Dominik Says Full Speed Ahead With Status Quo
February 12th, 2010
Those online-only PewterReport.com fellows, who used to distribute a hand-held magazine, caught up with Bucs personnel czar Mark Dominik and published his comments today.
Among other things, Dominik served up notice that the Bucs front office will keep doing what they’re doing.
Defining that, of course, is open to extraordinary levels of interpretation. But it’s safe to say Julius Peppers won’t be wearing the colors.
Joe found the following Dominik quote most interesting:
“Ownership has never mandated anything on the contracts that we offer out or who we pursue and can go after,” Dominik said. There is a discipline with this organization. Who has this team lost in free agency in recent years that has really crushed this organization? I don’t think there is a name that I can sit here and say. That is not a disrespect to any player that has been through this door, but there hasn’t been that guy with a ‘Why didn’t they keep this guy? What were they thinking?’ It just hasn’t happened here. I can’t think of one. I don’t see that going forward, either.”
Joe can think of one: Thomas Jones. He falls into that “Why didn’t they keep this guy?” category.
Why Tom Balog, of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune wrote a near thesis in December about how losing Jones devastated the franchise from top to bottom (although Joe doesn’t completely agree with Balog’s theory).
But that’s all ancient history.
So do Dominik’s comments mean Antonio Bryant will surely be made a good offer by the Bucs ?
Or is he sure to go?
Dominik has to realize that if Bryant is allowed to walk, then a majority of Bucs fans will wonder “what were they thinking,” unless the organization replaces Bryant with a true No. 1 receiver.
Dominik has to come up with some serious solutions at wide receiver.
February 12th, 2010 at 11:04 am
These folks are taking us all for fools. What about the lack of talent walking in the freaking door Mr. GM? We have very few players that any legitimate team would want to try and hang onto……………or try and sign from us, unless they want a part of that 3-13 magic…………….its a farce.
February 12th, 2010 at 11:31 am
Bryant is a beast and one of the better receivers we’ve ever seen on this team. If the Bucs don’t play musical QB’s with him this year, allow him to build a relationship with Freeman, and get rid of that TURD Clayton (and get a legit no. 2), the receiving corp could be quite dangerous.
Look at our track record, no. 1 receivers don’t grow on trees. If Dominik let’s him walk without a viable alternative then I hope every game gets blacked out this coming season.
F*** the Glazers and F*** Dominik.
February 12th, 2010 at 12:12 pm
You can absolutely hear the naive arrogance coming out of his mouth. Couple that with the ineptitude of Raheem and there you go… an explosive combination… which have and will continue to explode this franchise to pieces.
You guys talk about the mistakes Grudenmade in the draft… or all of the busts that Tampa has had in the majority of its darfting history… well, history is about to repeat itself in an unfixable sequence of events.
Bad drafting from this group will set Tampa back even farther.
Well, tbh, I don’t know how much worse we can get?
http://espn.go.com/nfl/statistics/team/_/stat/rushing/position/defense
February 12th, 2010 at 12:28 pm
He makes a valid point and one I have been stressing about the lack of spending. Who have the Bucs drafted in the last 12 years that deserved a big extension or got a big contract from another team because they deserved it. The answer is no one like the article states above. The owners are just going to spend the money on street free agents that don’t warrant it. The way that you spend money in the NFL is by drafting good players that become part of the foundation of your team and produce. Then you have to reward them with big contract extensions with big bonuses and such. You can’t go around paying the big bucks to players who don’t deserve it or just spend it just to spend it because the fans are angry because there is 30 mil avail to spend, then you won’t have it to pay the guys who do deserve it. A great example of this, the Bucs even reached last year with the stupid extension for Clayton because he was a Draft Pick and some felt he had been under utilized and therefor would be better out from Gruden’s dog house. Michael Clayton is the perfect example of what you get in free agency, someone else’s washed up player. No one is playing the fans for fools or pulling something over our heads, there was no one to spend the money on last offseason besides a few (3-5?) players. Im glad and mm sure some of you are that Haynesworth chose the Skins. The Glazers may have financial problems but that has nothing to do with the horrible drafting, perhaps only 2nd to The Raiders, of Jon Gruden and Bruce Allen. They could not draft a player worthy of an extension from the team and therefor we are where we are. Hopefully after a decent looking draft in 2009(still early though) and another in 2010 the Bucs can lay the foundation of what will hopefully be a very good team for years to come and the finances will work out because the Glazers have always resigned and given nice deals to players that deserve it.
February 12th, 2010 at 12:43 pm
Was losing Jones for financial reasons or for Gruden reasons?
