THE PESSIMIST: Dominik Must Be A Fat Hater
June 22nd, 2010
THE PESSIMIST is a diehard Bucs fan whose negative writings appear occasionally on JoeBucsFan.com. His views surely do not necessarily reflect those of Joe. However, Joe sure gets a kick out of them.
Back in the old days of 2009, when the Bucs had to tangle with the dreaded (for them) salary cap floor, Mark Dominik invested $20 million+ of guaranteed money in banged up Kellen Winslow.
Winslow wasn’t a foodaholic and was a “long-term goal guy,” so Dominik paid him big — and a year before he had to — despite Winslow’s chronic knee pain after five knee surgeries.
So what’s the holdup in signing left tackle Donald Penn to a long term deal? Penn surely plays a position far more important to the Bucs than Winslow.
Oh, yeah. THE PESSIMIST almost forgot. The holdup exists because the productive and chronically healthy Penn couldn’t control his appetite in 2009, Dominik explained to fans last week.
THE PESSIMIST has emerged early for the 2010 season to proclaim that not signing Penn to a long term deal is the biggest pile of horse crap the Bucs have served up since they announced a “sellout” for their last home game.
Didn’t Penn already lose the 40 pounds of blubber wedged under Dominik’s skin? And since when are offensive linemen supposed to be Denise Austin?
It sure seems to THE PESSIMIST like svelte Mr. Dominik despises fat people.
THE PESSIMIST knows that Joel Glazer told everyone that “money will never be an issue,” so it can only be last year’s fat that is standing in the way of the Bucs locking up their very solid left tackle for the next several years.
But the kicker here to Dominik’s line of fat-loathing baloney is that there is no Plan B. There’s no other legitimate left tackle in the mix. The Bucs have no bluff. The fans and Penn see the Bucs’ cards, and Demar Dotson doesn’t beat a pair of threes.
Why this Dominik is such a fat hater that he’d rather let Josh Freeman get clobbered from behind every week than give a reformed out-of-control eater the contract he’s earned.
THE PESSIMIST laughs at fans who say Penn will never hold out of training camp and would never pass on the Bucs’ $3 million, one-year tender offer. On the contrary, THE PESSIMIST is quite certain Penn has the sack to squeeze the Bucs.
Any active ballplayer with enough drive to gain 40 pounds during a football season, and then turn around and work it off a handful of months later, is not someone lacking resolve.
By NFL standards, Penn is a low-risk guy when it comes to investing in a young player. He’s proven. He’s healthy. He’s got good feet. And he’s worked hard through the ranks, rather than relying heavily on physical gifts or the special favor that comes with being a high draft pick.
Yet Dominik won’t let the year-old moths out of Team Glazer’s vault, all because Penn was too fat. Yeah, that’s past tense.
Maybe THE PESSIMIST has had too many Twinkies dipped in maple syrup, but THE PESSIMIST just can’t find any sound on-the-field logic for Dominik to risk losing Penn for a chunk of 2010 and for years to come.
So stop gambling, Dominik. Pay the former food junkie and restore a shred of common sense to your regime.
June 22nd, 2010 at 7:32 am
The issue is the “collective Bargaining agreement”, and the fact that next year is looking like a strike year.
Penn’s Lil potbelly is not the issue here. That’s just a weight clause away from being a non- issue.
Aprox 90% of NFL restricted free agents have signed their one year tender offers already. Teams aren’t resigning their RFAs until the new agreement is in place. One year tender is the method to pay players during years without the CBA, as agreed to by both owners AND players.
While I too would like to see Penn signed to a long term contract, it’s probably not gonna happen. He knows it, and so do the Bucs.
Apparently, everyone knows it ,except the pessimist.
Might have ta change the post title to” the uninformed”
June 22nd, 2010 at 7:33 am
We do not like to be called fat, it’s “gravitationally challenged”.
June 22nd, 2010 at 7:40 am
Hey Capt. Tim. You 2010 and 2012 load the fat man’s contract. The CBA is nothing more than an excuse for clowns like you who don’t know business.
June 22nd, 2010 at 8:00 am
Why pay someone more when you don’t have to? That’s all it comes down to…
FOR EVERY TEAM IN THE ENTIRE LEAGUE.
