Pat Ranks Things

September 02, 2010 at 11:47am by Scott   •  No Comments »

It’s a game night and nothing else is going on with the Bucs, so I’ll take a quick look at what Pat Yasinskas has been chirping about for the past couple days. Evidently, he has been ranking things because that’s what people who don’t have anything substantive to talk about do (or post gratuitous cheerleader pictures). The most recent one is his take on the offensive linemen:

5. Davin Joseph, guard, Buccaneers. One of the more unsung players in the NFC South. If New Orleans wasn’t in the division, Joseph would be the NFC South’s best guard.

So Joseph is the fifth-best offensive lineman in the NFC South? I guess I can get behind that. This is Joseph’s last year under contract, but if the years required for unrestricted free agency are still at six, he’ll be in the same boat Barrett Ruud and all those other guys were in this year. And does the coaching staff really want Joseph angry with them? Jesus, that guy’s huge.

The tough part is that he and Jeremy Trueblood form a nice tandem, but if they let Trueblood, who is also in a contract year, walk away, will the motivation still be as high to keep Joseph on the team? In other words, will Joseph be as effective with someone else at right tackle?

8. Donald Penn, left tackle, Buccaneers. Is he an elite left tackle? No, but the Buccaneers just handed him a ton of money because he’s capable of protecting Josh Freeman’s blind side.

Well, that’s the job description, right? How does Pat judge eliteness? Does Penn have to Super Duper protect Freeman? Numbnuts.

12. Jeff Faine, center, Buccaneers. A veteran with good leadership skills. The Bucs need Faine to stay on the field all season. When he was hurt last year, it had a huge impact on the entire offense.

I have no problem with the words, it’s the ranking I take issue with. Third-best center in the NFC South? Faine is better than Ryan Kalil at this stage of their careers. He simply is. Kalil may have more upside because of his youth, but Faine is everything you want in a center and is pretty much at the peak of his career. And this is coming from a guy who wanted to draft Kalil.

If you were looking for Jeremy Zuttah‘s name, you’ve been watching a different team with a different Jeremy Zuttah on it. I would make a joke here about Trueblood, but I will be visiting One Buc in a couple weeks and I’ve grown accustomed to having my head attached to my neck, so I don’t want to do anything to mess that up.

As long as I’m on Pat’s page, let’s just blow the rest of his shit out so I can get back to work.

Victor in El Paso, Texas writes: Now that the Bucs have cut Derrick Ward do you think the Bucs will get another running back?

Pat Yasinskas: I would not totally rule out the Bucs picking up a running back when other teams make their cuts. The Bucs constantly monitor the waiver wire and are always looking to upgrade a roster that clearly still needs some upgrading.

Pat must be talking about the South Carolina Buccaneers, a professional inline hockey team, because the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the NFL don’t give half a shit about the waiver wire. They’ll be more than happy to fill holes with undrafted free agents and hurricane sandbags until next year’s draft where they’ll continue their rebuilding project. Maybe if a large meteor crushes half the roster, they’ll skim the transaction list and see if they recognize any names. Hell, two of the rare free agents they did pick up during the Morris regime are already off the roster. Do you know their biggest problem with picking up free agents? Child labor laws.

On to wide receivers:

6. Mike Williams, Buccaneers. I’m really hesitant to rank a rookie receiver this high because I’ve seen too many of them through the years struggle after looking great in the summer. But I think Williams might be the exception to this rule. In camp and the preseason, he’s just gone out and made plays day after day. Tampa Bay needs someone to emerge as a No. 1 receiver and he seems to be leading the candidates.

I have no problem with Williams being named the sixth-best receiver in the NFC South already. It’s aggressive, but there’s no one ranked below him that I think is better. I think Marques Colston is better than Roddy White, but now we’re splitting hairs.

9. Reggie Brown, Buccaneers. Someone’s going to end up being the starter opposite Williams and the Bucs think Brown has a shot at securing that role. This is a guy the Bucs traded for with five years left on his contract. He’s still adjusting to the system a bit, but the Bucs think he’s going to fit in.

Yeah, now all he has to do is actually catch a ball. The preseason has not been kind to Brown. Pat has Lance Moore a few slots behind Brown and I’m not so sure about that. Brown still has a lot to prove.

