FanHouse KevinCarter

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Excluding Brett Favre, which remaining free agent can play the biggest role in 2009?

The easy answer (INCLUDING Brett Favre!!) is Plaxico Burress. He's a high-ceiling, high-impact wide receiver. You saw the way the Giants' offense missed him at the end of 2008, and we've seen a handful of teams express interest in him -- even though nobody knows if he's going to play in 2009. If he is allowed to play, he's your answer. But it looks increasingly likely that he'll be suspended for at least part of the season, if not all. So in the non-Burress division, I have three veterans who could make an interesting impact in the right situation:

Because the NFL season never ends, we present our 2009 Offseason Roadmaps for front offices to navigate through the summer.

Following a disastrous end to the 2009 season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have gone through some pretty significant changes. Gone are head coach Jon Gruden, general manager Bruce Allen and starting quarterback Jeff Garcia.

That's what happens when you haven't won a playoff game since 2002 and closed out your season on a four-game losing streak.

Last year around this time, I looked at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' free agent signings, most of whom were of the grizzled veteran variety, and wondered if the Bucs were mortgaging their future to win now.

That shows how little I know. The Bucs went from worst to first in the NFC South, they added a ton of young talent to the defense in the draft, and now they find themselves more than $30 million under the salary cap.

Of course, they got there by cutting old guys. Defensive linemen Kevin Carter, 35, and Greg Spires, 34, were both cut yesterday, thanks in part to the emergence of Gaines Adams and Greg White. The Bucs only got a year out of Carter, who made 43 tackles and 3 sacks last season.

So Jon Gruden and Bruce Allen, their jobs more secure, can now focus on reducing the average age of the team. With the amount of cap room they have, they might chase after some high-profile free agents. Rumors have put the Bucs on Asante Samuel's short list, and there's certainly no shortage of wide receivers on the market if Gruden really doesn't trust the guys he has now.

To get you ready for week 13, FanHouse is previewing all 16 NFL games. Here is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers/New Orleans Saints preview.

2007 Records:

Tampa Bay Buccaneers 7-4 (1st in NFC South)
New Orleans Saints 5-6 (2nd in NFC South)

Last Game:

Bucs 19, Redskins 13
Saints 31, Panthers 6

When the Bucs have the ball: Or, shall I say, when Joey Galloway has the ball. If the Bucs want to win, they don't have to study a whole lot of game tape or devise a brilliant strategy. All they have to do is throw to Galloway. The ageless one has nine touchdowns in his last six games in New Orleans, and victimizes the New Orleans secondary more than maybe any other receiver in the league (considering how many receivers have victimized the Saints secondary, this is saying something).

On Friday, I pondered the possibility of Drew Bennett, 6'5'' against defensive backs no taller than 5'11'', being the target of a fade in the end zone. And he was, but the results defied logic: Philip Buchanon intercepted the pass.

A lot of things about the Bucs' 24-3 victory over St. Louis defy logic: the Rams finally getting Steven Jackson on track, to the tune of 115 yards, and only scoring three points; Marc Bulger, he of a 97-62 career touchdown-interception ratio, throwing three picks without a touchdown; the Bucs defense, considered tepid in the offseason, putting together a second-straight dominant effort.

But I guess at this point in the season, there is no logic to be defined. We've got three games, not nearly a large enough sample to judge, and prior seasons mean nothing. On that note, this is what we know, and it's always open to change: the Bucs are playing perfect playoff football while looking like the best team in the NFC South, and the Rams need Mike Martz back, in the baddest way.

He was erratic. He was egotistical. He had trouble managing the clock, timeouts, and challenges. He hardly knew of these things we call "defense" and "the run game." But the Rams made the playoffs four out of his six years as head coach, they had a 53-32 record during his tenure, and even at their most inconsistent and sloppy, they were never, ever, ever this bad.