Bucs assistant GM Mike Greenberg – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR If Carolina shows interest in hiring Greenberg, the Glazers, and the Bucs organization would be wise to step in and give him enough of a raise that would encourage him to stay. Not just to keep a brilliant mind out of a division rival’s organization, but to reward the loyalty of Greenberg, who absolutely loves the Bucs franchise and has been one of the vital elements of the team’s success through the years. Greenberg, who has been with the Bucs since 2010 when he was hired by former general manager Mark Dominik as a personnel assistant, has been an invaluable member of Tampa Bay’s front office. Much more than the salary capologist that he is often depicted being, Greenberg is the trusted strategist of the Bucs’ brass, and actually runs the entire budget for the football side of the organization – not just the salary cap. Greenberg sets the budget and oversees the purchases for the team’s travel, equipment, video, scouting, and groundskeeping. Most importantly, Greenberg is also Licht’s right-hand man. Mike Greenberg Aids Jason Licht, Bucs In So Many Ways Jason Licht is the Bucs’ personnel maven who has not only constructed a roster that has won a Super Bowl and three straight division titles but has also stockpiled a first-class front office with plenty of talented scouts and personnel staff – in addition to Mike Greenberg, who is Tampa Bay’s chief contract negotiator. 
Bucs GM Jason Licht and assistant GM Mike Greenberg – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR Greenberg has been a creative innovator in terms of contract structure and has been a contract trendsetter around the league. Other teams have copied his structuring style, which has evolved throughout the years. The Bucs used to be a team known to use roster bonuses instead of signing bonuses because Greenberg and Licht chose to take on the bulk of the cap hits up front instead of spreading charges out over future years. It made perfect sense. A new free agent signing was certainly going to be on the roster on the year he signed to the team. So the Bucs guaranteed the first year and a half – and sometimes two years – of that contract. Then, if the free agent wasn’t performing as hoped, the Bucs could move on and release the player with little or no dead cap money impact in the second or third year. From 2010 to the start of the Tom Brady era in 2020, that approach helped the Bucs have a really healthy cap and avoid the dead cap money issues other teams had from using signing bonuses instead of roster bonuses. Once Brady was signed, the Bucs were in a position to go “all in,” and Greenberg began the practice of using voidable years to spread cap charges out into future years as a way to manage the salary cap at that time. That created the necessary cap room to re-sign all of the team’s free-agent starters in 2021. Whether it was using creative ways to get aging star linebacker Lavonte David back for just $4.5 million with an attainable bonus of $2.5 million, or doing two contracts for the legendary Brady, Greenberg’s creativity has been at the forefront. Jason Licht, Mike Greenberg Are Bucs’ 1-2 Front Office Punch 
Bucs director of football administration Mike Greenberg and GM Jason Licht – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR After becoming Tampa Bay’s general manager, Jason Licht and Mike Greenberg have become the one-two punch that put the organization in position to build a Super Bowl winner in 2020 and remain competitive ever since. Greenberg’s role with the front office is not limited to free agency, either. He is also the trade strategist for the Bucs on draft weekend. Greenberg has assisted Licht with compensation strategy during the times the G.M. has moved up and down in certain rounds over the years. If the Bucs lose Greenberg to Carolina it isn’t as if Licht could no longer function or would somehow take a massive step back as Tampa Bay’s general manager. But Greenberg makes Licht function at his highest level as a G.M., and that’s something the Glazers have to understand. If Licht is the engine that runs the Bucs’ race car, Greenberg is the oil that makes the engine run smoothly and optimally – and helps avoid breakdowns. Bucs Can’t Afford To Lose Mike Greenberg The Bucs’ front office has been a well-oiled machine for the past decade with Licht at the helm and has performed at the highest level over the team’s recent four-year playoff run. Why the Bucs would want to risk an engine breakdown without using the same high-performance oil? That doesn’t make a lot of sense. 
Bucs assistant GM Mike Greenberg and VP of football research Jacqueline Davidson – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR Licht and Greenberg brought Jacqueline Davidson into the organization in 2019 to work with them in terms of budgeting, strategy, and contract negotiations. Greenberg is truly irreplaceable, but Davidson, the team’s vice president of football research, would be the most capable replacement if it came to that. Both Licht and Greenberg think the world of her, and she could very well be a future general manager in the league in time. But if Greenberg were to be hired by Carolina, what if he tried to take Davidson with him to work in the Panthers front office with a promotion, such as assistant general manager? Losing Greenberg alone would be disastrous for the organization because he’s a one-of-a-kind strategist. But Licht and the Bucs couldn’t withstand Greenberg and potentially Davidson departing for a division rival. Whatever the Glazers need to do to keep Greenberg would be a big step toward solidifying the Bucs’ dominance in the NFC South for years to come. Letting him go to a division rival would only strengthen the Panthers and weaken the Buccaneers. The post Mike Greenberg’s Departure Would Be Disastrous For Bucs appeared first on Pewter Report. Source: https://www.pewterreport.com/mike-green ... -for-bucs/