11. Sammie Stroughter, Buccaneers. The plan is to use him in the slot, where Stroughter is a perfect fit. He showed big-play ability last year and the Bucs are fantasizing about Stroughter running under some deep passes from Josh Freeman.

This is too low for Stroughter. Behind Brandon LaFell? Seriously?

14. Arrelious Benn, Buccaneers. He was a second-round pick, but Williams has been better in the preseason. The Bucs aren’t down on Benn. They think he’s progressing at the normal pace for a rookie and he could play more of a role as the season goes on.

Write your own articles, Pat. Or at the very least hit the donate button and leave your apology in the memo line.

Real world work and obligations may make posting during the day a little difficult for the next couple weeks. If I can’t do daytime posts, I’ll catch up in the evening.

Pat Is Definitely Dispensable

August 27, 2010 at 11:05am by Scott   •  15 Comments »

Pat Yasinskas stuck his finger in his ass and smeared this fucking awful thing about the NFC South’s most “indispensable players” on ESPN yesterday [HT reader Mark. Or Mike. I think Mark; I don't have the email in front of me. Let's call him Mark-Mike.] Here is his criteria for how he made all this up:

My basic rule of thumb on this one was to close my eyes and try to picture each team without certain key players. From there, I tried to gauge the impact on the team if each of those players was lost to injury — or anything else.

In some cases, the answer was blatantly obvious. In others, I went with a player who might not be the best on the team, but his role and the depth situation behind him might have vaulted him over another player. In another case, I went with a player I’m not convinced is anything special, but chose him just because of the importance of his position.

Everyone except the quarterback is eligible. Go ahead and guess if he had nice things to say about any of the Bucs.

TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS: DONALD PENN

Penn’s the guy I’m not sure is all that great.

He stated above that Penn is only the most indispensable player because he’s the left tackle. If the Bucs were playing a sock puppet at left tackle, it would be just as indispensable as Penn. What a fucking load.

But his importance was demonstrated right at the start of training camp when the Bucs broke down and gave Penn the huge contract he’d been seeking for months. The thought of putting quarterback Josh Freeman out there — even on the practice field — without a legitimate left tackle was just too frightening.

He’s not even trying. The Glazers thought Penn was important enough to pay, so that’s good enough for Pat. Why even write the article?

For better or worse, Freeman is the franchise in Tampa Bay.

That’s a knock on Freeman, by the way, who is a truly indispensable player. “For better or worse”? Everyone who has been keeping up with the Buccaneers has bought into Freeman’s work ethic and ability and leadership. Everyone except Pat. He can’t even give them that little bit. “Freeman is the franchise in Tampa Bay” would have been sufficient, but no. He had to include “for better or worse”. Is he still not happy with that draft pick from 16 months ago? Because I’m pretty sure they’re going to keep him.

At the very least, Penn’s a decent left tackle. That means Freeman has a shot at staying upright and the Buccaneers have a shot at digging themselves out of a 3-13 hole.

I don’t expect him to show any favoritism toward the Bucs, but doesn’t his article sound like he wishes he could be doing anything except writing about them? “Decent”, “have a shot”… no enthusiasm for his work or this team. I’ve read mattress tags that were more exciting than this.

Besides, was there really another candidate for indispensable on Tampa Bay’s current roster?

Oh, fuck you sideways, you goat. This should have been an easy assignment because the Bucs have such thin depth at some positions. Can you imagine if Jeff Faine went out? Would the Bucs really put Jeremy Zuttah in to replace him? You’ve seen him in the preseason — he’s awful. And he’s also have to help Freeman make the line calls? Or how about Kellen Winslow? Freeman needs someone he trusts as his go-to guy. Is a rookie like Mike Williams really ready to take over that responsibility? Imagine if Connor Barth was lost for the season. Any kicker that is currently available in free agency is terrible, and the Bucs need to be able to convert field goals. He’s dependable and that seems pretty indispensable to me for a team that is going to need every point it can get for a while.

So basically, Pat doesn’t really think anyone on the Bucs is worth a shit, not even the franchise quarterback. They’re all replaceable. I always want the Bucs to win, but this season I’m especially looking forward to them winning early and watching all the media-types who are shouting them down now to start backpedaling and dishing out praise to players whose names they didn’t even know a month ago.