June 22nd, 2010 at 8:30 am
Yall have been brainwashed by the owners. The CBA has nothing, absolutely NOTHING to do with Penn’s contract negotiations. If it did nobody would be resigning their own guys. Please please please stop repeating that nonsense because it isn’t true and the only reason they want you to believe that it is true is becaue they don’t want you to hold them accountable to not resigning one of the most important players to their long term success. Simply put there is no reason not to resign Penn right now to the long term deal he has earned. The Glazers are COMPLETELY in the wrong and Penn, if he holds out, is COMPLETELY in the right. He ain’t a one hit wonder. He ain’t a pampered first round pick. PAY THE MAN!
June 22nd, 2010 at 8:40 am
Well said Steve.
I myself am tired of people feeling sorry for the Glazers. That and making people feel guilty about their fan hood because they won’t buy season tickets from a sub par effort by the ownership.
June 22nd, 2010 at 9:06 am
It is not often that I agree with the Pessamist, but this time I do. It is also my understanding that if there is a work stoppage, the players will not be payed anyway. If that is true, than not signing long term deals is just a tool the owners are using against the union…if that 90% thing mentioned above is true.
The Bucs need to protect Freeman, that is the bottum line. I would hate to see him ruined, over what amounts to a small amount of money in the NFL.
June 22nd, 2010 at 9:09 am
Oh, and Rah…Who feels sorry for the Glazers? And iof you feel guilty for being negative, that is your own faught. You are entitled to your opinion, and should be able to express your fan-ship any way you want. I prefer to stay on the half full side, at least until we see the product on the field, but do not let anyone make you feel guilty.
June 22nd, 2010 at 9:11 am
I couldn’t agree more Mr. Pessimist and Steve. Steve, while you may have played for the Bucs at one time, prepare to be labeled a “hater” now by the Glazer lovers, as many of us have already been so deemed.
June 22nd, 2010 at 9:48 am
Actually, the CBA does have something to do with Penn’s contract. It has to do with the fact that he would be a UFA this year instead of a RFA if it weren’t for the Final Year of the CBA agreement. That’s huge. It means that Penn wasn’t actually “free” to negotiate with other teams. It means there was compensation other teams would have to give the Bucs if they signed him away. It took a huge amount of bargaining power away from Penn. That said, it has nothing to do with whether or not they sign him to a long term deal now. That comes down to “the teams doesn’t HAVE TO”. His tender offer is more than the one Jared Gaither signed, and he’s not nearly the LT Gaither is. And what nobody is mentioning is that they won’t necessarily lose Penn if they don’t sign him to a long term deal NOW. They have all season to negotiate something more, and if a CBA is in place before free agency begins next year (which will be necessary to avoid a lockout), then they’ll have time to resign all the UFA players. Also, if Penn doesn’t at least sign and play 6 games this year, he’ll still be a RFA next year.
June 22nd, 2010 at 10:00 am
The PESSIMIST is 100% right about all of this!!!! There is no backup Plan B if Penn doesn’t play. As I recall, this situation has been going on forever, and the Bucs didn’t bother to go get a legitimate fill in for Penn just in case. Very poor planning by Dominick and co. They’re out of their mind if they think Dotson can be the guy.
June 22nd, 2010 at 11:42 am
Bottom line, at the very least Penn has starting LT experience. I think Dom pissed him off.
June 22nd, 2010 at 11:43 am
He was complaining about his contract last year and showed up out of shape. So this year he shows up looking determined you suddenly believe him? With that AND the CBA I would be very hesitant to do a long term deal before they have to.
That said, as a fan, sign him!!!!
June 22nd, 2010 at 11:51 am
Who cares about the CBA! I’m sure it is affecting the contract status to a certain extent, but I think it has more to do with whether Penn is the long term solution to the Bucs future at LT. Some of you are hard core Penn supporters and that’s fine, but you have to look at it from a management point of view. When you gain weight it basically means you don’t give a crap and that spells attitude problem. (See Albert Haynesworth) Now you have to give credit to Penn for his pass blocking because he shut down some of the best end’s in the league. The problem is for as good a pass blocking tackle he is; his run blocking was pathetic! (weight gain = slow and lethargic) I’m not taking management’s side, but you really have to be sure because LT is such an important position especially in the rebuilding stage.
