“Go Ahead And Lock Him Up”
October 5th, 2011
Don’t just look at Michael Bennett’s impressive stat sheet from Monday, says former Bucs defensive end Steve White, understand how dominant Bennett was throughout the game and his impact this season.
Speaking on Two-Hand Touch with Derek Fournier last night on WQYK-AM 1010, White shared thoughts about Bennett and explained why he thinks the Bucs would be wise to put a new contract in front of him soon.
“It was the way he was making these plays. I mean, [the Colts] are going to have nightmares about this dude, the right tackle, every tight end on the roster and even the running back. They’re going to be like, ‘Who is this guy?’ I promise you,” White said. “I mean he was jacking them up, throwing them all over the place. There was a play at the end of the game, man, where he doesn’t touch the quarterback but it typified how dominating he was.
“They kept the tight end in. They had to start keeping Dallas Clark in, one of their best receivers, just to block him. He takes Dallas Clark up the field, comes inside of him and beats him clean. Then Joseph Addai is there to pick him up and he absolutely jacks Joseph Addai up right back into the quarterback. I mean, boom. And that was the kind of game he had.
“There’s no better time to have that game then on Monday Night Football when everybody’s watching. They need to try and lock him up now, while his stock is still kind of low and you can kind of lowball him a little bit, throw a little bit of money at him and to him it would be more money than he’s ever seen before. And go ahead and lock him up for four or five years. Because by the end of this season, I really feel strongly, that price is going to go way up.”
White points out that Bennett has improved his handwork drastically and has not been blocked successfully by a tight end consistently all season. White also made the point that Bennett is a the kind of guy the Bucs should acknowledge financially because of how he’s worked his way up from the bottom of the roster, in addtion to his production.
“You have to reward that. Everbody in the room sees it,” White said.
Bennett turns 26 in November. This is his third season, and Joe’s quite certain he will be a restricted free agent come February.
In Joe’s mind, Bennett’s not a guy the Bucs would sign long-term before he hits the unrestricted market. With Da’Quan Bowers behind him and another year of wiggle room, Joe suspects the Bucs would want to see Bennett force their hand after his body of work over 2011 and 2012.
What’s interesting is that if the Bucs youngsters keep performing and winning, then the team will be inevitably pushing the limits of the salary cap in about 17 months.
October 5th, 2011 at 2:23 pm
Bennett has been solid all year, but this game was insane. he was back there all day. His play against the run was even more impressive than his pass rush, which was the best pass rushing performance by a Bucs DE since Rice. Dude, was blowing up run plays to his side.
He played so well, I am wondering if he cost someone their job.
October 5th, 2011 at 2:26 pm
If Bennett turns out to have around 10 sacks, which is a big IF, I pray our front office will not let him walk because he is going to cost them.
October 5th, 2011 at 2:38 pm
“What’s interesting is that if the Bucs youngsters keep performing and winning, then the team will be inevitably pushing the limits of the salary cap in about 17 months.”
This right here is why they didn’t rush out and sign all the free agents everyone was pining for. And they probably never will as long as this GM remains in charge. Its clear the Steelers model is one Dominik is going to follow to the letter. Draft well and sign your own free agents or none at all. I can’t believe anyone is still not on board with this.
October 5th, 2011 at 2:42 pm
Yes. LOCK HIM UP!!! How ideal is this? Bowers gets the rest he needs and we have a crazy 1-2 at that position.
October 5th, 2011 at 2:43 pm
With Bennett, Blount and other key players coming up as RFAs or FAs soon, Dominik’s salary cap numbers start to make a little more sense now!
October 5th, 2011 at 2:57 pm
Beckles:
We live in a fantasy football world where name recognition trumps talent if not common sense. Such as a local sports radio head and his producer were beating the drum for the Bucs to sign Braylon Edwards, who is nothing more than Michael Clayton with a rap sheet who can’t block, if you can imagine such a thing.
It’s been two months now and that declaration still leaves Joe numb just thinking about it.