Happy Happy Joy Joy

August 16, 2010 at 08:11pm by Scott   •  1 Comment »

After re-reading the last few entries, I really come across as bitterly negative on the Bucs. That’s not the case; I’m actually cautiously optimistic on this team. They definitely have their share of players that should be shot into the sun, but they’ve also got some that I think are reasons to be hopeful for the future. Josh Freeman, Donald Penn, Davin Joseph, Jeff Faine, Cadillac Williams, Kareem Huggins, Mike Williams, Kellen Winsow, Sammie Stroughter, Tim Crowder, Geno Hayes, Quincy Black, Tanard Jackson, Aqib Talib. I’m holding back praise for Gerald McCoy just yet because I haven’t seen him really perform yet, but he was double-teamed a good bit on Saturday and couldn’t show much penetration. The trade-off was that Michael Bennett was freed up to make several plays, though. And although he really winds up blaming the field conditions in this article, Derrick Ward did say “You can’t make excuses” and guaranteed a better performance against the Chiefs.

“I’ve been in this league for awhile and I know what it takes to win. I know what it takes to get back on track. That was just a fluke game. But I guarantee you this weekend, I’ll have a great game.”

So, you know… that’s something. Also, consider that Mark Dominik has had a couple very good drafts and pulled off some trades that really worked out in the Bucs’ favor. All in all, if we’re patient, I think we’ll be rewarded. That doesn’t mean I have to be happy about the present if the team looks like shit, and I’ll be the first to say so (over and over and over), but I should try to keep optimistic about it. We all should. Otherwise we’re just fair weather fans, and fuck those guys.

Roster Breakdown: Offensive Line And Tight Ends

August 09, 2010 at 02:19pm by Scott   •  5 Comments »

Donald Penn: Lock. Showed up after his holdout in shape and playing well.

Keydrick Vincent: I’m listing him among the starters because I think he wins the starting left guard job. He’s too big and too powerful to ignore. Now they have this just mass of beef on the left side to grate the road and create some running lanes that weren’t there before.

Jeff Faine: Lock. Faine has taken a few practices off, but that’s not all that unusual. I seem to remember him doing the same in previous camps. When he has practiced, he seems to do well against Roy Miller. Brian Price has gotten past him a couple times.

Davin Joseph: Lock. Looks great. Has mostly handled the rookies, but they got their licks in once or twice. Joseph gets downfield in a hurry which is going to be huge with all these screens they’re running.

Jeremy Trueblood: Lock. With all the time Truelbood and Joseph have spent together, they’re pretty much a single unit now, able to adjust their assignments instantly. Trueblood has gotten pushed back on a few bull rushes, but if he gets a chance to anchor, he’ near impossible to move. His best camp yet.

Jeremy Zuttah: Lock. Even though I think Vincent will start, Zuttah is too versatile and has too much experience to cut loose. He can play any interior position. He hasn’t had a good camp so far, but he’s not going anywhere.

Jonathan Compas: 50/50. Compas started out camp really shitty, but he has picked it up over the last couple practices. He got blasted by Price and Dre Moore on more than one occasion. Was practicing at guard to give Zuttah some more competition, but that experiment seemed to fizzle out with Vincent’s signing. Most likely competing against Marc Dile for the ninth spot.

Donovan Raiola: Meat. He’s gotten some extra playing time with Faine sitting out, but is a camp body. There are enough options at center without him.

Marc Dile: 50/50. Somehow keeps hanging on. He is practicing with the second and third teams and still gets beaten his share of times against backup defensive linemen. I think Compas has a better chance of hanging on, but if the team decides to keep ten linemen (not likely), he may be #10.

Demar Dotson: Probably. His upside is too big to ignore. He seems to have found a groove on the right side and will most likely backup Trueblood. He holds his own against starting defensive linemen, although he can get played by guys with experience. Good lateral movement.

Xavier Fulton: 50/50. Has been hot and cold, but I haven’t heard anything special about him except that the coaches want him to do well. Maybe it’s because they have a draft pick invested in him or maybe it’s because depth at true tackle isn’t so great. If Penn went down, they’d probably feel better about Fulton on the left than Dotson.

