You're listening to the Fully Loaded podcast with your hosts JC Cornell and Samer Ali,
welcome back to Fully Loaded, this is your host JC Cornell with Samer Ali as always, and we have special guests today, Assistant General Manager of the Buccaneers Mike Greenberg. How you doing, Mike? How you guys doing, good man? Welcome to the show, Mike. Thanks for having me. All right, Mike. Elephant in the room, we don't have to go into any detail, Tristan Wirfs holdout, we have no one's panicking, we know he's going to be back. My only question I wanted to ask you is does it make it a lot easier when you have a guy like Pennie Sewell recently resetting the market with those contract details, you know, four years, $112 million, $50 million dollars signing bonus, $85 million guaranteed. Does that help you in the negotiation process or make it quicker per se?
Um, you know, definitely it provides another benchmark there's a lot of benchmarks and teams do deals differently they structure deals differently what's more important what's important to each player and club when they're negotiating is always a little bit different but it definitely it provides another benchmark of um, you know, a caliber player uh similar to Tristan so um, it definitely Definitely helps, uh, in providing a benchmark, but I think each negotiation is a little bit different depending upon that situation, Mike, for sure, for sure, um. What does it say about Tristan that obviously today's Tuesday, first day of mandatory minicamp for you guys and he is there and he plans on participating and being part of the team and you know doing what is expected of him not only as you know a player of his caliber but also as a leader in that locker room so what does it say for you know about his
actual personality and who he is not only from your standpoint but from the standpoint of the other guys in the locker. Room for him to be here, be present, and not make this a bigger thing than it should be when so you know, so widely across the league, guys make it a thing and guys make it, you know, a bigger piece of drama than it than it maybe needs to be, but kind of speak to you know how his personality and and his responsibility to coming to for the team being at mandatory minicamp. Yeah, now Tristan's a special guy, he's been everything that we'd hope for uh from the moment he walked in um he's he's he's a phenomenal person, phenomenal player but even a a better person, great teammate.
I know the locker room, the guys love him and I I think he wanted to. Be here you know, for them, and uh not to disappoint them, but I think he also looks at it as the perfect guy, and he's you know kind of the guy that he's been working so hard for, and I think he's the kind of guy that's going to work himself out the contract and uh he's going to uh show up be here and and he just it's it just goes to the type of guy he is the person he is and um not not too dissimilar from Winfield last year um you know Winfield came came here last year for camp was here for training camp and then you didn't hear really much on his end he just went out and did what he did and um got rewarded with the biggest contract in the history of defensive backs
similar type of guy he's gonna want to be here for his teammates and and and go about he goes about um his business and does does the right thing and a great teammate and great guy um completely non-biased question for you uh do you think tristan wirfs and antoine winfield jr are the best back-to-back draft picks in nfl history you can definitely definitely make an argument about it i mean especially given the time that we we had that draft and we had you know bringing brady and gronk and being really all in and that was the the year is such a special year and those two played such a big part in us winning a Super Bowl from their rookie years, so um, just given what they contributed right away to that team, I think you could definitely make an argument you touched a little bit on Brady there Mike, and that kind of leads to a question I wanted to ask you um
yeah, year in and year out, off-season to off-season, seemingly you guys come up with new ways maybe they're not new but they're new to us it seems like uh, creative ways and you guys consistently keep the guys you want to keep it seems like you can't but somehow you guys pull it off I know that's a major part of what you do and what you bring to the table um, speak to kind of like where that has Sort of comes from, is that from you know what you've learned from the league coming up because so often you see teams that you know focus on the now and don't worry about tomorrow. Whereas you guys have been able to focus on now and worry about tomorrow, and kind of keep it really balanced not having to kick the can down the road like some teams do.
The Saints do. And you guys have been able to kind of keep it balanced in a way that continues to keep us competitive. Then you got that year where you're supposed to eat the credit card payment, right? You're supposed to not win, you're supposed to have no quarterback after Tom Brady leaves. And yet, here we are, competing. We win the division wall that's happening. And apparently, all signs point to we found the next quarterback for this team. On top of that, all speak to where how you know that came from and how you guys are able to kind of keep that balance and focus and seemingly pull rabbits out of hats every single offseason like you just did with Antoine Winfield bringing back Mike keeping all these guys intact.
Levante the list goes on and on, I can do this with you all day, obviously. But speak to how that you guys have been able to find that balance and has that been something that you learned when you were really Young of the league, or has it been something that where you and the team, and Jason, and all these guys, and Spy Tech have been able to put your brains together and create this mastermind template that so many other teams have not been able to figure out? There's a few of them, but you guys seem to be at the front line just making things happen every single year, so a good question I think. Uh,
well first, I think it starts with our ownership group and the Glazer family, and giving us the resources, especially coming into 2020, 2021, 2022 where we were all in, wanting to bring everybody back, go for it again, and uh you can't really do what we do, what we Did without the resources to do it, and they were all about bringing the team back and and and doing everything they can. And really, they're like that every year they're going through every year. But in that, they recognize that that window was was was small with Brady, and we i think made the most of it. You know, now we're obviously um took last year to take our wounds
a little bit, and um, first going back taking a step back, um, you know, I actually was an intern with Jackie Davis sitting at the Jets so I learned my first learning experience was under her and we had the opportunity to bring her here a few years ago, you know, I said the Jason, I was like me, and I learned how to think, I learned how to do all this from her, so we think alike; we look at it like we love a challenge. Like, we had '20-'21 and even now, to try and find some creative ways to do things and keep an eye in the future we're always keeping an eye two-three years out. But make it work for for this year.
So I've me and her enjoyed really the last few years trying to find some different ways to do things, some loopholes, some things we hadn't done i knew before that. And then I would say a big, a big part of that actually goes to the scouting staff because if you look at a lot of the success we had last year. We knew we were going to have to go with a little bit of a younger team. We were going to have to go with a quarterback that we brought in, and um those guys and girls keep they keep hitting home run after home run in the draft and free agency, and so a lot of credit to the spy attack, Mike Beale, Rob McCartney, and Jason, and the whole personnel department because I think we i think five or six undrafted free agents made the team last year, so and and a few of them really contributed and and and
played big minutes for us, and um I think a lot of the making the playoffs while taking the licks and wounds comes from the talent that we brought. In and obviously Baker was a home run, signing for us, but um, it's credit to the personnel department and then the coaches for coaching them uh, but the personnel department here has been phenomenal and that's really what's allowed us to continue to be successful while taking some of our licks and now we're really on the way out of it um, so that that's been a big part of our success last year and hopefully this year. So before I get to like this current roster in this upcoming season, I gotta ask: so the Tom Brady signing, when this all happened, you know how how far in advance did you know it was going to be a thing? How long was the? negotiation with them and like was was this just like a crazy experience this is tom brady we're about to get tom brady on this franchise and win a super bowl the whole experience was was really
special um we knew that friday was going to be a Roma on friday i mean um and just doesn't really differentiate really much between us though i grew up yeah if i were to describe it like like um it was actually ainks a very um mature family so a lot of that was our family what it was like worked really well with the whole team and you know it was very difficult when um you know it was very simple but we was it kind of like a good time prepared For the next season to start going forward, so I really appreciate him hanging in the bar and talking about things a lot like that. Um, while that came off your mind after you're on your own uh, the operations a lot of uh the agent and started talking numbers, uh it moved uh relatively quickly. He did an enormous amount of homework, it seems like beforehand, so he knew what teams he was looking for and what he was what he was looking, you know really what was important to him. So during that period it moved pretty quick, but it didn't have challenges um, you know I think I've told this story before, but he uh,
he was in New York and we couldn't Fly him in, so we actually i actually had my brother-in-law go to his apartment to have him sign the contract because I wanted that thing signed, so the minute it was free, uh, we were about to sign. I sent my brother-in-law in New York, in New York City, to his apartment to do it because we weren't allowed to bring him in at that point and I wasn't waiting for FedEx and for him to go to Kinko's and print it out. So there was a lot of the whole experience was surreal and really the whole year was surreal. Would have been... I don't know who your brother-in-law is, but I was gonna say, would have been my brother-in-law, I was gonna say that for you.