October 5th, 2011 at 3:39 pm
Joe- Or there were those clamoring for Nmamdi Asomugha, who got torched by Alex freaking Smith last Sunday and from what I read is rapidly proving that he kinda sucks at zone coverage and can only truly excel in a defense that asks him to play nothing but man coverage %100 of the time which would not be the case here in Tampa.
October 5th, 2011 at 3:53 pm
Once again Mark Dominik or “dummynick” as the haters called has proven once again that he is a football genious and knows more football than YOU. Where you at thomas/tampa 2… U MAD BRO??
October 5th, 2011 at 4:27 pm
Beckles:
Please do not confuse people by throwing facts around!
October 5th, 2011 at 4:32 pm
to me, this shouldn’t even be a question. to truly have a great d-line you need three good de’s and dt’s each. monday night was a product of having the luxury of being able to sub and not lose any production.
October 5th, 2011 at 5:33 pm
Seeing as how Mark Dominik’s 3 stated goals are:
Let Freeman be the Franchise
Protect the Franchise
Attack the QB on D
I doubt Bennet walks out of here without getting locked up. Dude has earned it tho, keep it up!
I gotta say tho, we sure did catch a hell of a break with their OL being banged up. But whoever they had and threw at them, the whole DL dominated them.
Let’s just see the DB’s catch the dang ball when the pressure forces Alex Smith (and his small hands) to put up a bunch of wounded ducks.
October 5th, 2011 at 6:44 pm
We should roast the 49ers with josh Johnson at qb that way he keeps there lb’s moving around guessing and pound blount…just a vision since harbaugh loves the kid so much…
October 5th, 2011 at 7:25 pm
Hmm, strange. As pointed out repeatedly by Gruden, we played man coverage all Monday night, and 90% of the plays against the Falcons. And one of Our “team strength” CBs is playing like total crap, even though he’s”elite”. And team Strenght Myron Lewis can’t stay healthy. But once again, not gonna waste a lot time on the ones who think the Secondary is doing great, and full of elite players. It’s just a waste of time.
October 5th, 2011 at 8:24 pm
Capt. Tim… You seem like a fair-minded guy. If you’ve watched the Eagles at all this year, you can see that 30 something year old Asomugha has looked very pedestrian. Not worth the contract he signed. I agree the Bucs secondary has been the defense’s weakness thus far, but the Eagle’s secondary is getting torched with 3 first round picks on board. Buying overpriced FAs is exciting during the offseason, but rarely puts any team over the top. Continuity, continuity, continuity is the key.
October 5th, 2011 at 8:34 pm
ok capt. tim, lets see if i have this straight. you think our secondary sucks, you hate talib, and you wish they had gone after asomugha. that horse has been dead for at least a month now you’ve beaten it so badly. enough already.
October 5th, 2011 at 9:12 pm
@Joe
What do you think the Bucs should do if Bowers, Clayborn and Bennett all start excelling? Should Clayborn or Bennett be switched to OLB? Wouldn’t be the first DE to make the switch. It’s usually done in 3-4, but there could be moments when it would fit well…especially in a big game where pressure on a QB is a must.
October 5th, 2011 at 9:22 pm
GotBucs- no, not at all. Ronde Barber is great, but is the oldest Cb in the league. He isn’t gonna be able to do it forever.
Biggers is good, not great. Not the shutdown guy we need on top receivers.
Talib is undependable. Plus, he is playing terrible this year. They are putting him on the other teams number two receivers, and he’s still getting Warren up. I think he is hiding an injury, or has developed more bad habits, that are affecting his play. Something is definitely wrong. He’s not great, but he’s better than this
Lewis, Mack, and Gaitor haven’t proven they can play.
I said we needed to get a shutdown corner, and add depth.
I am still right
October 5th, 2011 at 10:12 pm
I’d say that’s a pretty fair assesment of what we have at corner right now, Tim. Look out for Biggers though. I think he’s growing into a pretty damn good player.
October 5th, 2011 at 11:16 pm
CaptTim stop hating on the CBs no team is perfect.. Bottom Line is we are still coming away with the W’s.. besides that If you really paid attention and check out other sites you would know that Talib is choosing who he goes against he is not guarding the #2 wide out. He was on Garcon Monday night because that is painters favorite target. Didn’t do so well against him but that was the case. He guarded Julio Jones because he is a way bigger and more physical WR same for Calvin Johnson. Please do your research before posting non sense. Stop nit picking We are Still winning and gettin ready to be 4-1.