Derek Hardman: Meat. Not much to say here.

James Lee: Probably not. Lee has a small chance because of his previous time with the team, but his false starts and poor play in the 1-on-1 drills doesn’t bode well.

Kellen Winslow: Lock. May be the best overall player on the team. Takes some practices off to rest his knee, but when he’s on, he’s spectacular.

Jerramy Stevens: Almost lock. Stevens takes Winslow’s place as the starter when Winslow is resting, and he has made some great catches. His blocking has improved and Josh Freeman seems to favor throwing to him. He has probably lost a step or two in speed. The only reason he would get cut is if numbers dictated that the team keep a more pure blocker, but I doubt it.

John Gilmore: 50/50. I have heard nothing about Gilmore except that he hasn’t practiced much. He’s on his ninth season now and will be 31 by week three, a mortal sin under this regime. He’s a good blocker and a better than average pass receiver, but there are younger options and I’m leaning toward leaving him off the roster prediction.

Ryan Purvis: 50/50. This will be the guy who takes over for Gilmore if that choice has to be made. He’s getting a lot of reps for a tight end this far down the chart. Much better pass receiver than a year ago and is pretty quick for a 260-pounder. Decent blocker. If that part of his game improves, his chances of sticking go way up. If the team decides to keep four tight ends, he’s almost a lock.

Jeron Mastrud: Probably not. He’s much better than during the OTAs, but he’s still obviously raw. His relationship with Freeman may get him a practice squad spot, but there’s no room for him on the roster unless another tight end contracts the plague or something.

Selling The Drama

August 02, 2010 at 10:41am by Scott   •  7 Comments »

I’d like nothing more than to rip on the local media for their recent stories on the other RFAs’ reaction to Donald Penn‘s contract and paint them as anti-Buc by intentionally trying to be divisive, but it really is the obvious story here and it would be silly to ignore it. Speaking of ignoring it…

Barrett Ruud, who last year staged a boycott similar but not as lengthy as the one Penn staged this year, has politely refused to speak to the media since word of Penn’s deal came down. In a move largely out of character for him, he ran past reporters seeking comment Sunday, saying, “I got nothing for you guys.”

I wish more players and coaches would take Barrett’s approach and just shut the hell up sometimes. Ruud publicly supported Penn in his attempt to get paid, but he can’t possibly be happy that the Bucs chose to reward one guy and not another, especially when Ruud has done everything the right way. He could have refused to sign his tender and been in a pretty good position. Adam Hayward is a better backup than Demar Dotson, but he’s no Ruud. But he was a good soldier and signed and now the Glazers have all the leverage.

“We’re not going to manufacture drama,” Raheem Morris said. “With Barrett, he signed his tender and we decided to move on, me and him both. We’re at the point where we’re going to go race for 10 (wins) and let the chips fall where they may. He understands the process. He’s a grown man and he’s handling it.”

You don’t have to manufacture the drama, Raheem. It blossomed quite naturally and it’s going to linger all season long. If Ruud doesn’t play well this year, the Glazers are going to look like the smartest owners ever. If he does, it’s going to be awkward offering Ruud a new contract and trying to convince him that they knew all along that he was the man. I’m envisioning Ruud walking into Mark Dominik‘s office and Dominik holding out his arms saying, “Hey, buddy!” and Ruud’s facial expression never changing. Especially after Dominik said shit like this:

“I think in any organization, you have to look at somewhat of a pecking order in terms of what you’re going to do for your organization,” general manager Mark Dominik said.

There are only two ways to take that. 1) Left tackle is more valuable than middle linebacker or 2) Due to backup situations, we need Penn mor than we need Ruud. In either case, it’s the wrong message to be sending to the guy who is going to make all the calls on the defense. “Pecking order”? Really?

Later, Dominik added: “I think every situation is different in the National Football League. At the same time, you can look at it and say this is part of (our) plan. We have a foundation that we really like. It’s not just the draft classes from 2009 and 2010. We have players on this football team that we really like.”

