Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Analyzing the 10 Biggest Free-Agent Blunders of All Time

The Eagles came up big during the free-agency bazaar last week with a dream team of available players.  The Patriots went out on a limb again with another reclamation project in their signings of Albert Haynesworth and Chad Ochocinco.  And the Jets made a splash when Plaxico Burress turned down his former team to sign with the J-E-T-S.

And the Bucs?  The huge, ground-shattering, league-changing get of Michael Koenen to a six-year, $19.5 million contract. 

All kidding aside, the signing of Koenen should improve the Bucs’ field position this season after his punting stats from his days with Atlanta showed he can put the ball near the goal line often and he can kick it into the end zone on kickoffs (40.7-yard average, with 29 punts inside the 20, 23 touchbacks on kickoffs in 2010).

That’s great and all, but six years and $19.5 million?

Buccaneers general manager Mark Dominik summed it up this way in a meeting with the press on Friday:

“I’ve always told you guys I’m a big believer in special teams in terms of how players make this team early on and where they go,” Dominik said. “Specifically, punter and kicker are a big part of that. I think they control a lot of field position that a lot of fans that sometimes we take for granted. I thought it brought a lot of value to our football team to limit kickoff returns and also keep your team healthy in a way. Not only is he a really good punter, but he is a phenomenal kickoff guy and I think he is a big weapon in the National Football League. I look forward to him coming in here and showing that off.”

The success of Koenen's signing is yet to be determined, but while we wait, here are 10 free-agent signings that sank the ship:

Alvin Harper

“Alvinnnnnnnnnnnn!”  The angst caused by Harper still resonates among fans in the Tampa Bay region.  Harper joined the Buccaneers after starring with the Cowboys from 1991-1994 and was supposed to bring electricity and production to the passing attack.

But Harper’s success—124 receptions for 3,473 yards and 21 touchdowns—was mostly because of Hall-of-Fame receiver Michael Irvin’s presence.  In Tampa, Harper didn’t have the luxury of Irvin taking most of the attention so Harper quickly became exposed. 

Harper failed to live up to the four-year, $10.66 million contract and was labeled as the player with “Keyshawn Johnson’s attitude and mouth but without his ability to catch the football.”  He was cut after the 1996 season and finished with 65 receptions and 922 yards. 

The stat that told it all, though?  Three touchdowns.

And the quote that wrapped it up for him?  When he returned while with the Redskins in a pre-season game, he had this to say at a press conference:  “I don’t ever consider that I played in Tampa Bay.”  David Whitley of the Tampa Tribune then wrote:  “And he has the stats to prove it.”

Bert Emanuel

Emanuel, along with Harper, will go down as not only one of the worst free-agent signings of the Buccaneers, but also in the NFL.  Emanuel was signed to a $16-million, four-year contract in 1998 from Atlanta after four monster seasons in which he had 260 receptions for 3,600 yards and 24 touchdowns.

Emanuel was hampered by nagging injuries over his two seasons with the Bucs and managed just 63 catches for 874 yards and three touchdowns.  Fittingly, his final catch with the Bucs came on a highly-debated “catch” that was called back in the NFC championship game against the Rams.  A few weeks later, his contract was cut short as well when the Bucs released him. 

Rob Johnson

Johnson makes this list simply for the reason he came in with a whole bunch of hype—most specifically, by the Buccaneers coach at the time, Jon Gruden.  Gruden believed he would make Johnson into the next Rich Gannon, who Gruden developed into a mobile quarterback during his stint with the Raiders.

Johnson was signed by the Bucs before the 2001 season after earning both enviable and dubious Buffalo Bills’ career records.  Johnson still holds the best completion percentage and the worst sack-to-dropback ratio in Bills history. 

By the end of his short stay with the Bucs, he had lived up to the expectations on some accounts—two wins as a starter against the Bears and the Panthers and a win in a playoff-relief appearance during Tampa Bay’s Super Bowl run—and he had disappointed on many. 

Known as the human sack machine before coming to Tampa, Johnson kept the moniker alive and kicking with his scrambling efforts that often turned into sacks.  He went on to Washington for the 2003 campaign and then the Raiders before finishing up with the Giants as a practice-team member in 2006. 

Jeb Blount

John Eugene Blount called himself Jeb after the initials of his name.  He did enter the NFL with a bit of panache as a second-round pick by the Oakland Raiders in the 1976 draft after having a respectable career at Tulsa, earning an honorable mention All-American his senior season.

Blount, who claimed to have honed his passing ability on his parents’ ranch in Texas by hitting bulls on the head with a football, did not play during the 1976 season after suffering an ankle injury in preseason.  The Bucs claimed him after the Raiders waived him prior to the 1977 season and had him rotate at quarterback with Gary Huff and Randy Hedberg.

