is the reports I found about the Buccaneers real cap situation:

John Clayton from ESPN, who keeps track of the NFL Teams Salary Cap reported:
espn

By Pat Kirwan FL.com Senior Analyst:
nfl
Kirwan wrote:

Tampa Bay: The Bucs have rebuilt their football team over the past two seasons and seem ready to make a run back to the top of the NFC. If the CBA were extended, they could get a player or two to make a difference on a young talented roster. Instead, they need to create close to $9 million in salary-cap space to be in compliance with the 2006 cap. Terminating two players like Mike Alstott and Brian Griese would get the Bucs under the cap, but it doesn't give them enough room to replace the talent they had in 2005 or give them the flexibility to be aggressive with unrestricted free agent players.

This is just a few that I found on the Net, the NFL Network reported on it this
moring.