“It’s just that Barrett isn’t one of them,” Dominik did not add but might as well have. Has no one on this team learned the art of coachspeak? Here, this one’s free: “We saw an opportunity to get a deal done with Donald, so we wanted to get him locked in long term, and we’re very happy to have that done. Whenever other opportunities present themselves to get extensions done with key members of this team, we’ll definitely pursue them.” See how that works? Nothing concrete, but it sounds optimistic, like you’d really like to do the deal if only there was an opportunity. Leave out that shit about pecking orders and which players you like. That way you don’t piss off guys who can pound you into an accordion with one punch, like Jeremy Trueblood.

“Right now, I don’t know what (Bucs management is) thinking and I really don’t care,” Trueblood said. “I just want to get ready for the season. You’d like to say (Penn’s signing is good for the rest of us), but I don’t (know) that. His relationship with the Bucs has nothing to do with mine.”

Give Trueblood credit for not flying off the handle and going all bald-Hulk on everyone. He has been at this longer than Penn, started 61 of 63 games over the last four years, and probably feels like he has done just as much as Penn to earn an extension. He hasn’t, of course. Penn has been better in just about every way, but that’s not the point here. He came across as slightly frustrated, and that will do just fine.

Unlike Penn, the Bucs’ other RFAs all signed the one-year tender the Bucs offered them and are under contract for the 2010 season. Their futures are uncertain, however, and Morris said the fact that the Bucs’ decision may make them angry workers could be good for the team.

Are you ready for this?

“I hope so,” Morris said when asked if the Bucs’ stance on contracts will make the other RFAs angry workers. “I want all of them to be angry workers. That’s when you get the best out of yourself.”

He goes on to give an example of how Ronde Barber was always angry because he felt underdrafted and underappreciated and that’s why he did so well. It had nothing to do with skill or intelligence — it was all anger.

“I like the angry worker mentality. It transitions nice into a heck of a game-day player.”

You can’t be this simple. There’s a difference between angry and motivated. Sometimes a dose of anger can inspire some motivation and then maybe good things happen. But much of the time, anger is just anger and leads to sloppy play, penalties, ejections, injuries… lots of negative shit. Everybody is different. Some players need to feel like their job is in constant jeopardy in order to motivate them to play well. Other guys need to feel wanted — Penn said that specifically about himself the other day. If they feel you’re not on their side, they will be less inclined to play hard for you. And some guys don’t give a shit either way and just want to play ball. That’s why being a head coach is so hard. You have to be able to tell the difference and treat each player accordingly so as to get the most out of them. If you want a bunch of angry players, lace all their lunches with gun powder for week and you’ll have it, but I don’t think you’ll like the results.

Whatever happens, we’re all probably going to have to wait until January for it. I’d bet money that the Glazers aren’t going to hand out any more extensions until the end of the season. And by then, all the RFAs should be good and angry, just like Raheem wants them.

Training Camp Summary: July 31

July 31, 2010 at 10:28pm by Scott   •  6 Comments »

Since Gerald McCoy wasn’t at the first practice, Brian Price subbed for him at three-technique in addition to playing nose. I was told there was a period of several plays where he was “unblockable”. At three-technique, he destroyed Jeremy Zuttah and at nose he held the point against a Jeff Faine/Davin Joseph double-team. One-on-one between Price and Zuttah was more of a tie, with Price winning one and Zuttah winning another.

When McCoy was around for the second practice, Joseph owned him in one-on-one drills. Knocked him to the ground. McCoy looked better in 7-on-7, getting some penetration against Joseph a couple times.

Donald Penn came to camp in shape. He pushed Greg White around in the one-on-ones.

Keydrick Vincent is a better blocker than Zuttah. Period. After one day, this was obvious to everyone I talked to (both of them).

Erik Lorig got a good amount of work today and looks better than a seventh-round pick. He still has a long way to go, but there’s something there to work with.

Kyle Moore looks like a whole different player out there after losing the weight he gained for Jim Bates. He is significantly leaner and faster and was all Jeremy Trueblood could handle.

Overall, the tone of practice was violent and serious. They were unquestionably hitting harder than they did last year. There was also a distinct lack of music playing.

Clifton Smith had two fumbles. Meanwhile, Kareem Huggins showed dynamic athleticism and speed. I have thought for a while that Huggins had a chance to make the final 53 even with Smith on the team. But if Smith can’t get his fumbling under control, the coaches may turn to Micheal Spurlock or one of the new wide receivers as the returner and just cut Smith outright. It seems crazy, but no one is going to tolerate a fumbler.