Brother-in-law, that's probably a story he's gonna tell for the rest of his life. He's the one who took the picture that of him signing... oh yeah, that's unbelievable! I remember, I called me; he goes, 'Are you serious about this?' I go, 'Yes, I'm dead serious.' And you're getting the new cab over walk there, I don't care. You need to go sign down Brady. I just wanted to add one more thing about that great era. So obviously, we won the Super Bowl; that was great. Um, and then it happens to be that we're the first team in the Super Bowl era to bring back all 22 starters from the Super Bowl-winning season, and we're the first team in the Super Bowl era to bring back all 22 starters from the super bowl and that's just got to be such an accomplishment as well that was uh yeah we're definitely very proud of that i remember being at the parade at the end of the parade and you know levante was up there and then uh sue was up there and bruce and b.i kept taking the mic going you're not going
yeah it's with it you're not going anywhere anywhere and i remember making eye contact with jackie and jason across going it's gonna be challenging we're gonna work cut out he's writing checks for you guys and the thing is like you know you don't realize like the super bowl goes so late and it would be turned Around free agency was right there, and it was uh, we went right from one into another uh, probably helped us have a little bit of momentum uh to just keep on going. But really, you went back a lot of the guys, they wanted to be here, players wanted to be here and they still do, and that's it's what's nice about it they wanted to be around they wanted to be a part of it, the coach they wanted to be around Brady, and guys like Leavatte and you know all the great players that we've had um, and especially in that team, we've had a lot of great players that
we've had on the team, Jensen and our pet and Chris Godwin - like so it made it a lot easier. We're on the phone with an agent. A guy has become a free agent, and he wants to play in Tampa. And that makes it a lot easier to bring everyone back when the player wants to come back so bad. So there's again I think we're going to kind of focus now a little bit more on this roster that we have this year. Um, you spoke a lot about those undrafted free agents with Izian and guys like that that came in. Izian basically kind of won us a game at the very top of the season um in Minnesota. Um, when you guys look at this year's roster are there a handful of guys that you guys really are like, 'Man we are so glad we had these dudes available for us after.' The draft and then, and again, some of the guys that you guys ended up stealing in the draft because you guys had a phenomenal draft.
Do you guys see a lot of these guys making impact you know year one, which is again not very common across the league but the bucs have done this consistently where they've had undrafted free agents and you guys have had draft picks and you guys have had undrafted free agents and you guys have had undrafted free agents almost in the first four rounds in the last few years come in and have impact in the season that they're drafted, which is again very rare. Which one, you know, of those guys? This year, you guys really, really excited about seeing um so far the really, the whole the draft class has been great so far, we're really excited. I mean it's hard, I know it's a pretty obvious one but we were so excited we were on on the edge of our seat in the first round hoping Barton got to us and and we kind of mocked it out and didn't you know if all those quarterbacks don't go and push him down, I don't know if he gets to us.
And I mean, I know it's an obvious one, it's the first round but we were thrilled when he actually got to us. There was I don't know if you could have traded anything to get Jason, didn't take him because for a guy like that. To get a guy like that, and uh, especially with um, you know Jensen obviously retiring, and just such a big piece for us to get uh going forward, but really the rest of the draft class we're excited about um, I'll be really excited when I see them in training camp to put on pads and see really what they're what, what we got. But right now, the the draft class, and even some of the other drafted guys, we're excited um about.
And then honestly going back to free agency to add a guy like Whitehead, to me, yeah, that was, yeah, that's it because I'm during free agency, we got on the phone with them, we said we messed up and we should have you know at the time. It was hard to bring everyone, it was hard to keep everyone that year. We had Mike Edwards who kind of filled in that role, but we did not want to lose Whitehead. And the second year, we had Mike Edwards who kind of filled in that role, we lost him, we all regretted it and we were not shy about uh when Frequency came wanting him back and fortunately he wanted to come back so that was you know we're really excited to have him back yeah I mean I I have to feel like that was except for our own guys probably a main priority to get him next to Ansley in the secondary because he's just such a good player and the contract is very reasonable I I love.
The contract I just want to ask one more thing, I just want to go back just a little bit more on Brady, not Brady but I just want to ask one more thing, I just want to go back just one more thing, I just want to go back just a little bit more on Brady, but what was it like? Obviously we could get that team-friendly deal with Mayfield last year. What was it like in the locker room if you were down there at all uh going from Brady to Mayfield in the locker room, like what what are the different mannerisms how do they act with the guys? Was Brady more to himself is Mayfield all over with all the guys hanging out like, how does that work you know, like? it's really a game day they're they're kind of similar and and they they command they command the locker room they command the huddle um
guys want to play from don't want to disappoint them uh excited to be around them um baker's probably a little bit more of like a goofball and and and a little bit joking and keeps things light and a lot of times at the at the right times when you need that too uh but brady just commands that respect too and guys want to play for both of them and i think that's why well brady you know has had all the success he had but baker guys want to be around baker and uh i can't tell you how many players wanted To come here or stay here, and we're excited when Baker came here last year, so I see some similarities in them, in terms of just how they other players feel about them, and want to be around them, and want to play with them, and for them, and not disappoint them.
So from that standpoint, I think they kind of are a little bit similar, um, from in terms of leadership. Now they both have a little bit different style, I think, like I said Baker's definitely a bit more uh loose and funny, but Tom, Tom's pretty funny too, you get him at the right time, yeah, gotta catch him in that mood, obviously. You talk to these free agents before you sign them, you know what I mean? of get a good lay of their of the land in terms of their personalities but how surprised were you guys to see someone like baker come in and you know that's a massive shadow with tom brady being the guy right before you yes but how surprised were you guys to see him come in there and just make it his locker room make it his team and just kind of not even force the issue just naturally
organically come out of that shadow and make it about you know make it baker's team which is again like you ask any other quarterback across the league you want to come and follow up to tom brady active they're probably gonna say no because it's like A lost situation, and how surprised were you guys to see that kind of play out the way it was, because even as fans of Baker J.C. and I, we were even so a little bit surprised, like dude, it's his team! Like, very quickly how surprised were you guys about that? You know, it's interesting. Uh, when we did sign him, we got a few calls from people that we got McVeigh, Raheem Morris, who were with him for a short period with the Rams, and they're like, 'This guy's special; this guy's gonna come in there and he's gonna the guys are gonna love him; they're gonna love playing for him; he's good; he's competitive.' So we kind of had that feel like once.
we signed him and todd actually had a connection with him dating back from when he was in the draft and had a lot of visits uh todd was todd really really wanted him and liked them you know when he came out a lot and and and uh when it when uh the jets almost you know obviously when number one just didn't have a chance but todd really liked them so we had um a lot of guys that kind of had some familiarity with them but it was amazing how many calls we got like this guy's this guy's special this guy's gonna be like you know he's gotten a little bit of a bad rap
lately we don't know why and the rams like we love him we if if they didn't have stafford They may have, uh, went after and kept the guy like that, and so it was interesting to see how many people reached out um once we signed them, and they were right; he came in and, uh, you know, he competed with Trask but, and made it, it was a competition, and it was, it was pretty close, we both played really well in camp, um, and then once Baker had the starting job, it was, he was he was great last year, so going to Baker's first year with Dave Canalis; how big of an adjustment do you think it's going to be going to Liam Cohen, and honestly, how do you feel right now about Liam Cohen taking over this offense?
I think the good part is there's like there's A lot of similarities from what I'm told from the offense, also Baker having you know been in a similar offense when I think that was a natural fit and I think they came in kind of hitting the ground running and I know Baker, um, you know we didn't hire Liam specifically because of Baker but it definitely didn't hurt that Liam's background and they knew each other were close and he had played in the offense and liked the offense so I think that allowed them to hit the ground running and I think the offseason's been great, we've had really good attendance at the offseason program, we usually have pretty good attendance because We're in Tampa, guys want to stay here, um but Baker's been here
during the offseason, so we feel good with what we've done the offseason and and uh we're probably you know ahead of where we were learning a new offense last year as you know, bigger isn't a new offense to him, um, so I think we're we're on the right right path there. Speaking of Baker again, um did he happen to come up to you and Jason and just be like 'hey, uh my guy Sterling Shepard's out there, um big-time duo in college was that a Baker idea or was that you guys just kind of seeing a fit for death or whatever? He needs to be for the team so it actually we were having a workout and Uh, you know Rob and Splintech Shane scanned on my field.
They put together a list and we were bringing him in anyway, and then Baker kind of got wind though. I heard I heard he's coming in, and then I'm not going to lie, once he did come in, I would Baker wanted him at that part but he was he was our guy, the guy that we were going to sign coming out of the workout anyway, so it all worked out. If he didn't uh Baker may have had uh been outside of Jason's house door waiting to talk to him, but fortunately it kind of went smooth and he was the best guy in the workout and the guy that Baker also wanted as well, but no he didn't come being like sign this.
Guy, you have to sign him once we were bringing him in, and he kind of got wind of that. Then he gave kind of his opinion, like, um, of course you want to listen to him, yeah, you got to listen to Baker; I mean, yeah, I mean you want to know what the quarterback played with, yeah, yeah, you know it's it was silly Jason's silly not to like hear the hear who the quarterback likes his relationship with it makes too much sense. Yeah, um, kind of zoomed out a little bit when... how does the order of operations work with you guys in terms of like, we identify X player; we want him, do they then just throw it to you and say, 'How can we make this work?
What are the numbers?' Or is it a collective team effort where everyone's like, 'these guys are available, you know we like these guys, these guys seem like they can be somebody that we can afford'? How does all that play out because you guys have so many big brains, Spy Tech like Jackie obviously and I know he's very much one of those guys that lets you guys do your thing. How does all that work in terms of how it goes from point A to point B to where we're having a Jordan Whitehead press conference announcing he's back? We have a phenomenal staff like you said, phenomenal, and it even goes um, you know, even goes beyond like Donovan Cotton, Shane Scannell, Tony.
