Sears May Have Put On A Few Pounds

November 19, 2009 at 10:11am by Scott   •  5 Comments »

While Arron Sears was on his hiatus (Is that what we’re calling now? Is that sensitive enough?) he evidently spent most of his time working on his mental health and left the physical stuff to his nurse, Sara Lee. As a result, when Sears came back to One Buc this week, he was out of shape. Or totally in shape if the shape he was going for was an amorphous blob.

Overweight and out of shape, Sears won’t return to practice until next week at the earliest, and it could be next year before he sees action in a game again.

“In my mind it would be wishful thinking to think he can contribute this year,” Bucs general manager Mark Dominik said of Sears…

The good news, and the reason why I don’t feel like a complete tool making jokes about him, is that by everyone’s account, Sears seems to be back to his old self. His good friend, Donald Penn, thinks so.

“I mean, he seems like the same old Sears to me. When I first saw him after I caught that pass (against Philadelphia), the first thing he said was, ‘Oh, so you’re catching passes now, huh?’ That’s the same old Sears.”

“I ran into him about three weeks ago. We talked for about 10 minutes and (his return) was one of the things we talked about. He told me he couldn’t wait to get back.”

Dominik thinks Sears is even eager to play football again.

“In talking to him, I got a sense of hunger and desire in him,” Dominik said. “I know he wouldn’t be here if he didn’t want to be here. I know he’s very excited, very happy to be with Kurtis today. He’s fired up about it.”

Make your own “hunger” jokes.

So it will be a while before Sears plays again. There’s no point in rushing him to play this season, but if he can get into playing shape by the last game or two, maybe stick him in there for a few plays just to see how he’s progressed. What will be nice is to see the competition between Sears and Jeremy Zuttah in the offseason. Both of them will have significant starting experience and whoever doesn’t win the starter’s job will still be a high-quality backup.