Josh Freeman was not sharp today. Over- and underthrowing receivers several times. For a guy who has been spending a good chunk of the offseason at work, he sure looked rusty.

In fact, all the quarterbacks looked pretty rusty. Josh Johnson was off target a lot of the time and Rudy Carpenter didn’t play much at all. Jevan Snead was released today to make room for McCoy. Why the hell did he leave college again?

Yes, yes, we all heard about the nice catch by Michael Clayton from Josh Johnson. Let’s remember that Clayton almost always looks good at camp. Man, I really hope the coaches remember that, too, when it comes time to make cuts.

Arrelious Benn is a YAC guy. Good change of direction and strength to make guys miss in the open field. He can take a three yard out and make 15 out of it.

Reggie Brown caught everything thrown his way. He’s also faster than you think he is. I never considered Brown a speed receiver, but I’ve been told he may be the fastest receiver on the team.

I have heard that Brent Bowden is the best punter the Bucs have had in years. Better than Josh Bidwell. EXIT LIIIIIIIIGHT! ENTER NIIIIIIIGHT!

UPDATED: Reserved For Penn Extension Details

July 30, 2010 at 08:14pm by Scott   •  13 Comments »

Can’t write right now. Here’s the story.

Everyone post updates to this thread and we’ll talk about it a little later. I’ll believe it when it’s confirmed, but if it’s true, it’s awesome. Hey Donald, the donate button is on the left.

12:16AM SATURDAY: According to the above article, Penn is on his way to Tampa to finalize and sign the contract and get to camp in time for the first practice. The only real source I’ve seen online is Jason La Canfora‘s, but it would be a pretty big fuck up for him to say that they’re actually on their way when they weren’t, so you’ve got to think it’s true.

I’ve been ragging on the Glazers for so long on this issue that it’s tough to accept that they’re taking care of Penn. They didn’t even evaluate the other left tackles with pads on to make this decision, which is the big surprise for me. I thought there was a chance this could get done maybe in a couple weeks if the other guys tripped over their own feet or Greg White punched holes in them every other snap. So either they came to the realization that Penn was that much better than the other options without actually evaluating them too much, or they’re *cough* doing the right thing. Looks like I’ll just have to shut my big fat mouth for a while.

12:13PM: The Times is reporting that Penn has signed. According to the article, the deal is “believed” to be six-years (Mark Dominik confirmed that part) and $43-million (not so much that part, but everything I’ve heard says it’s about $7-million per year, so at least I’m getting the same information). Everyone who told Penn to give up his position can suck a fat one. I can’t wait to read John Romano‘s follow-up.

12:31PM: Penn is on the field. TBO.com has a picture from the practice.

12:45PM: Penn’s deal includes $20-million guaranteed and big bonuses for Pro Bowls.

Lombardi Suggests Trading Penn To Cowboys

July 30, 2010 at 03:30pm by Scott   •  7 Comments »

I know you and I are both sick to fucking death of Donald Penn articles. But this Michael Lombardi blog entry about trading Penn to the Cowboys for their first-rounder plus Doug Free is interesting enough to cover, at least briefly.

Let’s face two facts:

1. The Bucs are not going to win the Super Bowl this year.
2. They do not seem willing to spend big money on signing or re-signing any players.

I can already tell this is going to be painful to read. Painful because it’s all going to be awful and true.

With an apparent youth movement happening on and off the field in Tampa (one of the reasons for the dismissal of former coach Jon Gruden), Penn, in theory, should be part of that movement. But because he will command huge money and maybe because current general manager Mark Dominik does not seem to have the power, persuasive ability, belief in Penn, or clout, it doesn’t appear the Bucs will sign Penn to an extension.

Lombardi, a guy with some pretty good contacts in the league, is flat-out saying that Dominik is rather impotent as a general manager and doesn’t have the authority to make personnel decisions on his own. And we’re only two paragraphs in. Also, the idea that Gruden, the youngest coach to win a Super Bowl at the time, was fired because the Bucs were starting a youth movement is hilarious. “Well, Jon, you’re kind of getting up there, and we feel like you should start your golden years elsewhere. CAN YOU HEAR ME?”