June 22nd, 2010 at 11:58 am
Bucnjim:
What’s the salary cap going the season after a CBA is agreed upon? Once that is answered, then you will see the dominoes begin to fall in all sorts of players getting signed.
June 22nd, 2010 at 12:00 pm
With a lockout looming, the main issue for owners is not wanting to pay players who they’ve locked out. THAT’S the issue with the CBA. Players around the league with less than 6 years in are getting one year deals to safeguard having higher payrolls to locked out players. Its pretty simple. Penn’s not getting a long term contract FROM ANYONE until the 2011 season is guaranteed to happen. Open your eyes people. The Glazers need to clarify their statement to read “money is not an issue once the CBA situation is cleared up.”
June 22nd, 2010 at 12:34 pm
The whole thing is about the CBA !! Any reasonable business person is going to enter into a large dollar contract for the long term when they do not know how the rules of the game may (are) going to change down the road. This new CBA can have some long reaching efffects on both sides going forward. So the Owners need to leave their options open until this gets done. Every team not just the BUCS is faced with this.
June 22nd, 2010 at 12:40 pm
OK guys, if it’s all about the CBA and not paying players through a lockout, how come they are signing rookies to 4 year deals???
To me, this seems like collusion. It looks like the owners have agreed to not sign RFA’s.
June 22nd, 2010 at 1:01 pm
The hell with the CBA. Penn has started 44 straight games. And he signed a tender last year for the same money their offering him this year. In 2008 the “average” pay for a blind side tackle was 4 million. So why should a man that has played good enough to start 44 games be paid a million less than average. Penn has them by the short hairs and he would be a fool to sign that tender. All the man wants is a little security! By the way, Dominik apologized to Penn for the Fat rumor of last year, and lying about the fines this year. Dominik & Co. have a history of lying about people. ie. Jags, bates, & Antonio Bryant.
June 22nd, 2010 at 1:46 pm
The CBA has nothing to do with Penn’s contract???
Lets all take a little test
1)how many RFA’s did the Bucs have last year?
2) how many signed one year tender?
ANSWER- None
3) why didn’t any players sign tender last year?
ANSWER- none were offered tender, because there was a Collective bargaining agreement in place!! TADA!!
4) how many RFA’s did the Bucs have this year?
5). How many signed one year tender?
Answer- All but one, Donald Penn.
6)why did all all the RFA’s sign a one year tender, instead of new contracts??
Answer- because there isn’t a CBA in effect
7) how many RFA’s were there in the NFL this year?
Answer- over 400
8) how many signed one year tender?
Answer- 98% of them
9) how many signed new contracts?
Answer- less than 15 so far
10) guess why?
Would love to see Penn get a new contract, and think Bucs should break ranks and sign him! But even he said Saturday night , that the problem is the lack of a CBA
anyone listening to Him??
June 22nd, 2010 at 1:47 pm
@sgw94 “The CBA has nothing, absolutely NOTHING to do with Penn’s contract negotiations.”
You have got to be kidding me. Are you arguing that for only Penn?
What about Ruud?
Or, on other teams, Jackson, McNeil, and about 100 other players? Does the CBA have any affect on them?
June 22nd, 2010 at 2:18 pm
Captain of the Clowns,
The following is from an April 10, 2009 article from ESPN:
“The Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Friday took a major step toward stabilizing their offensive line when left tackle Donald Penn signed his one-year tender as a restricted free agent. A team official confirmed the signing.”
You may want to double check the answer key to your “little test”.
June 22nd, 2010 at 2:55 pm
There are RFAs every year. They are players that have completed a set number of seasons (as decided by the CBA), but not enough seasons to be UFAs. Penn and Ruud were in the unfortunate circumstance of being RFAs both last year and this year due to the “final year” of the CBA, which extended the # of years required to be UFAs. RFAs have much less bargaining power than UFAs, as they can negotiate before the draft with other teams, but the other teams must give up draft choice compensation to the original team and the original team has the option to match the offer and keep the player. After the draft, it becomes even worse for the RFA, as they can only negotiate with the original team, and whether or not they get the deal they want, must play at least 6 games the next season to qualify for UFA status the following year.