February 12th, 2010 at 12:44 pm
Well if we lose AB as expected, the Bucs have to do something either through trade or free agency to get a wide receiver. It is as simple as that. I am not comfortable with a 2nd or 3rd round pick this year being our #1 guy. Wide receiver is a position that takes time to really produce. People have done a lot of research showing that very few rookie WRs get 1000 yards in receiving compared to a rookie RB getting 1000 yards in rushing. So they definitely need to get a couple of receivers in this period.
Still surprised that people defend the Glazers right now. Before MU, the Glazers played to win and went all out to field a championship. Now they play to stay even and status quo is the name of the game. They aren’t good owners currently. Smart fans don’t want them to go crazy like the Redskins in free agency. Smart fans want them to say that if the right player or players come along, they will go after him hard. That is not what they are saying.
February 12th, 2010 at 1:51 pm
“Ownership has never mandated anything on the contracts that we offer out or who we pursue and can go after”.
I’m sure the owners have mandated how much can be spent on signing players and it’s obviously peanuts. Joel Glazer to Dominik: “You can sign anyone you want as long as he will play for $10/hour.
Good god, anyone still defending these owners is either a Glazer or have NO CLUE what’s going on. Rob says we have nobody worth re-signing. Are you kidding!!!??? How about Penn? How about AB? Both those guys are critical to Freeman’s development. If they let AB go, who’s going to replace him? A draft pick? Clayton? AB is going to have a number of teams to choose from and Bucs will just let him go. What a bunch of clowns.
February 12th, 2010 at 1:52 pm
It seems really odd that Dominik would have this interview, which is certain to aggravate much of the Bucs season ticket base, 6 days before renewals are due. Are they actually trying to get people not to renew their tickets? Is there something far more nefarious going on here with the Glazers, such as Los Angeles being on their radar? Just seems odd to give an interview sure to piss season ticket holders off less than a week before the renewal deadline.
February 12th, 2010 at 2:19 pm
Who amoung you would be happy to have paid AB all that money for little or no production. If he wants to stay here, cut his pay and tell him to make every attempt to play more than he sits. Fans are emotional while owners are business men. They want ROI .
February 12th, 2010 at 2:28 pm
buckeyebob, none of us would be happy to pay millions for little production. But the year before, we got all the production with little money. Look at the whole body of work…and ability. He’s averaged about 5.5 mil per year, had one stud year, and one injury plagued year with revolving talent. He deserves to stay.
February 12th, 2010 at 6:09 pm
No one really knows if AB, Penn, and the like will be signed or not. I believe they will sign them, but as Dom has stated they are working in an unusual situation. It is not believed that the FA pool will be there this year anyway, so this entire discussion is a bit moot. He has also stated that if they see a guy that can make a difference they will pursue him, in the current climate this probably refers to trades, which tend to work out better than FA anyway.
February 12th, 2010 at 10:11 pm
fidelpadilla:
Joe isn’t sure what you call a “shot.” As for the draft subscription, yeah, Joe started that a year ago with Justin and it was very, very popular.
Carry on.
February 13th, 2010 at 8:47 am
That is a great headline for this piece! A literal lol!!
February 13th, 2010 at 8:48 am
Chuck, better read that article again. Dummynik says that they will “not” go after premium FA’s. Just the lower cost FA’s. Of course, he also says that the Glazers have put no restraints on him either. Which tells you that he is a liar of the 1st order. What did they pay Clayton last year? 25mil? If Clayton is worth 25mil & can’t catch a ball, what is AB worth? 50mil? Hurt! Even hurt the guy made Freeman look good. Clayton would make Payton Manning look like a Pop Warner QB. Joe, I wish you would run a poll and ask one question. If Morris were to be fired or quit tomorrow, is there a team out there that would hire him? Any team! Not just the NFL.
February 13th, 2010 at 11:15 am
Can he coach ? Check the stats vs Bates. The D was much improved and that carried over to the whole team. The message from them is CLEAR…no big money spent on fa, build thru the draft. Just saw where the Steelers have imposed their own CAP for this year. They build thru the draft and have been winners for a long time. This is a good plan going forward.
February 13th, 2010 at 12:17 pm
If the Bucs had the Steeler’s Scouting Department that plan might work. Morris wouldnt even get an interview with another team, much less a job offer.
Is everyone in this town delusional over the last six games “turnaround” last season? Does everyone forget that they lost in the last six games to backup QB’s in the Jets, Falcons, and Panthers games? And were shredding for 156 yards rushing in the season ending Atlanta game by the great Jason Snelling? Talk about rose colored glasses!
February 13th, 2010 at 10:12 pm
Did they not beat the best team in the NFL @ thier house!!! No backups that day just the guys who won it all. Good things are coming .
February 14th, 2010 at 2:36 am
Ah so its not six games, its one……………………..