Hardy, buying, keeper people that may not even know - we have a really deep and really good staff, and we've been together a long time. I would say that we're probably, if not the longest one of the longest tenured front offices in the league. And we've been together for a long time, and we've... I mean, most of us have been here at least 10 years. Jason's been here 10 years, the majority of us have been here within 10 years. Some of us, there's a group of us that actually were here before them even at 14 or 15 now yeah, this is my 15th season. Rob McCartney's at 14, um... so the nice part is like we just work well together; we put together a plan together.
Nobody there's no because nobody really cares, like hey, like I called uh this agent and brought this guy in and for a workout, and we all kind of work together, and everybody cares who makes the call to the agent, who's it? It's just, there's not really like an ego during free agency. We're all kind of like, a lot of times, Jason will laugh because I'll walk by it, and a bunch of us will be in my office and just kind of talking through it and looking at who's what we're hearing about each guy and who spoke to what agent, and we all kind of work great together. And I think that's, um, well, first a tribute to Jason, and you know the staff, I think that he's Put together and the respect that he commands from all of us, and um, then we all kind of just work together at this point pretty well.
It's it's I love coming to work here, love working with them. Shocked that some of them aren't GMS. I'm shocked that John Spypeck and Rob McCartney might be Jackie like, haven't gotten opportunities to be a GM. I think they should um, and I think that's probably coming but um, we'd be fortunate to keep the same staff together, no, no, keep it down. Mike is that is that um, is that at all an aspiration of yours to be a General Manager or do you are you happy in in the future? I'm not sure, I'm not sure. i'm not sure i'm not sure i'm not sure i'm not sure i'm not sure and put such flexibility in my position in it i'm not sure you're kind of like the cap guru role um how do you feel about that i you know it's one of those things that i've never it's not a must for me i love the role i'm in i love jason working here um even when i you know because i did interview for caroline i couldn't really envision myself leaving and uh my wife definitely couldn't envision us leaving i love the glaser family and um
so it would take a lot probably for me to leave and it's not something i I have to have a need and some of the problems I watch Jason deal with. I'm not jealous that he has to deal with some of those conversations. Some of the times it's better to be like, 'yeah, you should do this' and give my advice and not have to have those difficult conversations that I see you deal with on a day-to-day basis. So it's one of those things that happens eventually, great. If not, I'd be thrilled being here for the next 10, 15 years and winning more Super Bowls and working under Jason and with all the people here. So it's not something that's a must, right? I think we all can say we would be thrilled with that as well.
Appreciate it. Mike, has there been a moment in the NFL? Obviously, the Tom Brady moment is kind of a big one, so I can't let you say that. But have you had a kind of a crowning moment in your role or even just in the role as a staff itself? It doesn't even have to be with the Bucs even necessarily. But have you had that crowning moment of like, man, this was one of the coolest and one of my biggest accomplishments. I can't believe he signed this contract. Anything like that that's happened over the years for you? I would say bringing back, we touched upon it, but bringing back all the 22 stars, being the first team to do that, that was awesome. Coming off of a Super Bowl and doing that.
I would say, though, a lot of times what's interesting, and I think the personnel guys would give you a similar answer, it's like bringing guys in like Shaq Barrett, that the guys identify them. We ended up doing the deal. And so combined effort with it. They were right on the talent. And finding guys like that who went on to be amazing Buccaneers, Ryan Jensen, some of those deals at free agency, you look back and you're like, that was awesome. That was a fun thing to be a part of. Shaq Barrett was what, one year? Yeah, one year, $4 million for Shaq. And then you had Baker one year with $4 million with options. And these guys. Like a big deal. But a lot of times you do those big deals, they never work out.
Right. You do them and knowing that they're not going to work out, but hitting on the right guy, and credit to the personnel staff, and watching, I mean, how often does a player like Ryan Jensen play out the deal and at the end of the day make a Pro Bowl and get another deal? Like it's so rare that that happens. So even some of the bigger ones, not necessarily the small ones, like when they work out, like when Mike Evans plays out his whole contract and Vontae Davis on his fourth contract, I think, those are really the things that like. Are probably because the worst thing you can really do is cut a player. You'd rather lose a player in free agency, get a comp pick back if you lose them.
But like cutting a player and being wrong on the deal, like everyone's always like, well, if they're wrong, they'll cut them. You're three. That's the worst thing you can do, though. You'd rather you want to play it out. And then if you do lose them in free agency, at least you get a comp pick, you're getting something back. So having a bunch of guys play out their deals to that, that's really when we know we're doing a decent job when they and we want to resign them also. And some of them got. And raises, which is, you know, you're hitting on the right guy from a personnel standpoint, too. That's what's so surprising about Jason's time here is he came from the bill, you know, the Bill Belichick, you know, Patriots way, which was get rid of a guy one year earlier as opposed to one year late.
So even if they kind of play it out, we want to just get something in return. Whereas he's been let's keep the guys that we know are our dudes and let's just ride them out. Leverage David type guys like you could have at any moment just been like, let's just let him go, whatever. You know, he's aging, but but he's not at the same time. And so, you guys, and then the other thing, too, is really refreshing with Jason, is that if he makes a mistake or, you know, you guys all make a mistake, you guys are quick to just pull that band-aid and not waste time on it. It's like, let's not hang on to these, you know, defensive linemen that didn't work out in free agency as opposed to, you know, just let him go, figure it out, and kind of start all over again, which is really, really cool.
So I don't know what your history was before you got to the Bucs, but obviously, you were here before Jason, too. So I'm sure it's a different style as well. So why I think you hit it off with Jason, some of Jason, he's never afraid to make a mistake, which is rare. People say that you will do that, but he doesn't have been in the room with him. And I've heard him say to the owners like, 'I made a mistake.' And I think the owners appreciate the fact that he's admitting to it and that he doesn't want to make another mistake on top of one. And then I will tell you a lot of the reason I think we're able to bring some of these guys back to is a large part on Jason.
I have never been around somebody who has a better way of communicating and relating to the players. So the players may not always want to know what Jason's saying, but you know where you stand, you know, he he is incapable of lying. And you guys know him. He's the worst liar in the world. He is written on a slate and can't do it. So he, you know, he tells the guys the truth. They know where they stand, even like take last year with Mike. You know, we weren't able to get a deal done with Mike. And as much as that conversation hurt Jason to talk to Mike, that relationship is pretty, probably one of the reasons that Mike did decide to come back, because he always knows where he stands with Jason and Jason's honest with them.
And same thing with, you know, worse now. And and he has a way of of relating to the players and just being up front with them. And I think that goes a long way with them because a lot of times, you know, they they get lied to a lot of times and or the message gets goes through three different, you know, through me and the agent and somebody else, and it's not. And he knows how to he goes to them. He has a conversation. He tells them exactly where they stand. And I think at the end of the day, they appreciate that. And that's a lot of the reason I think guys, you know, even even though we don't didn't do deal with Mike, Mike still wanted to come back.
And I think Jason has a big part in that. They're a huge part. How's your sleep? How's your sleep after all that? My sleep? Yeah. After the, I know you didn't sleep very well during the season with. No, I'm ready. I'm not going to lie. I'm ready. I'm ready for Thursday. The offseason program to be over. I take a little bit of a break. It's been a busy offseason. Been fun, been fun. The three little boys at home doesn't doesn't really help the sleep. I sometimes I come here. But yeah, other than that, it's but it's been fun. It's been a really fun offseason. So I can't have a question. I have a question for you. A lot of people argue about this on NFL Twitter and whatnot. Everyone has their different opinions.
So, as the cap guy, when you're negotiating a deal with a free agent, coming into Tampa, obviously we all know, you know, we all live here. We know how great it is to live here. The weather is amazing. It's great to raise a family here. There are so many benefits going on the water, jet skiing, whatever you want to do as a player. But how much does the tax benefit help with negotiating? Some people say none at all. But like reality is you're you're saving yourself money. Do you find that it helps you with certain negotiations when you're trying to get a guy? I'm going to tell you about the no state taxes over and over again. Exactly. And then why the hell am I on it? Yeah, it is real.
It's real. And you look at it for a player. We send it. If we send a sheet that will show you approximately what pays and in every NFL city and team, because it's real, like one team may be offering you 11 or 12 or up to 10. But your take-home pay is going to be more here. And that's not even talking about the cost of living, which compared to like a California. But that's real. And we are going to tell you over and over again until we know you about it. And because it and what's interesting is, you get a guy like a Shaq Barrett and Jensen when they come from another place and then they come here, they realize some of the rookies don't really realize it because they've spent their whole career here.
They go to resign. It's not that big of a deal. When you get guys who come in from other places, when we traded for JPP, I remember he got a million. It was like one-one raise just off the trade alone. We kept this contract. But it's unbelievable us compared to Jersey. I was a million-dollar raise just in the trade alone. That is so I had to I had it. I know I know Sam knows this. I had to clarify that I got in a Twitter argument with we don't need to name names. But I was like, You're crazy if you don't think that is a major factor in signing in Tampa and the more you make. I think that the weather helps, too, in terms of training all year round.
