Can McCown Match Tom Brady’s Motivation?
September 1st, 2014
Josh McCown has big shoes to fill for Logan Mankins
The newest Buccaneers guard, All-Pro Logan Mankins, was still desired by Patriots management before his trade to Tampa. The Pats just wanted to pay him less.
That nugget and more comes from pedestrian-bumping, olive oil-lapping, popcorn-munching, coffee-slurping, fried-chicken-eating, oatmeal-loving, circle-jerking, beer-chugging, cricket-watching, scone-loathing, college football-naïve, baseball box score-reading, NPR-listening, filthy-hotel-staying, fight-instigating, barista-training Peter King, of Sports Illustrated and NBC Sports fame, who talked to Mankins for his Monday column.
Per King, Mankins said he and the club discussed a pay cut but, “We couldn’t come to terms. I just felt this didn’t make sense for me. We agreed to disagree on it. And eventually it came to this. I have nothing but love for New England. I played for a great family [the Krafts], and I got to play for the best offensive line coach [Dante Scarnecchia] in the game for nine years. I got to play with Tom Brady, and I have so much respect for him. It’ll be tough to not be on his team. Tom, he’s one of those guys a lineman will do whatever it takes to protect him. If I had to give up my body for him, whatever, I’d do it. So now I’m a Buc.”
This should help quiet those who think Mankins was dealt because Bill Belichick secretly knows Mankins is washed up, like the Bucs were certain of with Davin Joseph.
The reality is the Patriots didn’t like Mankins’ value and $6 million+ per year and wanted a perceived better deal, much like the Bucs and Darrelle Revis, who was wanted by Lovie Smith but not for $1 million per game.
Joe was a little unnerved by Mankins’ comments about Tom Brady. Will Mankins be as driven and motivated by the Bucs’ starting quarterback? Josh McCown might have nearly impossible shoes to fill when it comes to Mankins.
September 1st, 2014 at 8:27 am
Again, this guy is a PRO. He is a man who brings his pale and goes to work. Give some time and some snaps, and we should be rolling.
As long as the first snap on the first play doesnt go over our QB’s head this year. (a sign of what was to come)
September 1st, 2014 at 8:29 am
I am impressed that Mankins speaks his mind and doesn’t try to hide his feelings that we all know are there. I think it is simply in his DNA to be loyal and I believe he will do his best to excel as a Buc. This guy is a real pro.
Has anyone asked him ” How are your toes?”
September 1st, 2014 at 8:29 am
First and foremost, Mankins must protect McCown. In doing so, I’m confident, in time, the respect aspect, will be mutual between them.
September 1st, 2014 at 8:34 am
Joe said,
“This should help quiet those who think Mankins was dealt because Bill Belichick secretly knows Mankins is washed up, like the Bucs were certain of with Davin Joseph.”
IMO, this actually fuels it a little.
How else do you interpret a team wanting to cut a player’s salary, than they see him as not being as good as he once was? It is not often that a team tries to rework a player’s contract… downward. And it is ALWAYS because the player is not as productive as in year’s past.
NE no longer considers Mankins an ‘elite’ guard and wanted to cut his pay.
Granted, the Bucs don’t need an ‘elite’ guard in order to be an upgrade for the current roster.
If you think a player is trash, you don’t look to restructure, you look to unload. –Joe
September 1st, 2014 at 8:55 am
That’s ridiculous take on mankins comment Joe, this ain’t all about mankins no matter how good he is, he will play for mccown or sit on the bench and collect his millions, I’m sure he knew the caliber qb we had as soon as he was informed of the trade there’s Brady, Manning, brees then everybody else, he’s about to learn what average qb play is all about
September 1st, 2014 at 8:58 am
With age comes decline. Mankins, you should have taken less money to stay where you wanted to be.
September 1st, 2014 at 9:11 am
Joe
First Happy Labor Day and thanks for going to the practice and reporting for us and only drinking water there or is that kool-aid?
Just kidding, regardless of Mankin’s abilities compared to the past, he is so much better then any other guard we have that he is a major improvement, plus I am sure his pride will make him play even better to show that he is worth the money. You don’t get all Pro six times on looks except for GMC in his red robe and slippers.
Oh and as far as age goes, is Payton, Tom, and Drew better or worse than a few years ago? Would you take Brooks, Sapp, Lynch, Barber at 32 or say they were over the hill? What about Rachael?
September 1st, 2014 at 9:17 am
Mankins has been in the NFL long enough to realize that although a great player, eventually the numbers game will catch up to the higher priced ones.
He knew he could still get the numbers because of his playing ability.