None of these quarterbacks managed to do much of anything, but Blount’s career was over before it ever materialized.  Blount appeared in five games, started in four and completed 37 passes in 89 attempts for 522 yards.  Worse yet, he had seven interceptions and compiled an unthinkable 28.3 passer rating. 

He never played again after the end of the ’77 season after being cut prior to the 1978 campaign.  His replacement?  Doug Williams.

Dave Warnke

To say Warnke's career was brief is being kind.  A bare-footed kicker who had failed to beat out Eddie Murray in the 1983 training camp with the Lions, Warnke was signed for the final game of the 1983 season after Bill Capece was cut. 

Nothing much was going right for the Buccaneers during their 2-14 campaign and Warnke added to the misery.  His only field-goal attempt, a 20-yard chip shot, barely traveled past the line of scrimmage and the only point of his NFL playing days came on an extra point that shaved the goal post. 

John McKay was so disgusted by Warnke’s performance that he replaced him with a left-footed, toe-kicking offensive lineman for the final extra point of the season.  

Ken Willis

As much as Bucs’ fans are up in arms about Koenen, perhaps the biggest miss with kickers came with Ken Willis.  The Bucs slipped and let Steve Christie escape to Buffalo after the 1991 season.

Christie went on to have a rather nice career with the Bills, where he played for nine seasons.  In 15 NFL seasons, Christie converted 336 of 431 (77 percent) field goals and 468 of 473 (98 percent) extra points. 

Willis?  He was accurate on extra points with 20-of-20 made, but he was hardly the same on field goals, missing on 6-of-14 attempts.  He was released in favor of veteran Eddie Murray, appeared briefly for the Giants later that season, but never played in the NFL again.   

Charles Wright/LaCurtis Jones

A tie between Charles Wright and LaCurtis Jones here. These players make the list more so for their exits than their lack of production as a Buccaneer. 

Wright didn’t necessarily enter Tampa with a stellar resume after being drafted by the Cardinals in the 10th round of the draft and subsequently cut in preseason.  His “career” as a cornerback then went something like this—signed by the Cowboys, appeared in three games, released during the 1988 season, picked up by the Bucs, appeared in two games, penalized 15 yards for a personal foul in a game against the Bears, screamed at by Buccaneers coach Ray Perkins on the sidelines, released the following week, never plays in the NFL again. 

Jones was a fourth-round pick of the Dolphins in 1995 after starring at Baylor, where he was named All-SWC in 1994 and ’95.  He was a free-agent signing in 1996 by the Bucs and played 10 games on the special teams unit, ranking fourth on the team with eight tackles. 

He was cut in the 1997 camp and did not leave kindly.  He threatened to return to One Buc Place with a gun, where he promised to take it out on the coaches who cut him.  The police arrived and escorted Jones to a plane bound for Texas.  Jones never played in the NFL again. 

James Brooks

Brooks brought the pedigree, having appeared four times in the Pro Bowl.  More importantly, he left the Cincinnati Bengals in 1991 after helping lead them to a Super Bowl appearance in 1989 and becoming the all-time leading rusher in team history with 6,447 yards (since surpassed by Corey Dillon’s 8,061 yards).

He followed Sam Wyche to Tampa and was supposed to be the runner to help catapult the Bucs to elite status.

The problem?  By the time he touched the ball at the start of the 1992 season, he was pushing 34 years old and his play in two games clearly showed he was over the hill.  After rushing for just six yards on five carries, he was cut, ending his NFL career.

He did resume his football career briefly with a few appearances in the British Gridiron League a couple years later. 

Charlie Garner

Another running back that came to the Bucs with proven numbers, having led the Raiders in the 2002-03 season with 962 rushing yards and seven touchdowns.  He also led all NFL running backs that season with 91 receptions for 941 yards and four more touchdowns. 

Like Brooks, who followed his former coach to the Bucs, Garner followed Jon Gruden to the Bucs hoping he’d bring the same mojo to a team two years removed from winning the Super Bowl.  But a knee injury curtailed any hopes of glory and Garner was released right before the start of the 2005 season, spoiling a six-year, $20 million contract and $4 million in up-front money. 

Jeff Faine

The Bucs made a big splash in the 2008 free-agent signings when they inked Faine to a six-year $37.5-million contract, $15-million of it guaranteed: $15 million!!

Listen, Faine has been a functional center, but it isn’t like he’s been electric.  During his tenure with the Bucs, the offensive line he’s led has allowed 30 sacks or more in each of the past three seasons.  Sure, it isn’t all his fault, but the former New Orleans Saint has been mediocre at best. 

Andy Benoit of the New York Times even went so far as to comment that Faine is “paid like a top-flight player but is used only as a cog.” 

He even raised some ire of Bucs’ fans by participating minimally this offseason during the Josh Freeman-led workouts.