You can get it's amazing how many people move here and keep their places here. Even players, a lot of coaches. They have their places here still, and they'll go on, but keep it in Tampa because it's a great place to live, a great place for the family. And it's it's, you know, can't really beat the weather. It's great for your tax, except for the summer. It's great for that. I mean, but then, you know, the contracts are signing. They're saving millions of dollars. It's not like me or, you know, regular athletes, you know, 50,000, 100. They were saving millions of dollars. So it's actually you get it was we increased now and you get in the $20 million, $30 million a year contracts. That's it's significant. The big difference, Mike, you've worked with.
Quite a few personalities in your time, and I feel like the majority of the guys in the NFL are kind of the same dudes. Jason's a little bit different. Obviously, he's more of a football guy. You know, I could grab a beer, have some wings, blue cheese, obviously. And you're watching, you know, the game with him. I don’t know how familiar you were with B.A. before B.A. came to town. Did you have one of those ‘holy like’ OK, welcome to the B.A. world moment with him at all? Or were you kind of already, you know, adept to who he was beforehand? He’s the best. So I actually picked them up and I was picking up all the coaches that we interviewed that year.
So I actually picked them up to bring them here to meet with Jason and the Glazers. And everybody brings these books and these briefcases and binders to show you. And I walked in and I didn’t know him. I said, ‘Hey, Coach, you got anything? You got anything?’ And it was just by himself. He goes, 'Nope, don't need it all up here.' And you know what? The interview, it was all up here. It was amazing. It was incredible. And he is just. He's just an unbelievable guy and just knows. Knows what the what's important, what's not, when to have when to like take things seriously, when to laugh about it. Just he's just awesome to be around. It was I saw him and his wife last week. It was awesome.
And I love B.A., love his life, Chris, his family. It was such a cool experience being around a guy like that and just so much football knowledge. But it's awesome how much he cares about like everybody in the organization. And I remember even the year after I think the year we won the Super Bowl, me and my wife happened to go away to where he lives during the offseason and they were staying at his lake house, the lake house. Yeah. And he's pissed at any call. He's texting me, pissed at me. He goes, 'I didn't want to bother him.' I knew his family town. He goes, 'It's our anniversary. We're having a big party.' And so me and my wife showed up. It was him, all his family, and me, my wife.
And he was just so mad that I didn't know how much to be there. He wanted to come, come hang out with us. And he just is the fun guy, and a great guy to be around, and special, special guy. He should be in the Hall of Fame.' He ever gets problems in the hall. Definitely will be. You want to ever give you no problems passing by in the hall because, you know, you're doing all the stuff that he's signing these checks for that. He's like, Yeah, here we go. Here we go. You ever give me the hard times in the hall? He was, you know, it's interesting, too, is even when the guys we lost are, don't worry about it. Well, we'll make it work. We'll make it work.
Doesn't never got like crazy and never understood the business. And they had been in it so long, you understood it. But always we'll figure it out and we'll and just awesome. Awesome to be around. So at this point now, is he still basically full-time at the lake house or is he still popping in as a special adviser? He pops in and then I know Jason Jason will talk to him, you know, come around the draft and free agency and send them just to watch tape. I think he watches our games and he'll come to a few games a year. And everyone it's so funny to watch everyone when he does come into the building because everyone's just so happy to see him because he's just so, so great. When he's here.
So, but he'll pop in here or there. I he lives a good life. It's funny that he's earned it. He hasn't been a buck for very, very long, but it feels like he's been here since the Derrick book years. It feels like it's crazy. He feels like Rondé Barber to the to the fans and people like us who kind of got to know him a little bit, too. You would never guess this guy was an NFL head coach who, you know, coached in multiple Super Bowls, had won a Super Bowl as a head coach, played with all these guys and coached with all these dudes and knows all these stories that he has. You would never guess, dude, that he was. He's got stories are incredible. And it's interesting.
Like him and Rondé connection was was just ironic and pretty amazing. And but yeah, he's just a special guy. So what was it like to transition from, you know, working with B.A. to then Todd taking over? What was the difference in the personality or how involved they are with you and Jason and Jackie and everyone? Is it more hands off with Todd or is he still just as much involved as? Yeah, you know, the interesting part is it's because they're they coached him for so long and really B.A. let him run the show on defense. So it was like he was kind of in that like second head coach role anyway. On the defensive side of the ball, it's pretty smooth.
And I've, I've been here for I've been here for quite a many, for quite a lot of transitions from from new head coaches. That was definitely the smoothest one because it was a lot about the coach. Most of the coaches, I think, majority of that year all stayed the same. Todd was already involved. A lot because it's just his role in the defense. So it was pretty smooth. And what people don't realize about Todd, too, is Todd's a funny guy. He's he's you see him on TV and you think he doesn't smile. He doesn't talk about how it's funny. That's got a lot of love to bust your chops. Love still. So it was it was a pretty smooth transition. Definitely the smoothest one since I've been here.
There's no like control on the air conditioning or anything like that. No, yeah, not yet. At least, no toes on the line. Yeah, I just well, Mike, thanks so much for being here. I've been here since before him. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Mike, it's hard. No, I was just to say thank you so much for joining us today. I was going to ask one more thing. I don't know if you ever scroll through Twitter or go on Twitter after you make a big signing or something. But myself, I use this Jeff a lot. I know a lot of people do. If you've seen The Hangover when Alan's coming down the escalator about to play blackjack and everything's going, is that kind of how you feel when you're doing these contracts or do you just laugh when he's...
you've had to have seen that, right? I've seen it. I enjoy the comments. I'm not going to lie. I do. Yeah. Sometimes I don't. You were especially free and you were so busy. It's like you hang up and you know, when sometimes I won't look at him till I get home like late at night, especially for agency. But I enjoy them. I'm not going to lie. We had we had Jason on. We had Jason on the other podcast. And I'm the host of the Loose Cannons. And we coined the phrase Greenberg. So any time you guys sign a guy and we just like, yeah, he's just going to Greenberg him, it's fine. Yeah, we're not even worried about just going to Greenberg. We're still be fine. He's not going anywhere.
Like you become a verb. I think you're on to something. Oh, definitely. I like it. And then when I do my next contract negotiation, I'm just going to defer with Jason and defer to you to get you guys. You guys do it for me. Yeah, we actually did my phone with me and Jason at the bar. It's seven one seven. We sat at the bar, me and him, and we fought back and forth there. So that was the first one we ever did. 2000, whenever he came in. That's a football dude right there. See that? That's what we did, man. That's what we did. Yeah, Mike, I also noticed you practice, you can practice law in the state of New York. So, you know, I go to Connecticut, I leave for Connecticut this Friday.
If I happen to go to New York City and get in trouble, you fly in and defend me. I will be there. You may want to call. Someone else also who is equipped for that. If if you need to know how much money you need to raise a bond to get out and figure out the numbers there, I can help you probably there. But I still I'd call it. You can't help me out. You can't help me out in Jersey, though. So I was barred in Jersey. I stopped and I did take the Jersey bar. So I am barred in Jersey. So I can I can I can pay back into Jersey. But not when am I going to Jersey? So no, I didn't know. This about you.
So now I have to ask one last question. Sorry, J.C., Law & Order. Is that all garbage? Is that all Fugazi? Or if you watch that and you're like, yeah, this is real life or Suits, maybe. The interesting part with Law & Order, especially like the trial stuff, a lot of the evidence rules and the and the hearsay and the rejections, a lot of that's pretty, pretty on point and accurate to the point where one of my civil procedure, I think it was or Evidence actually showed a few clips from Law & Order from the trial part. So some of it is pretty, pretty on point from that standpoint. And a lot of the actual law aspects of it, like what is the criminal elements and stuff like that, that's pretty good.
They're pretty on point. So you're not a suits guy, though. I do like suits. Yeah. See, I could tell, man, I could tell. I knew you're a suits guy. I should put on a suit for the show, man. Honestly, I do like suits. Yeah, well, good show. Solid. Great show. Yeah, J.C. No, you know, Mike, thanks for having us. I'm going to write down. Right now. I make sure you agree to be here for the next 15 years with the folks. So that's just going to we're good with that. Are we good on that? OK, well, thank you so much for joining us. This is a fun interview. We would love to do it again. Let us know. We'll have you on whenever. But you can. Yeah, you can follow us on the YouTube Loose Cannon Show. We're streaming on Spotify, Apple, iTunes as fully loaded. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers podcast. Samer, any last words or Mike, any last words? Pretty sure you guys have me on. This is fun. Yeah. Thanks. Yeah, thanks a lot. You ever need any help in the contract, you know, negotiation. Maybe you guys are taking over. So I'm going to tell Jason that you guys know about the numbers part. But yeah, I'll let you do that. All right, man. Appreciate it.