I like Penn, but Gaither signed his tender at $2.4M and he’s been to two pro bowls. Penn doesn’t have those credentials and is being offered more than his contract last year (110%). I don’t think Penn has much of an argument here. I don’t want to play Dotson or Fulton at LT, as it will hurt the team, but that’s also up to Penn. The team may (if he doesn’t accept the tender) bring in someone like Flozell Adams to a one year deal (possible for the same price or less they’d pay Penn due to age and the fact Flozell still hasn’t found a team). Obviously not a long term solution, but someone to handle the position until they get him signed or find a replacement.
The CBA has only affected these negotiations in so much as it made Penn a RFA instead of UFA and the team doesn’t HAVE to offer him any more to keep him this year.
June 22nd, 2010 at 3:49 pm
What about Bobby McCray, DE who was just released by the Saints? He is only 28 and was looking to start for them this season. This might be an opportunity for the Bucs to sign another (healthy) DE that knows how to play pretty well. He played behind Grant & Smith, both pretty dominant DE’s.
Any thoughts???
June 22nd, 2010 at 4:02 pm
Alright, lightningbug, so I forgot one. So sue me, Still CBA related. The point I made still stands.
June 22nd, 2010 at 4:20 pm
@BigMacAttack
Sounds like a good idea. I don’t really know anything about Bobby McCray, but he would probably be an upgrade to what we have at DE right now. Anybody would be. McCray has experience and that is something this team is deprived of.
I’ll check the guys stats. Also last time I checked, Simeon Rice was a free agent too. Not saying he’s the answer, I’m just trying to think of different options the Bucs can choose from.
June 22nd, 2010 at 4:42 pm
Just checked his stats and it looks like he’s been decent throughout his career
2004 JAX- 3.5 sacks
2005 JAX- 5.5 sacks
2006 JAX- 10 sacks
2007 JAX- 3 sacks
2008 NO- 6 sacks
2009 NO- 1.5 sacks
Through 6 seasons, he has 29.5 sacks. He’s only 28 years old.
Bobby McCray could actually be successful here I think. When Jimmy Wilkerson came here, was anybody pumped about signing him?? He was very average, nothing great. But when he came he did a solid job. Part of that reason is that he was on a weak line with Sims and Hovan, so he carried a heavy load. With McCray it would be the same kind of situation. McCoy and Price will likely experience growing pains, so the line probably still won’t be very strong this year. That could help McCray just like it did with Wilkerson. McCray has put up better numbers in his career than Wilkerson did before he came to Tampa.
June 22nd, 2010 at 8:04 pm
Count Donald Penn as one of many “brainwashed” by the Glazers. This is what Penn said at Fan Fest:
“Everything that’s going on right now is out of my control. If we had a new [CBA] I would never have been in this position.”
June 22nd, 2010 at 10:44 pm
@Jimbuc
There is no doubt in my mind that you were one of the few hundred. How was that kool-aid?
June 22nd, 2010 at 10:52 pm
Tampa2 — I am going to stick with Penn. He is the only one that has spoken on the subject that is actually in the room, so to speak. Now why don’t you go back to trying to find the link between the Glazers and Madoff 🙂
June 22nd, 2010 at 11:22 pm
The CBA is the “excuse” being used. It’s not necessarily the “reason” for Penn’s situation.
If Penn was drinking the Kool-Aid, then why didn’t he just concede and sign his contract?
June 23rd, 2010 at 12:22 am
Patrick, that’s kinda what I was thinking too. I think it’s on the Stroud/Holder video of Donald Penn, shows Penn getting beat by McCray. He’s 6-6 and a pretty opposing guy. I think McCray would love to play the Saints and prove to them what a mistake they made letting him go. I think Wilkersen wants to do the same to the Bucs. The difference is Wilkersen was hurt and is still recovery from the knee injury.
