The Defense For Allen and Gruden I feel that it is up to me to play Devil’s Advocate against the consensus of the Bucs' off-season. “We should have drafted Steven Jackson” or “How can we have Darrel Russell on our team with his past”. I personally believe that this has been a very productive off season and with the changes made we can build toward another Superbowl win. Firstly let's look at the hiring of Bruce Allen. He was the brain behind Al Davis’ madness, he was the one who made all the contracts of the veteran players work and stay under the cap. With Rich McKay gone and an ambitious coach like Gruden, we required a General manager, who could let Gruden sign the players that he wants and be smart enough to keep it under the salary cap. It is obvious with our signings that Allen is that man, as we have signed 18 Unrestricted Free Agents, re-signed seven players and traded away the “Mouth” for Joey Galloway, while only losing 15 players to free agency. The question with Free Agency signings are always, have we improved as a team because of them? I believe that we have as the bulk of our signing are skill players and upgrades over their predecessors:- Backup Quarterback- Brian Griese over Shaun “Quarterback of the future” King Starting Running back-Charlie Garner over Michael “Prison term” Pittman Backup Running back- Jamel White and Brandon Bennett over Thomas “Fumble” Jones and Aaron “NFL Europe” Stecker Nickel Cornerback- Mario Edwards over Corey “XFL” Ivy Starting Tackles- Derrick Deese and Todd Steussie over Kenyatta “Hands to the face, false start, holding, clipping, etc” Walker. You might think is that enough to warrant signing some of them, when they are old and we could have drafted a potential superstar? I may just be talking for myself but I would rather have a proven entity of a player instead of a player instead of banking on a 21-24 year old to lead our team. Let us not forget our high hopes for Kenyatta Walker who went from starting left tackle, to starting right tackle, to starting to look for another team. With drafting a player like Michael Clayton there is no pressure on him. He can learn the offense behind Joey Galloway, Keenan McCardell and Joe Jurevicius and not worry about being productive straight away. With Allen’s obvious flair for free Agents contracts allowed us to tie the majority down to long deals, Deese, Steussie and Garner have all signed up. We have also been able to upgrade a couple of positions with late signings, namely Nickel Corner with Mario Edwards, who is renown for his playmaking abilities, and Strongside Linebacker, with Ian Gold who has the speed to rush the passer and drop into coverage, and was much sought after, after the draft. Allen was able to tie these two players down to five and six year contracts respectively. Finally I am going to annoy some people by leaping to the defense of Allen and Gruden’s decision to sign Darrell Russell. Firstly may I say that if we are looking at it from a football standpoint it could be a great investment. Let us not forget that he was drafted 2nd overall in the 97 draft and with his experience playing of playing nose tackle next to Grady Jackson for the Raiders, he can chew up blocks allowing Booger McFarland to get free. You might say that we don’t need him because Chartric Darby did so well filling in for McFarland during our Superbowl year. Even though he did well, in my heart of hearts I knew that he was too small and not strong enough to be a starter, there is no doubt that if Russell turns up ready to play then we will have a steal. As for his off the field problems, if we sacked every Buc's player that had a run in with the police we wouldn’t have a starting free-safety. Isn’t that right Mr. Smith?