By PFW staff
Feb. 29, 2008

Jeff Faine

The Bucs stole from a division rival Friday, signing Saints C Jeff Faine to a record six-year, $37.5 million deal. The contract is the largest ever for a center and includes $15 million in guaranteed money. Faine played a leading role on New Orleans' offensive line, which allowed the fewest sacks in the league last season. He had come to the Saints from the Browns in a trade prior to the 2006 season — New Orleans made an appearance in the NFC championship game that year. Faine replaces C John Wade, who is an unrestricted free agent, as the man in the middle for Tampa.

The PFW spin

As is the case every offseason, teams will overpay to fill high-priority vacancies, and the Bucs, with close to $44 million in cap space as of Thursday night, were willing to do just that in this case. With so much money to spend, Tampa had the flexibility to make an expensive commitment, but it could wind up being a regrettable move if Faine continues to struggle to stay healthy.

Faine finished each of his three seasons with the Browns on injured reserve, though he played the majority of games during each of those years. The Notre Dame product made it through his first complete season in 2006 but missed two games last season with a pectoral injury.

Tampa will look to Faine to provide leadership on an offensive line that, for most of last season, started only one player — Wade — with more than one year of experience. Veteran OLT Luke Petitgout should be back after suffering a season-ending knee injury in Week Four of 2007, and he will share in providing guidance to OGs Davin Joseph and Arron Sears and ORT Jeremy Trueblood.

Faine should be fairly familiar with head coach Jon Gruden's West Coast offense, having watched it up close four times in the past two years. Playing center, Faine will need to master the scheme in order to make proper line calls. New Orleans runs a hybrid of the West Coast offense that has proved to be very explosive.