Can someone tell me what’s so bad about drinking the koolaid? What are the options? Find another team to follow? Seriously, that makes no sense. If Penn doesn’t come back someone will take his place. Are they just suppose to stop playing footaball? Really, I don’t give a $hit about Donald Penn and he has really gone about this the wrong way, even if he is mostly right, about 70% in my estimation.
June 23rd, 2010 at 12:35 am
@ Louie
Call it an excuse if you will, but the FACT is that Penn would be an UNrestricted free agent if the CBA were NOT in it’s final year. Simply put, he would have either gotten his long term deal with the Bucs or with another team by now if he were unrestricted, but the CBA changed that. That’s the FACT. The “Final Year” clause made more players RESTRICTED free agents this year than any year in the past.
Does that mean they CAN’T give him a new contract? Absolutely not. It’s still within the team’s prerogative to offer long term deals. But without a doubt, the CBA Final Year is the absolute reason Penn is in THIS situation. Unrestricted free agents are not offered “one year tenders” in the first place.
The team is not giving excuses, they are saying they don’t have to offer more, and aren’t willing to pay more until he shows he can come to camp in shape and stay that way for a full season. They aren’t saying they aren’t offering more because of the CBA, the fans are saying that. The fans are saying he’s not getting a long term deal because the owners are cheap. The fans are saying a lot of things, but the team doesn’t have to offer more to a restricted player, and the player knows he’d be unrestricted if it weren’t for the CBA.
June 23rd, 2010 at 8:11 am
Penn will eventually take the 3+ million and then press on to another team next season. Dummynick already calle him fat, then publicly apologized. LMAO!
June 23rd, 2010 at 9:36 am
Bottom line: the Bucs don’t want to pay Penn, so this will be his last year as a Buc. They’ll definitely be drafting a LT in the first round next year.
@BamBam, you’re right that the CBA has kept Penn from playing for a different team this year and that’s probably what Penn is eluding to in his statements. However, the reason for not signing RFA’s is not the CBA; it’s the excuse being used (IMHO).
Penn is probably going to sit out training camp and sign just before the season. Why should he put his body through all the wear and tear during training camp if you’re not part of the team’s long-term plans?
June 23rd, 2010 at 9:58 am
@BamBamBuc
They made Penn sign a one year tender for the same money last year too. So, after finding him good enough to start 44 games, why would they not want to pay him at least “average” pay for his position?
The average pay for the blind side tackle “in 2008” was 4 million. So shouldn’t a 44 game starter at that position be offered at least 4 million?
Everyone seems to think Penn is average, so pay him the average pay!
And after Dominik has admitted lying about Penn, some people on this forum shouldn’t take whatever Dominik says as absolute truth. I guess now we can figure out who started all those “bryant only complained to the media” rumors last year when they let Antonio Bryant go and signed Clayton to Big bucks. Has anyone ever read where Antonio Bryant disrupted the team with complaints? last year it was Jags, Bates, then Bryant, and now Penn that had the lies/rumors told about them. And people still listen to Dominik. Amazing.
June 23rd, 2010 at 12:35 pm
All the crap about Antonio Bryant complaining publicly was absolute BS. He really didn’t complain at all. I think he made maybe one or two comments that weren’t even that big of a deal, but Raheem took it so seriously. In an interview, AB discussed how Kellen Winslow had become the new go to target in the offense and how he was fine with it and understood what the team did. He was basically accepting his role as far as I’m concerned. Maybe he wasn’t too happy with it, but I never recall him blasting Raheem, Dominik, the organization, or anyone. And even if he spoke out once, big deal!! Haven’t you noticed that good receivers these days speak out all the time?? When a receiver on another NFL team speaks out once about something, everyone just shrugs it off, including the team. It’s basically a regular thing in the NFL. But when AB made a nothing comment or two…..oh boy, he right away got his pink slip. Do you think if Ochocinco complained publicly about something today, that the Bengals would be rushing to trade or release him. No, because first of all it’s not such a serious thing and second of all, he’s their big play threat on offense and they want to..uh…….win! Now if the guy is becoming detrimental to the team everyday 24/7, then yeah, go ahead and part ways then.
August 4th, 2010 at 8:07 pm
Ha! Silence CLOWN! They signed him!