As The Daunte Turns

Do you want to know the definition of a really bad day for an NFL QB?

It's when a team chooses to sign Tim Couch instead of you.

That is exactly what happened to Daunte Culpepper this weekend, as the Jaxsonville Jaguars decided to go with the NFL's version of Nikoloz Tskitishvili instead of Daunte. What is especially troublesome about this development for Daunte is that the Jaguars were assumed to be the perfect fit. It was a foregone conclusion that he was going there. So what went wrong? Evidently the deal fell apart because Daunte wanted a one year deal, and the Jaguars were looking for something in the 2-3 year range. In examining the situation, both sides were right to stick to their guns. The Jags want two things, 1.) security behind Byron Leftwich and 2.) someone to push Leftwich. A one year deal would not have really fulfilled either of those needs. For Culpepper, a one year deal will help him prove that he is truly healthy whil allowing him the ability to pursue a starting job next year, or at least get premium backup money. Any contract Culpepper will sign this summer will be at a large discount, so minimizing the length of this deal is to Culpepper's advantage.

Now that the Jaguars are out of the running, where does Daunte land this year?
If you trust John Clayton over at ESPN, Tampa Bay looks like a contender. If that were to actually happen, and the Bucs added Daunte to a stable that already hosts Jeff Garcia, Chris Simms, Bruce Gradkowski, Luke McCown, and the rights to Jake Plummer, I would quit blogging and apply to become the new Bucs GM, since the current one is obviously an imbecile. All kidding aside, Clayton also throws out the Rams and Ravens as possible destinations for Daunte. I'm not sure where he came up with those two teams but hey, it's John Clayton, so I'll cut him some slack.

The momentum in signing Culpepper however, seems to lie with the Raiders. Culpepper is scheduled to work out for the Raiders in California today, and signing with Oakland just might be the perfect deal for him. JaMarcus Russell is still holding out, and with him unlikely the be ready to start at the beggining of the season the Raiders are looking at starting either Josh McCown or Andrew Walter at QB for the first 6-10 games of the season. Would an 80-90% healthy Culpepper be better than those two guys? Probably. Would starting for half a year be better for Culpepper's free agent chances next year than sitting behind Jeff Garcia in Tampa Bay? Certainly. Is there a better QB for Russell to learn from than Culpepper, the man he is a clone of? Not a chance.

Now...there is one other destination for Culpepper; Minnesota. Ok, maybe Daunte did not leave on the best of terms, but for goodness sakes, the Vikings are headed into the season with Tavaris Jackson as their starter with Brooks Bollinger as the backup. If the Vikings were a baby Zygi Wilf and Minnesota management would be charged with child neglect. Seriously, how can you not at least consider bringing in Daunte for a year? After seeing Jackson flee the pocket constantly and throw interceptions in the few games he played last season, does Brad Childress really believe that he couldn't use one more year of learning before being thrown into the fire? Maybe they are blind up in Minnesota, but Daunte looks like a good fit there to me. Wherever he lands, one thing can be for sure; he won't be looking to stay there long.

Third Time's A Shame

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers won the Super Bowl just four seasons ago.

Seems longer than that doesn't it?

In the four years since that Super Bowl victory the Bucs have gone 27-37 and are coming off an especially dismal 4-12 campaign. So what has gone wrong? There are a number of possible answers to that question, but one answer has come to the forefront in the past day after the Bucs cut Simeon Rice. Rice was one of the five defensive stars on Tampa's Super Bowl winning team, along with Derrick Brooks, Ronde Barber, John Lynch, and Warren Sapp. Rice is also the third casualty of that group, along with Lynch and Sapp. Both of those players have gone on to make Tampa look foolish by continuing to perform at a high level for their new teams. Will Rice continue that trend?

Consider this; Rice had a shoulder injury that should have sidelined him the entire season. Instead of sitting out though, he played eight mostly ineffective games and only amassed two sacks. So after one injury shortened season the Bucs demanded that Rice take a pay cut, or they would release him. He said no, and they cut him. Never mind the fact that Rice 1.) has the second most sacks of any active player and 2.) had turned in five consecutive seasons with 11 sacks or more for the Bucs prior to last year. Have the Bucs learned nothing from how the Lynch and Sapp situations turned out?

Even worse that the prospect of Rice continuing to perform well for another team though, is the damage that the move has done to the team's morale. Just take a look at this qoute;

"[Derrick] Brooks was almost in tears," said Rice, who ran into the Bucs long-standing weakside linebacker in the hotel parking lot just minutes after being told of his fate.

The Bucs players are scared now. Don't believe me? Just ask their punter;

"Shocker, eh?" punter Josh Bidwell said. "I'd better play well because nobody is safe. I'm as shocked as you are."

The obvious question now is whether or not the Bucs made the right move. My gut feeling is that the answer is a resounding "No". An elite pass rusher like Rice doesn't just lose it after one injury. I'd be willing to wager that Rice will get snatched up by another team quickly (Washington...please?), and will make the Bucs rue the day they decided to cut an aging defensive star for money concerns.

It didn't really change their thinking the first two times it happened, did it?