The Bucs would gain a first-round pick next year and would still have a potential solid starter to help them protect Freeman‘s blind side this season. They can sell this trade to their fan base by saying this was a concept deal. Trade a proven asset that was not going to re-sign to a proven contending team and invest in the future.

See, I would say for the Bucs to take Lombardi’s advice if Penn was under contract and being an unreasonable asshole and talking bad about the team. But that’s not the case. Lombardi’s advice assumes that the Glazers want to do what’s best for the team in order to win games. But if they wanted to do that, they’d make an effort to mend fences with Penn and get on with their season. A first-round pick is tempting, but Penn is a known talent and he’s only 27 and he actually has a little experience. I hate to advocate the Bucs taking the second-best option when the best option is still on the table. The whole thing makes no sense and I’m going to have to put a moratorium on talking about Penn for a week or so. There just aren’t any angles left to explore and I’m fucking fatigued by the whole situation. The only good thing about these posts is the cheerleaders. Here’s a two-fer.

Romano Thinks Penn Should Just Give Up

July 30, 2010 at 10:51am by Scott   •  7 Comments »

John Romano of the Times seems to be in a hurry for Donald Penn to end his holdout. [Note: I have decided to stop being pedantic about the use of the word "holdout" with regard to players who are not under contract. It's not worth the energy.]

Penn needs to be back in the locker room with his teammates by the end of next week. Because if he holds out any longer, he will run the risk of losing more than he is hoping to gain.

Everyone who takes a stand runs that risk. He ran that risk when he first make the decision to stay away. If this was a risk-free proposition, chances are pretty good that the Glazers would have already done something.

No matter how righteous his indignation, Penn cannot win this war. Oh, he may get some concessions.

Aren’t concessions what everyone who stages a holdout wants? “He better end this holdout now or he runs the risk of getting more stuff.” It’s true that the Glazers have the final say here because they own his rights, but Penn won’t know what he can get until his replacements step out on the field. Romano never addresses this. Penn’s leverage increases every time Josh Freeman gets sacked from his left side and every time a runner gets tackled for a loss on a left end sweep.

But if he lets it play out too long, he will jeopardize all that he has worked to achieve.

What will he lose, exactly? Practice time in the system that he’s already familiar with and time to jell with the same offensive line that he played with last year. And there’s no doubt that those things are valuable, but if the other left tackles on the team turn out to be shit, he gains significant leverage. And if it turns out they’re not doing so bad, he doesn’t lose any money because his tender can’t be reduced further. As long as he signs by the first regular season game, he won’t give up a dime. So I’m not sure what he risks losing by playing this thing out to its logical conclusion.

If there is a lesson to be learned from previous Buccaneer holdouts, it’s that the Glazers don’t fool around. They let Errict Rhett hold out for half a season in 1996, and neither his career nor his bank account was ever the same.

They let Keenan McCardell hold out and forfeit half his paychecks for 2004 and then dealt him to San Diego without a raise.

Both those players were under contract and didn’t have a leg to stand on. In the end, the Glazers hold all the cards in Penn’s situation, too, but ethically he did it the right way. I was never on Rhett’s or McCardell’s side because they ultimately put pen to paper on their contract and decided later that they didn’t ask for enough money. Penn is asking up front, which is what we all say we want players to do.

A holdout that extends beyond reasonable can cost him money. It can cost him his place on the team. It can cost him a good chunk of his career.

If Penn holds out until October, then this statement has some merit, but we all know this isn’t going to last until the regular season. As a former undrafted rookie, Penn has never made huge bank, so if he’s losing $200k game checks every week, that hurts. So that’s not happening. And if he holds out through all of training camp, it may hurt his progress in the offense, but he can recover from that.

Honestly, I don’t blame Penn for being unhappy with his contract situation. And though he still stands to make more money this season than a school full of teachers, I’m betting you’d feel the same way if you were in his situation.

I wish douchebag writers would stop comparing football player salaries to school teachers or firemen or whatever. Yes, it’s out of proportion compared to their contribution to society. We all know that. In a fair and just world, every US serviceman and social worker would be rich while Justin Beiber rummaged through KFC dumpsters for chicken bones. But this is what we value and how our economy works and everyone knows it, so please stop pretending to make a larger social statement and just write a fucking football article, okay?

