Bryant Not Sweating Mann Departure
January 14th, 2010
The Mad Twitterer, aka St. Pete Times beat writer Rick Stroud, is telling readers that the Bucs might have trouble re-signing Antonio Bryant because he and exiting wide receivers coach Richard Mann are close.
Mann will interview today with the Redskins, Stroud says.
By letting Mann leave Tampa Bay, the Bucs may be hurting their chance of re-signing free agent reciever Antonio Bryant.
The Bucs franchise player was limited by a knee injury this season, catching 39 passes for 600 yards and four touchdowns. Bryant listed his two main reasons for remaining in Tampa Bay as his relationship with Mann and quarterback Josh Freeman.
Joe doubts Mann’s presence will make much difference to Bryant.
Long before Bryant said recently that Mann and Freeman are reasons he loves being a Buccaneer, Bryant said he is driven by big fat paychecks and winning games. For Joe, there’s no doubt that money will talk for Bryant this offseason, not who is position coach will be.
And who could blame Bryant?
Also, today marks the one-year anniversary of us all learning that Byrant is extraordinarily close with Doug Williams, who recently was re-signed by the Bucs. So Joe’s pretty confident Bryant will still feel like he has someone in his corner if he returns to the Bucs.
Also, Mann is one of the oldest assistant coaches in the NFL at 64 years old. Bryant’s knows Mann won’t be coaching forever.
Joe believes Bryant’s loudest outcries — the ones that say he’s looking to get paid. And Joe hopes the Bucs pay the man.
January 14th, 2010 at 11:58 am
Richard Mann has been the WR coach for eight years now. Our WR core has been absolutely horrible over that span. I know you can’t make chicken salad out of chicken poop, and we have drafetd alot of poop, but other than Stroughter we haven’t had one single young reciever step up and produce under Mann. The only WRs to do anything here have been old experienced veterans that don’t need the coaching. It just doesn’t seem like Mann has ever brought along and improved any young recievers….and in the end, isn’t that his job? I hope we get an upgrade here. Possibly an ex wide reciever?
January 14th, 2010 at 12:02 pm
Also….Doug Willaims interviewed for the USF head coaching job this week, so we might be losing him as well.
January 14th, 2010 at 2:50 pm
JOE I WAS IN A CHAT ROOM WITH THE VACATION MAN @ BSPN TODAY AND I ASKED HIM ABOUT BRYANT STAYING IN TAMPA BAY HIS EXACT WORDS WERE “MARK MY WORDS. BRYANT IS GONE” SAY IT AINT SO JOE.. SAY IT AINT SO… JDOUBLE.. ARE YOU THE SAME JDOUBLE FROM PEWTER REPORT?
January 14th, 2010 at 2:50 pm
JOE I WAS IN A CHAT ROOM WITH THE VACATION MAN @ BSPN TODAY AND I ASKED HIM ABOUT BRYANT STAYING IN TAMPA BAY HIS EXACT WORDS WERE “MARK MY WORDS. BRYANT IS GONE” SAY IT AINT SO JOE.. SAY IT AINT SO… JDOUBLE.. ARE YOU THE SAME JDOUBLE FROM PEWTER REPORT?
January 14th, 2010 at 3:55 pm
Wouldn’t surprise me at all if he was out the door. I think his comments towards the end of the year may have nailed his coffin in TB. FO better address the position in FA/Draft though.
January 14th, 2010 at 3:56 pm
Joe, tell me your sources say otherwise:
ac (orlando, fl)
do you think the bucs would really be silly enought to not sign antonio bryant? I mean he did say what he said about freeman and was unhappy about not getting the ball but lets be real hes the only #1 WR on the team and as of now there are no great wrs in FA
Pat Yasinskas (12:23 PM)
Mark my words, Bryant is gone.
January 14th, 2010 at 4:57 pm
Bryant has not been productive this past season. The reasons aren’t very important. He has an attitude problem. Bottom line he is a detriment to the team. He and Clayton going would only give the Bucs some flexibility to get top notch receivers from the draft. Forget free agency. Building a team with rejects from other teams is not working.
January 14th, 2010 at 5:51 pm
I hope we resign Bryant, then trade him along with our first round pick to Denver in exchange for Brandon Marshall and thier first round pick….then draft Brian Price at #10.
Go Bucs!
January 14th, 2010 at 5:56 pm
I did read that question from Pat and found it interesting. He seemed quite confident that AB won’t be back. If they get rid of Clayton and AB, they have to do something in free agency to address that. You can’t count on Sammie, Stovall and a few rookies to get it done. Boldin could be a nice addition. I am a bit leery of Marshall. Shanahan was going to get rid of him if he didn’t get fired and now McDaniels is ready to ship him off. So that tells you something. Do you want a bad apple like him in the locker room? Who else might be available? I can’t think of anyone else. I am pretty sure that Marshall and Boldin are leaving their respective teams.
So if the above scenario, I say that the Bucs get either Marshall and Boldin and then draft a WR in the 2nd round. They have to get a DT with that first pick IMO. Many people are saying McCoy might be just as productive as Suh in the pros. So he could be a good consolation prize for the Bucs. But the worst scenario would be if it goes Suh and then McCoy. I agree with other analysts saying that taking a S at #3 is just too high.