October 6th, 2011 at 12:00 am
AC5 – That would be even worse. If Talib is choosing his man, and he’s choosing the #2 guy on the team, and he’s still failing… is he afraid of getting torched by the opposing #1? Did he think Roddy White would have gotten the best of him last year if Roddy hadn’t gotten hurt early in the first game, or he wasn’t hurt the 2nd? As for Garcon being Painter’s favorite target? Really? Who knew that? It was his first start. Based on a few snaps the week before, he already had a favorite? Better to cover the favorite WR than Reggie Wayne? A proven stud at WR or a secondary WR that drops a lot of passes but is supposedly the new, never-tested QBs favorite target?
Dude, don’t defend Talib like that, he’s getting enough abuse without you giving more ammo. He’s not playing well this year, plain and simple. Biggers is playing as well or better. Ronde is playing much better. Talib is in a contract year with an off-field incident. If anyone needs to play lights out, it’s him, and he’s still failing.
I’m glad we’re still getting wins despite his poor play. Thank the D-line, thank Foster and Watson, thank the Safeties. But the way Talib is playing I’d have liked us to get Jonathon Joseph to pair with Biggers, not Talib. As bad as that may sound.
October 6th, 2011 at 1:49 am
I think Aqib turns his season around… Sean Jones isn’t really helping matters either keep that in mind
October 6th, 2011 at 2:37 am
I have to agree with Tim and BamBam on this one. All year I have been defending Talib’s play, but I have quite simply run out of excuses. I also think he may be injured, which could be contributing. I have no doubt he can turn it around and still have a pro-bowl type year, but up until now he’s barely even playing like a starter.
And I don’t believe for a second he is choosing who he wants to guard. If so, that would be a horrible decision by Morris. He would never let that happen, nor would any NFL coach. If he was, I would like to think he would always choose the other team’s #1 – that’s what elite players do.
October 6th, 2011 at 6:33 am
Hawaiian- exactly the point. Talib normally is a much better corner than he’s playing right now- although he has never been a great corner.
Biggers is our #1 corner.Meybe he’s good enough. But I’d rather him have had the chance to earn it, than Have it given to him.
Now- what if Biggers gets hurt? Lewis? Mack? Gaitor?
Yeah, right. Those guys need to be spot players, til they learn the game. Not forced to start.
I said the secondary lacked depth, and a true shutdown corner, still does.
And the “Talib picks who he wants to play”- man, that is both childish and nonsensical. Please review you sad apologistic defense, modify, and resubmit
October 6th, 2011 at 7:29 am
WOW, Joe, even the fans on JBF highjacked your nice article about Bennet and turned it into an argument about Talib! Man, MB just cannot get the respect he needs! He was on fire Monday night, and has been playing well all season. I agree with you Joe, the lock him up next year after he proves it for more than 4 games.
October 6th, 2011 at 8:49 am
McBuc- lol, how did that happen? Bennett showed great raw skills last year, now he’s showing the technique to make those skills work to his advantage. He is playing great! As always, Steve white is right. We should sign Bennett now, to keep him in the family. You have to believe that Bowers is the future- many said he was the top talent in this draft! But Bennett is just to good to risk losing for nothing. Lord, let our problem be, that we have to many talented pass rushers! Please!
I think Crowder is playing great to. Looks like Millard and Stretz are having a big impact already! Wait til they have an entire off season with these young guys!!
October 6th, 2011 at 9:58 am
I agree with JOE. They are looking at Bowers and Clayborne, BUT if Bennett keeps performing and they are able to sign him to a 4-6 year deal at discount because his value has not skyrocketed YET…. then do it. it will lock up a POTENTIAL great DE and still leave room in a few years to lock up Clayborne & Bowers if needed.
October 6th, 2011 at 7:16 pm
White is not exactly an expert on who should be signed and when. If it where up to him we would have given Princess Ruud a 5 year 50 million dollar deal , LOL.
Let Bennett prove himself the rest of the season.