You're listening to the Fully Loaded podcast with your hosts JC Cornell and Samer Ali,
welcome back to Fully Loaded, this is your host JC Cornell with Samer Ali as always, and we have special guests today, Assistant General Manager of the Buccaneers Mike Greenberg. How you doing, Mike? How you guys doing, good man? Welcome to the show, Mike. Thanks for having me. All right, Mike. Elephant in the room, we don't have to go into any detail, Tristan Wirfs holdout, we have no one's panicking, we know he's going to be back. My only question I wanted to ask you is does it make it a lot easier when you have a guy like Pennie Sewell recently resetting the market with those contract details, you know, four years, $112 million, $50 million dollars signing bonus, $85 million guaranteed. Does that help you in the negotiation process or make it quicker per se?
Um, you know, definitely it provides another benchmark there's a lot of benchmarks and teams do deals differently they structure deals differently what's more important what's important to each player and club when they're negotiating is always a little bit different but it definitely it provides another benchmark of um, you know, a caliber player uh similar to Tristan so um, it definitely Definitely helps, uh, in providing a benchmark, but I think each negotiation is a little bit different depending upon that situation, Mike, for sure, for sure, um. What does it say about Tristan that obviously today's Tuesday, first day of mandatory minicamp for you guys and he is there and he plans on participating and being part of the team and you know doing what is expected of him not only as you know a player of his caliber but also as a leader in that locker room so what does it say for you know about his
actual personality and who he is not only from your standpoint but from the standpoint of the other guys in the locker. Room for him to be here, be present, and not make this a bigger thing than it should be when so you know, so widely across the league, guys make it a thing and guys make it, you know, a bigger piece of drama than it than it maybe needs to be, but kind of speak to you know how his personality and and his responsibility to coming to for the team being at mandatory minicamp. Yeah, now Tristan's a special guy, he's been everything that we'd hope for uh from the moment he walked in um he's he's he's a phenomenal person, phenomenal player but even a a better person, great teammate.
I know the locker room, the guys love him and I I think he wanted to. Be here you know, for them, and uh not to disappoint them, but I think he also looks at it as the perfect guy, and he's you know kind of the guy that he's been working so hard for, and I think he's the kind of guy that's going to work himself out the contract and uh he's going to uh show up be here and and he just it's it just goes to the type of guy he is the person he is and um not not too dissimilar from Winfield last year um you know Winfield came came here last year for camp was here for training camp and then you didn't hear really much on his end he just went out and did what he did and um got rewarded with the biggest contract in the history of defensive backs
similar type of guy he's gonna want to be here for his teammates and and and go about he goes about um his business and does does the right thing and a great teammate and great guy um completely non-biased question for you uh do you think tristan wirfs and antoine winfield jr are the best back-to-back draft picks in nfl history you can definitely definitely make an argument about it i mean especially given the time that we we had that draft and we had you know bringing brady and gronk and being really all in and that was the the year is such a special year and those two played such a big part in us winning a Super Bowl from their rookie years, so um, just given what they contributed right away to that team, I think you could definitely make an argument you touched a little bit on Brady there Mike, and that kind of leads to a question I wanted to ask you um
yeah, year in and year out, off-season to off-season, seemingly you guys come up with new ways maybe they're not new but they're new to us it seems like uh, creative ways and you guys consistently keep the guys you want to keep it seems like you can't but somehow you guys pull it off I know that's a major part of what you do and what you bring to the table um, speak to kind of like where that has Sort of comes from, is that from you know what you've learned from the league coming up because so often you see teams that you know focus on the now and don't worry about tomorrow. Whereas you guys have been able to focus on now and worry about tomorrow, and kind of keep it really balanced not having to kick the can down the road like some teams do.
The Saints do. And you guys have been able to kind of keep it balanced in a way that continues to keep us competitive. Then you got that year where you're supposed to eat the credit card payment, right? You're supposed to not win, you're supposed to have no quarterback after Tom Brady leaves. And yet, here we are, competing. We win the division wall that's happening. And apparently, all signs point to we found the next quarterback for this team. On top of that, all speak to where how you know that came from and how you guys are able to kind of keep that balance and focus and seemingly pull rabbits out of hats every single offseason like you just did with Antoine Winfield bringing back Mike keeping all these guys intact.
Levante the list goes on and on, I can do this with you all day, obviously. But speak to how that you guys have been able to find that balance and has that been something that you learned when you were really Young of the league, or has it been something that where you and the team, and Jason, and all these guys, and Spy Tech have been able to put your brains together and create this mastermind template that so many other teams have not been able to figure out? There's a few of them, but you guys seem to be at the front line just making things happen every single year, so a good question I think. Uh,
well first, I think it starts with our ownership group and the Glazer family, and giving us the resources, especially coming into 2020, 2021, 2022 where we were all in, wanting to bring everybody back, go for it again, and uh you can't really do what we do, what we Did without the resources to do it, and they were all about bringing the team back and and and doing everything they can. And really, they're like that every year they're going through every year. But in that, they recognize that that window was was was small with Brady, and we i think made the most of it. You know, now we're obviously um took last year to take our wounds
a little bit, and um, first going back taking a step back, um, you know, I actually was an intern with Jackie Davis sitting at the Jets so I learned my first learning experience was under her and we had the opportunity to bring her here a few years ago, you know, I said the Jason, I was like me, and I learned how to think, I learned how to do all this from her, so we think alike; we look at it like we love a challenge. Like, we had '20-'21 and even now, to try and find some creative ways to do things and keep an eye in the future we're always keeping an eye two-three years out. But make it work for for this year.
So I've me and her enjoyed really the last few years trying to find some different ways to do things, some loopholes, some things we hadn't done i knew before that. And then I would say a big, a big part of that actually goes to the scouting staff because if you look at a lot of the success we had last year. We knew we were going to have to go with a little bit of a younger team. We were going to have to go with a quarterback that we brought in, and um those guys and girls keep they keep hitting home run after home run in the draft and free agency, and so a lot of credit to the spy attack, Mike Beale, Rob McCartney, and Jason, and the whole personnel department because I think we i think five or six undrafted free agents made the team last year, so and and a few of them really contributed and and and
played big minutes for us, and um I think a lot of the making the playoffs while taking the licks and wounds comes from the talent that we brought. In and obviously Baker was a home run, signing for us, but um, it's credit to the personnel department and then the coaches for coaching them uh, but the personnel department here has been phenomenal and that's really what's allowed us to continue to be successful while taking some of our licks and now we're really on the way out of it um, so that that's been a big part of our success last year and hopefully this year. So before I get to like this current roster in this upcoming season, I gotta ask: so the Tom Brady signing, when this all happened, you know how how far in advance did you know it was going to be a thing? How long was the? negotiation with them and like was was this just like a crazy experience this is tom brady we're about to get tom brady on this franchise and win a super bowl the whole experience was was really
special um we knew that friday was going to be a Roma on friday i mean um and just doesn't really differentiate really much between us though i grew up yeah if i were to describe it like like um it was actually ainks a very um mature family so a lot of that was our family what it was like worked really well with the whole team and you know it was very difficult when um you know it was very simple but we was it kind of like a good time prepared For the next season to start going forward, so I really appreciate him hanging in the bar and talking about things a lot like that. Um, while that came off your mind after you're on your own uh, the operations a lot of uh the agent and started talking numbers, uh it moved uh relatively quickly. He did an enormous amount of homework, it seems like beforehand, so he knew what teams he was looking for and what he was what he was looking, you know really what was important to him. So during that period it moved pretty quick, but it didn't have challenges um, you know I think I've told this story before, but he uh,
he was in New York and we couldn't Fly him in, so we actually i actually had my brother-in-law go to his apartment to have him sign the contract because I wanted that thing signed, so the minute it was free, uh, we were about to sign. I sent my brother-in-law in New York, in New York City, to his apartment to do it because we weren't allowed to bring him in at that point and I wasn't waiting for FedEx and for him to go to Kinko's and print it out. So there was a lot of the whole experience was surreal and really the whole year was surreal. Would have been... I don't know who your brother-in-law is, but I was gonna say, would have been my brother-in-law, I was gonna say that for you.