Instead of the potential of a multiyear deal with lots of guaranteed money up front, Penn was a restricted free agent and was given a take-it-or-leave-it one-year tender of $3.168 million. Again, that’s a lot of Wendy’s value meals.

Ooh, all of the above plus a thinly-veiled fat joke.

Not that I’m blaming the Bucs. They are operating within the system, so why should they offer more money and more years?

Because everyone who operates within an established system is automatically right. You know what else was an established system? SLAVERY! (Is there a Godwin law for slavery?)

Not when they don’t know what the labor situation will be in 2011 and not when they’re dealing with a player who has had some weight issues.

Yeah, whew. That’s a tough one. Say, did you know Cody Grimm just signed a four-year deal yesterday? How’d they do that?

And if the Bucs were so concerned that Penn couldn’t keep his weight down, they should have addressed his position in the draft. They didn’t. Everyone I listen to that discusses Penn thinks he’s in the top ten left tackles in the game today. Extra weight or not, he keeps doing well enough for the Bucs to retain his rights. But somehow not well enough to sign him long-term? No, this isn’t about weight or performance. This is about money.

Handing out extra money because it’s the “fair” thing to do would be the equivalent of a player refusing his paycheck when his performance falls below par.

Oh fuck you. You know this isn’t how the system works. Then how about all football players only sign one-year deals so no one is ever under- or overpaid. Or better yet, sign them to game-by-game deals and pay them for performance. Every pancake block is worth ten grand. Every touchdown, a quarter-million. Then we avoid all this bullshit. Is that what you want, John? If you want to create a cohesive team that is together for a decade and can compete at a high level year after year, you have to pay to keep the best players and, maybe more importantly, you have to establish a level of trust and loyalty with them so they want to put it all on the line for you on game day. Using a CBA technicality to pay a player the minimum possible and then hiding behind the fear of the unknown shows that, in the end, players are just financial assets to the Bucs brass. Commodities to be bought on the cheap, used to exhaustion, and then sold or discarded.

If Penn has a stellar season this year, why would he ever sign with the Bucs again when he he been shown that they really don’t care about him one way or the other? If Penn gets comparable offers from the Bucs and, say, the Steelers next March, who do you think he’ll sign with? The team that used “the system” to fuck him or the team with the reputation of taking care of their own?

Dominik Officially Opens Competition At LT

July 28, 2010 at 02:37pm by Scott   •  No Comments »

Not that there was much choice, but Mark Dominik announced today that several guys are going to get a crack at replacing Donald Penn.

“Penn still is considered a teammate and a member of our football team and I hope there is a resolution sooner rather than later. But we’re looking forward to seeing what [Demar] Dotson, Xavier Fulton and James Lee can do. It’s an open competition.”

Think Penn is scared? They’ve got a basketball player, a virtual rookie who was injured all of last year, and Lee, who keeps hanging around somehow. That’s not exactly solid depth, but then again, Penn was also an undrafted free agent who Dominik discovered, so Penn knows as well as anyone that unknown players can crack the starting lineup if given the chance. It’s going to be a good training camp competition, and we should pay attention interviews with the defensive ends who go against them in practice, especially Greg White. They’ll be the ones that tell you which one of them has the best chance.

General manager Mark Dominik said he is unaware whether Penn intends to report to training camp on time.

Then let me be the first to tell you. It ain’t happening.

He said he hopes the contract impasse is resolved soon, but there have been no talks on an extension for Penn, who has started 44 straight games at left tackle.

Yup, 44 games for Penn compared to one game by the other three guys combined — Lee was in the game at Atlanta in 2008. Remember that game? That’s the one where Jon Gruden played Brian Griese instead of Luke McCown, which, now that I think about it, may be a large part of why Gruden got fired at the end of that season. Anyway, John Abraham (who plays right DE) sacked Griese three times that day. So, yeah…

Meanwhile, I remind you that Michael Clayton received $10.5-million guaranteed on a $26-million contract. I’m a fan of art and all, but that’s a lot to pay for a statue.