Buccaneers GM Jason Licht.
Is there remorse at One Buc Palace for a money-driven decision that has a spotlight on it this week?
That was a picture painted by longtime Bucs beat writer Rick Stroud as he spoke today on 1150 AM in Tampa.
All-Pro left tackle Tristan Wirfs had knee surgery this week and is projected to miss regular season action in September, per various reports. How many games is unclear.
Veteran tackle Charlie Heck was signed in March to back up Wirfs after the team did not re-sign backup tackle Justin Skule, who bolted to the Vikings for a $2 million contract.
Stroud said that was not the ideal scenario for Buccaneers Ring of Honor general manager Jason Licht.
Per Stroud, Licht “told me he would have loved to re-sign him,” referring to Skule.
Stroud added that Licht said the price tag on Skule was too high. Of course, $2 million is a low NFL salary and the Bucs have a loads of available salary cap room.
Joe finds this very intriguing, even more intriguing considering this information was not published in Stroud’s TampaBay.com story about Wirfs’ surgery and pending absence. Perhaps it was one of those nuggets writers won’t put in print because they weren’t supposed to share the information.
Or perhaps it was the result of a typical dying-newspaper move: not including what fans are most interested in.
Regardless, Skule is gone and Heck, who is bigger, more athletic and more experienced (23 starts), is in his place. Joe’s not concerned about Heck being a downgrade, and Joe’s quite sure Licht isn’t either.