Brother-in-law, that's probably a story he's gonna tell for the rest of his life. He's the one who took the picture that of him signing... oh yeah, that's unbelievable! I remember, I called me; he goes, 'Are you serious about this?' I go, 'Yes, I'm dead serious.' And you're getting the new cab over walk there, I don't care. You need to go sign down Brady. I just wanted to add one more thing about that great era. So obviously, we won the Super Bowl; that was great. Um, and then it happens to be that we're the first team in the Super Bowl era to bring back all 22 starters from the Super Bowl-winning season, and we're the first team in the Super Bowl era to bring back all 22 starters from the super bowl and that's just got to be such an accomplishment as well that was uh yeah we're definitely very proud of that i remember being at the parade at the end of the parade and you know levante was up there and then uh sue was up there and bruce and b.i kept taking the mic going you're not going
yeah it's with it you're not going anywhere anywhere and i remember making eye contact with jackie and jason across going it's gonna be challenging we're gonna work cut out he's writing checks for you guys and the thing is like you know you don't realize like the super bowl goes so late and it would be turned Around free agency was right there, and it was uh, we went right from one into another uh, probably helped us have a little bit of momentum uh to just keep on going. But really, you went back a lot of the guys, they wanted to be here, players wanted to be here and they still do, and that's it's what's nice about it they wanted to be around they wanted to be a part of it, the coach they wanted to be around Brady, and guys like Leavatte and you know all the great players that we've had um, and especially in that team, we've had a lot of great players that
we've had on the team, Jensen and our pet and Chris Godwin - like so it made it a lot easier. We're on the phone with an agent. A guy has become a free agent, and he wants to play in Tampa. And that makes it a lot easier to bring everyone back when the player wants to come back so bad. So there's again I think we're going to kind of focus now a little bit more on this roster that we have this year. Um, you spoke a lot about those undrafted free agents with Izian and guys like that that came in. Izian basically kind of won us a game at the very top of the season um in Minnesota. Um, when you guys look at this year's roster are there a handful of guys that you guys really are like, 'Man we are so glad we had these dudes available for us after.' The draft and then, and again, some of the guys that you guys ended up stealing in the draft because you guys had a phenomenal draft.
Do you guys see a lot of these guys making impact you know year one, which is again not very common across the league but the bucs have done this consistently where they've had undrafted free agents and you guys have had draft picks and you guys have had undrafted free agents and you guys have had undrafted free agents almost in the first four rounds in the last few years come in and have impact in the season that they're drafted, which is again very rare. Which one, you know, of those guys? This year, you guys really, really excited about seeing um so far the really, the whole the draft class has been great so far, we're really excited. I mean it's hard, I know it's a pretty obvious one but we were so excited we were on on the edge of our seat in the first round hoping Barton got to us and and we kind of mocked it out and didn't you know if all those quarterbacks don't go and push him down, I don't know if he gets to us.
And I mean, I know it's an obvious one, it's the first round but we were thrilled when he actually got to us. There was I don't know if you could have traded anything to get Jason, didn't take him because for a guy like that. To get a guy like that, and uh, especially with um, you know Jensen obviously retiring, and just such a big piece for us to get uh going forward, but really the rest of the draft class we're excited about um, I'll be really excited when I see them in training camp to put on pads and see really what they're what, what we got. But right now, the the draft class, and even some of the other drafted guys, we're excited um about.
And then honestly going back to free agency to add a guy like Whitehead, to me, yeah, that was, yeah, that's it because I'm during free agency, we got on the phone with them, we said we messed up and we should have you know at the time. It was hard to bring everyone, it was hard to keep everyone that year. We had Mike Edwards who kind of filled in that role, but we did not want to lose Whitehead. And the second year, we had Mike Edwards who kind of filled in that role, we lost him, we all regretted it and we were not shy about uh when Frequency came wanting him back and fortunately he wanted to come back so that was you know we're really excited to have him back yeah I mean I I have to feel like that was except for our own guys probably a main priority to get him next to Ansley in the secondary because he's just such a good player and the contract is very reasonable I I love.
The contract I just want to ask one more thing, I just want to go back just a little bit more on Brady, not Brady but I just want to ask one more thing, I just want to go back just one more thing, I just want to go back just a little bit more on Brady, but what was it like? Obviously we could get that team-friendly deal with Mayfield last year. What was it like in the locker room if you were down there at all uh going from Brady to Mayfield in the locker room, like what what are the different mannerisms how do they act with the guys? Was Brady more to himself is Mayfield all over with all the guys hanging out like, how does that work you know, like? it's really a game day they're they're kind of similar and and they they command they command the locker room they command the huddle um
guys want to play from don't want to disappoint them uh excited to be around them um baker's probably a little bit more of like a goofball and and and a little bit joking and keeps things light and a lot of times at the at the right times when you need that too uh but brady just commands that respect too and guys want to play for both of them and i think that's why well brady you know has had all the success he had but baker guys want to be around baker and uh i can't tell you how many players wanted To come here or stay here, and we're excited when Baker came here last year, so I see some similarities in them, in terms of just how they other players feel about them, and want to be around them, and want to play with them, and for them, and not disappoint them.
So from that standpoint, I think they kind of are a little bit similar, um, from in terms of leadership. Now they both have a little bit different style, I think, like I said Baker's definitely a bit more uh loose and funny, but Tom, Tom's pretty funny too, you get him at the right time, yeah, gotta catch him in that mood, obviously. You talk to these free agents before you sign them, you know what I mean? of get a good lay of their of the land in terms of their personalities but how surprised were you guys to see someone like baker come in and you know that's a massive shadow with tom brady being the guy right before you yes but how surprised were you guys to see him come in there and just make it his locker room make it his team and just kind of not even force the issue just naturally
organically come out of that shadow and make it about you know make it baker's team which is again like you ask any other quarterback across the league you want to come and follow up to tom brady active they're probably gonna say no because it's like A lost situation, and how surprised were you guys to see that kind of play out the way it was, because even as fans of Baker J.C. and I, we were even so a little bit surprised, like dude, it's his team! Like, very quickly how surprised were you guys about that? You know, it's interesting. Uh, when we did sign him, we got a few calls from people that we got McVeigh, Raheem Morris, who were with him for a short period with the Rams, and they're like, 'This guy's special; this guy's gonna come in there and he's gonna the guys are gonna love him; they're gonna love playing for him; he's good; he's competitive.' So we kind of had that feel like once.
we signed him and todd actually had a connection with him dating back from when he was in the draft and had a lot of visits uh todd was todd really really wanted him and liked them you know when he came out a lot and and and uh when it when uh the jets almost you know obviously when number one just didn't have a chance but todd really liked them so we had um a lot of guys that kind of had some familiarity with them but it was amazing how many calls we got like this guy's this guy's special this guy's gonna be like you know he's gotten a little bit of a bad rap
lately we don't know why and the rams like we love him we if if they didn't have stafford They may have, uh, went after and kept the guy like that, and so it was interesting to see how many people reached out um once we signed them, and they were right; he came in and, uh, you know, he competed with Trask but, and made it, it was a competition, and it was, it was pretty close, we both played really well in camp, um, and then once Baker had the starting job, it was, he was he was great last year, so going to Baker's first year with Dave Canalis; how big of an adjustment do you think it's going to be going to Liam Cohen, and honestly, how do you feel right now about Liam Cohen taking over this offense?
I think the good part is there's like there's A lot of similarities from what I'm told from the offense, also Baker having you know been in a similar offense when I think that was a natural fit and I think they came in kind of hitting the ground running and I know Baker, um, you know we didn't hire Liam specifically because of Baker but it definitely didn't hurt that Liam's background and they knew each other were close and he had played in the offense and liked the offense so I think that allowed them to hit the ground running and I think the offseason's been great, we've had really good attendance at the offseason program, we usually have pretty good attendance because We're in Tampa, guys want to stay here, um but Baker's been here
during the offseason, so we feel good with what we've done the offseason and and uh we're probably you know ahead of where we were learning a new offense last year as you know, bigger isn't a new offense to him, um, so I think we're we're on the right right path there. Speaking of Baker again, um did he happen to come up to you and Jason and just be like 'hey, uh my guy Sterling Shepard's out there, um big-time duo in college was that a Baker idea or was that you guys just kind of seeing a fit for death or whatever? He needs to be for the team so it actually we were having a workout and Uh, you know Rob and Splintech Shane scanned on my field.
They put together a list and we were bringing him in anyway, and then Baker kind of got wind though. I heard I heard he's coming in, and then I'm not going to lie, once he did come in, I would Baker wanted him at that part but he was he was our guy, the guy that we were going to sign coming out of the workout anyway, so it all worked out. If he didn't uh Baker may have had uh been outside of Jason's house door waiting to talk to him, but fortunately it kind of went smooth and he was the best guy in the workout and the guy that Baker also wanted as well, but no he didn't come being like sign this.
Guy, you have to sign him once we were bringing him in, and he kind of got wind of that. Then he gave kind of his opinion, like, um, of course you want to listen to him, yeah, you got to listen to Baker; I mean, yeah, I mean you want to know what the quarterback played with, yeah, yeah, you know it's it was silly Jason's silly not to like hear the hear who the quarterback likes his relationship with it makes too much sense. Yeah, um, kind of zoomed out a little bit when... how does the order of operations work with you guys in terms of like, we identify X player; we want him, do they then just throw it to you and say, 'How can we make this work?
What are the numbers?' Or is it a collective team effort where everyone's like, 'these guys are available, you know we like these guys, these guys seem like they can be somebody that we can afford'? How does all that play out because you guys have so many big brains, Spy Tech like Jackie obviously and I know he's very much one of those guys that lets you guys do your thing. How does all that work in terms of how it goes from point A to point B to where we're having a Jordan Whitehead press conference announcing he's back? We have a phenomenal staff like you said, phenomenal, and it even goes um, you know, even goes beyond like Donovan Cotton, Shane Scannell, Tony.
