Garcia has forgotten his place—and how to count

By Chris Cluff  |   Friday, June 06, 2008  |  Comments( 11 )

Tampa Bay Buccaneers
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Jeff Garcia apparently doesn’t know how to count.

How else do you explain his ridiculously unfounded complaining about his contract? He is scheduled to make $2 million in 2008, and he thinks he’s underpaid even though he is 38 and missed three games with injuries last year in his first season as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ starting quarterback.

Garcia obviously has forgotten that there are only 32 starting quarterbacks in the league and that he is lucky the Buccaneers were desperate enough to make him one of them. And he apparently hasn’t taken a look recently at the Bucs’ quarterback roster, which even after the release of Bruce Gradkowski includes five passers. Among them are Brian Griese and Luke McCown, two guys who have plenty of starting experience.

Garcia has a grossly inflated sense of his importance to the Bucs. Yes, the Bucs were desperate last year for a veteran quarterback who could run coach Jon Gruden’s offense. And yes, Garcia came in and played better for them than anyone did in 2006. He set a team record early in the season by completing 197 straight passes without an interception. And then he was named to the Pro Bowl as a replacement for Brett Favre.

Add all of that up, and Garcia thinks he deserves a pay raise/extension on the two-year deal he signed last year. He made his stance quite clear in a recent radio interview.

“It would be really difficult for me to go through the season and not have something [an extension] done,” Garcia said. “I would really like to see the appreciation put out there.

“If a contract is not presented as far as a renewal and a chance to finish my career here -- then I will seriously think about … what my alternate options may be. It may come to not even playing football anymore. And I’d hate to even say that, but I feel like when you mistreat people there comes a time when it doesn’t matter how much money you’re going to be paid. If you’re not being treated the right way, it’s going to lead to some drastic decisions, and those decisions may just take me away from the game.”

Not sure why he threw in the part about it not mattering how much he is paid, because that is exactly what he is complaining about. There is some speculation that he is unhappy that the Bucs chose to not play him in those three games last December because the lost playing time meant he wasn’t able to activate a contract escalator that would have bumped his 2008 pay reportedly by $2.5 million. Now Garcia wants to be paid even more – somewhere around $6 million or $7 million per year.

The Bucs have plenty of money under the salary cap and actually could afford to pay that, but they have no reason to let Garcia dictate contract terms. They know he becomes increasingly more fragile the older he gets – particularly with his leave-it-all-on-the-field style of play. And as well as he played when he was healthy last season, he still did not lead the Bucs to a playoff win.

With Griese back, Gruden has a good second option. He also has McCown, who is more familiar with the offense after starting three games and playing most of a fourth last December. No other team is interested in Garcia, so he really should feel fortunate he even has a starting job.

Of course, if he doesn’t quickly remember how to count, he might not have one for long.
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About Chris Cluff

Chris Cluff spent 10 years as an editor and sportswriter for The Seattle Times. He was a key figure in the newspaper's coverage of the Seahawks, particularly during their Super Bowl run in 2005. He also has written two books on the Seahawks: "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Heart-Pounding,...
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