saintz08

Linebacker Ian Gold, the best remaining free agent, reached an agreement with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as they completed a busy off season.


Activity for Gold picked up right before the draft with three teams, including the Bucs, trying to fulfill linebacker needs by signing Gold. The Broncos tried to keep him and were one of the teams trying to complete a deal, according to his agent, Carl Poston.


But the Bucs worked out a seven-year deal that will void to five years. A breakdown of the deal was not available, but it could be worth as much as $30 million over the five years of the contract.


Tuesday's agreement ends a long negotiation for a player considered one of the most attractive in free agency. Gold is a 6-foot, 223-pound linebacker whose game is built on speed. He's considered one of the fastest linebackers in the game.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=1791235

Danno

I believe he plays Derrick Brooks\' position.
Thats pretty interesting.
Derrick to SAM?

BrooksMustGo

Our division is going to be pretty scary this seson. I looks like just about every team has addressed areas of need in free agency and the draft.

I am still waiting for our front office to meaningfully address the CB position though.

Maybe after June 1, we can pick up Trotter for reasonable money and if we\'re really lucky a decent CB will become available.

As an aside, I will comment that I really am tired of the 7 Step Plan for Managing an NFL franchise, by the New Orleans Saints:

Step 1--Hey! Great news! __________ is going to be a free agent this year. He\'s a really great _____________ (CB, LB, DT, etc). With our cap room, maybe we can sign him.

Step 2--OK, so we didn\'t really sign anyone in free agency. No biggie, we\'re being smart with our money. Our front office must be targeting a __________ (CB, LB) through this year\'s draft.

Step 3--OK, so the guys we drafted didn\'t make a lot of sense, but now we have great depth. We must have one of the premier ________ (O-line, WR corps, D-Line) in the whole league. We will be able to run on anyone and have great run defense. Now that we have the fundamentals in place, we are poised to make a great pick-up for reasonable money with the June 1 cuts. _________ is a great _________ (CB, LB) and he\'s going to be released. I bet he ends up in black and gold.

Step 4--OK, so we didn\'t pick any over priced, over rated June 1 cut. If they were so great, they wouldn\'t have gotten cut right? We don\'t need them anyway. We already have _________ (Stallworth, Williams, Stinchcomb, Mitchell, Craver, Sullivan) and this year he is really going to emerge into a dominant pro-bowl kind of player. And we still have veteran leadership in _____________ (Bellamy, Ambrose, Smith, Conwell) and they haven\'t lost a step like the morons at _____________ (espn, sportsline, si, fox, the TP) have been saying. I\'m really optimistic heading into the season.

Step 5--How the heck are we 2-6? With all this talent, we should be an elite team headed for the playoffs.

Step 6--This is kind of a rebuilding year ____________ (Stallworth, Williams, Brooks, Sullivan, Grant) just needs time to develop. These are all pro caliber guys just underachieving. Besides if ____________ wasn\'t hurt, we\'d be a shoe-in for the playoffs.

Step 7--I\'m so excited that ____________ (elite CB or LB) is going to be a free agent this year. With all this cap space, we\'re sure to make a big splash in free agency. But even if we don\'t there\'s _____________ (CB) and ___________(LB) coming out in the draft and they are just studs. Plus we have 3 picks in the top 55. We\'re going to put the last couple of pieces in the puzzle to make our big playoff run, next year.

http://www.blackandgold.net/site/signature/buddysig.jpg

canucksaint

Where\'s the step that we blame our record on the cancerous player in the locker room, followed by cutting them?
BTW, who is the cancerous player in the Saints locker room this year?

saintz08

Some will say Joe Horn , based upon comments made around the Super Bowl .

WhoDat

An All-Time great post BMG. LMAO. Fantastic... and entirely too close to reality.

whowatches

Classic post, BMG. Sorry I missed it earlier.

Haven\'t seen you around in a while. You still wearing black cause of the draft?

whowatches

Oh... and on topic.

I\'m still a little disappointed that we didn\'t sign Gold. I think his price was a bit high considering his ACL injury. Slowly I\'m learning to be disappointed with Saints linebackers (or lack thereof). Here\'s hoping Cie makes us forget that Gold was ever available.

no_cloning

Great post, BMG.
Cancer for the first half of the year: Howard
Second half: Horn.

Passing on Gold at this prize is okay with me.

LordOfEntropy

Great post BMG. I laughed for a full twenty seconds on that one. And it\'s so damned accurate that I\'m sure I\'ll be crying for the rest of the season.