Hardy, buying, keeper people that may not even know - we have a really deep and really good staff, and we've been together a long time. I would say that we're probably, if not the longest one of the longest tenured front offices in the league. And we've been together for a long time, and we've... I mean, most of us have been here at least 10 years. Jason's been here 10 years, the majority of us have been here within 10 years. Some of us, there's a group of us that actually were here before them even at 14 or 15 now yeah, this is my 15th season. Rob McCartney's at 14, um... so the nice part is like we just work well together; we put together a plan together.
Nobody there's no because nobody really cares, like hey, like I called uh this agent and brought this guy in and for a workout, and we all kind of work together, and everybody cares who makes the call to the agent, who's it? It's just, there's not really like an ego during free agency. We're all kind of like, a lot of times, Jason will laugh because I'll walk by it, and a bunch of us will be in my office and just kind of talking through it and looking at who's what we're hearing about each guy and who spoke to what agent, and we all kind of work great together. And I think that's, um, well, first a tribute to Jason, and you know the staff, I think that he's Put together and the respect that he commands from all of us, and um, then we all kind of just work together at this point pretty well.
It's it's I love coming to work here, love working with them. Shocked that some of them aren't GMS. I'm shocked that John Spypeck and Rob McCartney might be Jackie like, haven't gotten opportunities to be a GM. I think they should um, and I think that's probably coming but um, we'd be fortunate to keep the same staff together, no, no, keep it down. Mike is that is that um, is that at all an aspiration of yours to be a General Manager or do you are you happy in in the future? I'm not sure, I'm not sure. i'm not sure i'm not sure i'm not sure i'm not sure i'm not sure and put such flexibility in my position in it i'm not sure you're kind of like the cap guru role um how do you feel about that i you know it's one of those things that i've never it's not a must for me i love the role i'm in i love jason working here um even when i you know because i did interview for caroline i couldn't really envision myself leaving and uh my wife definitely couldn't envision us leaving i love the glaser family and um
so it would take a lot probably for me to leave and it's not something i I have to have a need and some of the problems I watch Jason deal with. I'm not jealous that he has to deal with some of those conversations. Some of the times it's better to be like, 'yeah, you should do this' and give my advice and not have to have those difficult conversations that I see you deal with on a day-to-day basis. So it's one of those things that happens eventually, great. If not, I'd be thrilled being here for the next 10, 15 years and winning more Super Bowls and working under Jason and with all the people here. So it's not something that's a must, right? I think we all can say we would be thrilled with that as well.
Appreciate it. Mike, has there been a moment in the NFL? Obviously, the Tom Brady moment is kind of a big one, so I can't let you say that. But have you had a kind of a crowning moment in your role or even just in the role as a staff itself? It doesn't even have to be with the Bucs even necessarily. But have you had that crowning moment of like, man, this was one of the coolest and one of my biggest accomplishments. I can't believe he signed this contract. Anything like that that's happened over the years for you? I would say bringing back, we touched upon it, but bringing back all the 22 stars, being the first team to do that, that was awesome. Coming off of a Super Bowl and doing that.
I would say, though, a lot of times what's interesting, and I think the personnel guys would give you a similar answer, it's like bringing guys in like Shaq Barrett, that the guys identify them. We ended up doing the deal. And so combined effort with it. They were right on the talent. And finding guys like that who went on to be amazing Buccaneers, Ryan Jensen, some of those deals at free agency, you look back and you're like, that was awesome. That was a fun thing to be a part of. Shaq Barrett was what, one year? Yeah, one year, $4 million for Shaq. And then you had Baker one year with $4 million with options. And these guys. Like a big deal. But a lot of times you do those big deals, they never work out.
Right. You do them and knowing that they're not going to work out, but hitting on the right guy, and credit to the personnel staff, and watching, I mean, how often does a player like Ryan Jensen play out the deal and at the end of the day make a Pro Bowl and get another deal? Like it's so rare that that happens. So even some of the bigger ones, not necessarily the small ones, like when they work out, like when Mike Evans plays out his whole contract and Vontae Davis on his fourth contract, I think, those are really the things that like. Are probably because the worst thing you can really do is cut a player. You'd rather lose a player in free agency, get a comp pick back if you lose them.
But like cutting a player and being wrong on the deal, like everyone's always like, well, if they're wrong, they'll cut them. You're three. That's the worst thing you can do, though. You'd rather you want to play it out. And then if you do lose them in free agency, at least you get a comp pick, you're getting something back. So having a bunch of guys play out their deals to that, that's really when we know we're doing a decent job when they and we want to resign them also. And some of them got. And raises, which is, you know, you're hitting on the right guy from a personnel standpoint, too. That's what's so surprising about Jason's time here is he came from the bill, you know, the Bill Belichick, you know, Patriots way, which was get rid of a guy one year earlier as opposed to one year late.
So even if they kind of play it out, we want to just get something in return. Whereas he's been let's keep the guys that we know are our dudes and let's just ride them out. Leverage David type guys like you could have at any moment just been like, let's just let him go, whatever. You know, he's aging, but but he's not at the same time. And so, you guys, and then the other thing, too, is really refreshing with Jason, is that if he makes a mistake or, you know, you guys all make a mistake, you guys are quick to just pull that band-aid and not waste time on it. It's like, let's not hang on to these, you know, defensive linemen that didn't work out in free agency as opposed to, you know, just let him go, figure it out, and kind of start all over again, which is really, really cool.
So I don't know what your history was before you got to the Bucs, but obviously, you were here before Jason, too. So I'm sure it's a different style as well. So why I think you hit it off with Jason, some of Jason, he's never afraid to make a mistake, which is rare. People say that you will do that, but he doesn't have been in the room with him. And I've heard him say to the owners like, 'I made a mistake.' And I think the owners appreciate the fact that he's admitting to it and that he doesn't want to make another mistake on top of one. And then I will tell you a lot of the reason I think we're able to bring some of these guys back to is a large part on Jason.
I have never been around somebody who has a better way of communicating and relating to the players. So the players may not always want to know what Jason's saying, but you know where you stand, you know, he he is incapable of lying. And you guys know him. He's the worst liar in the world. He is written on a slate and can't do it. So he, you know, he tells the guys the truth. They know where they stand, even like take last year with Mike. You know, we weren't able to get a deal done with Mike. And as much as that conversation hurt Jason to talk to Mike, that relationship is pretty, probably one of the reasons that Mike did decide to come back, because he always knows where he stands with Jason and Jason's honest with them.
And same thing with, you know, worse now. And and he has a way of of relating to the players and just being up front with them. And I think that goes a long way with them because a lot of times, you know, they they get lied to a lot of times and or the message gets goes through three different, you know, through me and the agent and somebody else, and it's not. And he knows how to he goes to them. He has a conversation. He tells them exactly where they stand. And I think at the end of the day, they appreciate that. And that's a lot of the reason I think guys, you know, even even though we don't didn't do deal with Mike, Mike still wanted to come back.
And I think Jason has a big part in that. They're a huge part. How's your sleep? How's your sleep after all that? My sleep? Yeah. After the, I know you didn't sleep very well during the season with. No, I'm ready. I'm not going to lie. I'm ready. I'm ready for Thursday. The offseason program to be over. I take a little bit of a break. It's been a busy offseason. Been fun, been fun. The three little boys at home doesn't doesn't really help the sleep. I sometimes I come here. But yeah, other than that, it's but it's been fun. It's been a really fun offseason. So I can't have a question. I have a question for you. A lot of people argue about this on NFL Twitter and whatnot. Everyone has their different opinions.
So, as the cap guy, when you're negotiating a deal with a free agent, coming into Tampa, obviously we all know, you know, we all live here. We know how great it is to live here. The weather is amazing. It's great to raise a family here. There are so many benefits going on the water, jet skiing, whatever you want to do as a player. But how much does the tax benefit help with negotiating? Some people say none at all. But like reality is you're you're saving yourself money. Do you find that it helps you with certain negotiations when you're trying to get a guy? I'm going to tell you about the no state taxes over and over again. Exactly. And then why the hell am I on it? Yeah, it is real.
It's real. And you look at it for a player. We send it. If we send a sheet that will show you approximately what pays and in every NFL city and team, because it's real, like one team may be offering you 11 or 12 or up to 10. But your take-home pay is going to be more here. And that's not even talking about the cost of living, which compared to like a California. But that's real. And we are going to tell you over and over again until we know you about it. And because it and what's interesting is, you get a guy like a Shaq Barrett and Jensen when they come from another place and then they come here, they realize some of the rookies don't really realize it because they've spent their whole career here.
They go to resign. It's not that big of a deal. When you get guys who come in from other places, when we traded for JPP, I remember he got a million. It was like one-one raise just off the trade alone. We kept this contract. But it's unbelievable us compared to Jersey. I was a million-dollar raise just in the trade alone. That is so I had to I had it. I know I know Sam knows this. I had to clarify that I got in a Twitter argument with we don't need to name names. But I was like, You're crazy if you don't think that is a major factor in signing in Tampa and the more you make. I think that the weather helps, too, in terms of training all year round.
You can get it's amazing how many people move here and keep their places here. Even players, a lot of coaches. They have their places here still, and they'll go on, but keep it in Tampa because it's a great place to live, a great place for the family. And it's it's, you know, can't really beat the weather. It's great for your tax, except for the summer. It's great for that. I mean, but then, you know, the contracts are signing. They're saving millions of dollars. It's not like me or, you know, regular athletes, you know, 50,000, 100. They were saving millions of dollars. So it's actually you get it was we increased now and you get in the $20 million, $30 million a year contracts. That's it's significant. The big difference, Mike, you've worked with.
Quite a few personalities in your time, and I feel like the majority of the guys in the NFL are kind of the same dudes. Jason's a little bit different. Obviously, he's more of a football guy. You know, I could grab a beer, have some wings, blue cheese, obviously. And you're watching, you know, the game with him. I don’t know how familiar you were with B.A. before B.A. came to town. Did you have one of those ‘holy like’ OK, welcome to the B.A. world moment with him at all? Or were you kind of already, you know, adept to who he was beforehand? He’s the best. So I actually picked them up and I was picking up all the coaches that we interviewed that year.
So I actually picked them up to bring them here to meet with Jason and the Glazers. And everybody brings these books and these briefcases and binders to show you. And I walked in and I didn’t know him. I said, ‘Hey, Coach, you got anything? You got anything?’ And it was just by himself. He goes, 'Nope, don't need it all up here.' And you know what? The interview, it was all up here. It was amazing. It was incredible. And he is just. He's just an unbelievable guy and just knows. Knows what the what's important, what's not, when to have when to like take things seriously, when to laugh about it. Just he's just awesome to be around. It was I saw him and his wife last week. It was awesome.
And I love B.A., love his life, Chris, his family. It was such a cool experience being around a guy like that and just so much football knowledge. But it's awesome how much he cares about like everybody in the organization. And I remember even the year after I think the year we won the Super Bowl, me and my wife happened to go away to where he lives during the offseason and they were staying at his lake house, the lake house. Yeah. And he's pissed at any call. He's texting me, pissed at me. He goes, 'I didn't want to bother him.' I knew his family town. He goes, 'It's our anniversary. We're having a big party.' And so me and my wife showed up. It was him, all his family, and me, my wife.
And he was just so mad that I didn't know how much to be there. He wanted to come, come hang out with us. And he just is the fun guy, and a great guy to be around, and special, special guy. He should be in the Hall of Fame.' He ever gets problems in the hall. Definitely will be. You want to ever give you no problems passing by in the hall because, you know, you're doing all the stuff that he's signing these checks for that. He's like, Yeah, here we go. Here we go. You ever give me the hard times in the hall? He was, you know, it's interesting, too, is even when the guys we lost are, don't worry about it. Well, we'll make it work. We'll make it work.
Doesn't never got like crazy and never understood the business. And they had been in it so long, you understood it. But always we'll figure it out and we'll and just awesome. Awesome to be around. So at this point now, is he still basically full-time at the lake house or is he still popping in as a special adviser? He pops in and then I know Jason Jason will talk to him, you know, come around the draft and free agency and send them just to watch tape. I think he watches our games and he'll come to a few games a year. And everyone it's so funny to watch everyone when he does come into the building because everyone's just so happy to see him because he's just so, so great. When he's here.
So, but he'll pop in here or there. I he lives a good life. It's funny that he's earned it. He hasn't been a buck for very, very long, but it feels like he's been here since the Derrick book years. It feels like it's crazy. He feels like Rondé Barber to the to the fans and people like us who kind of got to know him a little bit, too. You would never guess this guy was an NFL head coach who, you know, coached in multiple Super Bowls, had won a Super Bowl as a head coach, played with all these guys and coached with all these dudes and knows all these stories that he has. You would never guess, dude, that he was. He's got stories are incredible. And it's interesting.
Like him and Rondé connection was was just ironic and pretty amazing. And but yeah, he's just a special guy. So what was it like to transition from, you know, working with B.A. to then Todd taking over? What was the difference in the personality or how involved they are with you and Jason and Jackie and everyone? Is it more hands off with Todd or is he still just as much involved as? Yeah, you know, the interesting part is it's because they're they coached him for so long and really B.A. let him run the show on defense. So it was like he was kind of in that like second head coach role anyway. On the defensive side of the ball, it's pretty smooth.
And I've, I've been here for I've been here for quite a many, for quite a lot of transitions from from new head coaches. That was definitely the smoothest one because it was a lot about the coach. Most of the coaches, I think, majority of that year all stayed the same. Todd was already involved. A lot because it's just his role in the defense. So it was pretty smooth. And what people don't realize about Todd, too, is Todd's a funny guy. He's he's you see him on TV and you think he doesn't smile. He doesn't talk about how it's funny. That's got a lot of love to bust your chops. Love still. So it was it was a pretty smooth transition. Definitely the smoothest one since I've been here.
There's no like control on the air conditioning or anything like that. No, yeah, not yet. At least, no toes on the line. Yeah, I just well, Mike, thanks so much for being here. I've been here since before him. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Mike, it's hard. No, I was just to say thank you so much for joining us today. I was going to ask one more thing. I don't know if you ever scroll through Twitter or go on Twitter after you make a big signing or something. But myself, I use this Jeff a lot. I know a lot of people do. If you've seen The Hangover when Alan's coming down the escalator about to play blackjack and everything's going, is that kind of how you feel when you're doing these contracts or do you just laugh when he's...
you've had to have seen that, right? I've seen it. I enjoy the comments. I'm not going to lie. I do. Yeah. Sometimes I don't. You were especially free and you were so busy. It's like you hang up and you know, when sometimes I won't look at him till I get home like late at night, especially for agency. But I enjoy them. I'm not going to lie. We had we had Jason on. We had Jason on the other podcast. And I'm the host of the Loose Cannons. And we coined the phrase Greenberg. So any time you guys sign a guy and we just like, yeah, he's just going to Greenberg him, it's fine. Yeah, we're not even worried about just going to Greenberg. We're still be fine. He's not going anywhere.
Like you become a verb. I think you're on to something. Oh, definitely. I like it. And then when I do my next contract negotiation, I'm just going to defer with Jason and defer to you to get you guys. You guys do it for me. Yeah, we actually did my phone with me and Jason at the bar. It's seven one seven. We sat at the bar, me and him, and we fought back and forth there. So that was the first one we ever did. 2000, whenever he came in. That's a football dude right there. See that? That's what we did, man. That's what we did. Yeah, Mike, I also noticed you practice, you can practice law in the state of New York. So, you know, I go to Connecticut, I leave for Connecticut this Friday.
If I happen to go to New York City and get in trouble, you fly in and defend me. I will be there. You may want to call. Someone else also who is equipped for that. If if you need to know how much money you need to raise a bond to get out and figure out the numbers there, I can help you probably there. But I still I'd call it. You can't help me out. You can't help me out in Jersey, though. So I was barred in Jersey. I stopped and I did take the Jersey bar. So I am barred in Jersey. So I can I can I can pay back into Jersey. But not when am I going to Jersey? So no, I didn't know. This about you.
So now I have to ask one last question. Sorry, J.C., Law & Order. Is that all garbage? Is that all Fugazi? Or if you watch that and you're like, yeah, this is real life or Suits, maybe. The interesting part with Law & Order, especially like the trial stuff, a lot of the evidence rules and the and the hearsay and the rejections, a lot of that's pretty, pretty on point and accurate to the point where one of my civil procedure, I think it was or Evidence actually showed a few clips from Law & Order from the trial part. So some of it is pretty, pretty on point from that standpoint. And a lot of the actual law aspects of it, like what is the criminal elements and stuff like that, that's pretty good.
They're pretty on point. So you're not a suits guy, though. I do like suits. Yeah. See, I could tell, man, I could tell. I knew you're a suits guy. I should put on a suit for the show, man. Honestly, I do like suits. Yeah, well, good show. Solid. Great show. Yeah, J.C. No, you know, Mike, thanks for having us. I'm going to write down. Right now. I make sure you agree to be here for the next 15 years with the folks. So that's just going to we're good with that. Are we good on that? OK, well, thank you so much for joining us. This is a fun interview. We would love to do it again. Let us know. We'll have you on whenever. But you can. Yeah, you can follow us on the YouTube Loose Cannon Show. We're streaming on Spotify, Apple, iTunes as fully loaded. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers podcast. Samer, any last words or Mike, any last words? Pretty sure you guys have me on. This is fun. Yeah. Thanks. Yeah, thanks a lot. You ever need any help in the contract, you know, negotiation. Maybe you guys are taking over. So I'm going to tell Jason that you guys know about the numbers part. But yeah, I'll let you do that. All right, man. Appreciate it.
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