If NE wasnt going to pay up he knew someone else would and they negotiated with NE accordingly realizing that he may have to go to another team.
Bottom line
This guy can still play and he knows it and wants a team to pay him for it.
NE didnt want to pay and Bucs were willing.
Its all dollars and cents and you gotta pay for the talent to fit your need.
Mankins should be a terrific player with some years left to solidify this line.
September 1st, 2014 at 9:19 am
I think he meant that it would be hard to play every down 100 %, when a QB is throwing uncatchable balls and making bad decisions.
September 1st, 2014 at 9:46 am
I’d like to believe Mankins will do a better job blocking for McCown than he would for Freeman.
September 1st, 2014 at 9:55 am
I’m not Mankins, but I believe he was saying that he’s enjoyed playing for the SAME TEAM for 9 years, built many friends, and its going to take time to buid relationships and continuity here in Tampa.
The guy is a professional and will do his JOB. To BLOCK! Period!
Give the guy time, the first snap hasn’t even happened yet.
September 1st, 2014 at 10:00 am
T-Dub, thst’s exactly the issue. At this point in his career starting over is deflating. NE is all he has ever known.
September 1st, 2014 at 10:03 am
If you think a player is trash, you don’t look to restructure, you look to unload. –Joe
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The Patriots clearly didn’t think he’s trash or he would have been straight cut. They just don’t think he’s worth what he’ll be getting paid which when you look at their history, they will almost certainly be right. And by the way Tim Wright stepped in with two days practice and virtually no reps and put up 4 catches for 45 yards with Garappolo. I think in 5 years there’s a very good chance he was the best player in this trade if only because he’s much younger and Mankins likely only plays two years in Tampa. Brady is gonna make Wright a big time performer.
Now granted Mankins immediately becomes the Bucs best lineman, but that’s a function of joining what was until his arrival the worst looking line in the league. And it’s still not solved either.
September 1st, 2014 at 10:04 am
Not worried about Mankins at all. He’s a pro, and one of the best at that! Wouldn’t be surprised if he has another pro bowl year to show everyone that he’s far from done!
September 1st, 2014 at 10:11 am
As Chucky demonstrated – you can take an older offensive lineman and utilize his strong run-blocking augmentd with oiccassional pass-blocking skills. It seems that pass-blocking is the first skill to diminish, so he’s fitting in with an offense that will play to his strengths.
As for his commitment – o-linemen are weird birds – they really do adopt a body guard mentality for their QB. When you’ve played with arguably the best QB in the NFL – that sense of pride in protecting a guy with even LESS mobility than Peyton Manning – is probably very ingrained.
This guy only knows one way to play – so long as the Bucs have a chance to win a game – he will only know one way to compete.
He’s a pro – stop the bellyaching.
September 1st, 2014 at 10:28 am
I respect the dudes loyalty to his team, and QB… Shows that he puts his heart out there for his team.
Once he steps on the field, gets back to gameday… he seems like a no BS type dude, and he’ll handle his business…
Game Week!! Sh**s Official now!!! Cant Wait!
September 1st, 2014 at 10:30 am
I STOP reading all of Joe’s articles with the 122 links to Peter King. Soon as I see all that red I skip to the next article. Joe this is SOOO fking tiring
September 1st, 2014 at 10:59 am
this is old news…
Considering it’s a fresh Mankins chat with Peter King, it’s not old. –Joe
September 1st, 2014 at 11:15 am
The patriots always cut/trade players who are on the decline. Anyone fool enough to believe that mankins is not, then I have some property in butt F@&% Iowa I like to sell you. Look at their history (Vrabel, Seymor, mginnest, Ty law, lawyer milloy). Every single one of those players only had 2-3 more years left. The only reason the patriots didn’t “unload” mankins as Joe says is because of his relationship with Brady. Stop being so blind. Asking a player to take a pay cut is the same as telling the said player you are not what you used to be. Having said that, he is better than what we had.
September 1st, 2014 at 11:25 am
Mankins is just what we needed. Johnson, once he masters our playbook, will do fine at RG. All Lovie needs to do is stop listening to WarFLOP, and tell him to stop giving him advice, and do his job; then have Licht evaluate our OL talent on the roster and advise him what needs to be done. The two Brown rejects need to be cut and Daniels rehired to be the flexible Center/Guard backup. Then find the next best Guard out there and get them on the team!
September 1st, 2014 at 11:41 am
I thought being a sports fan was supposed to be fun. After reading so many hate comments as are in this thread and in so many others, I think it might be more fun to go read the obituary columns. Optimism is more fun than pessimism regardless of the outcome. Pessimism is pathetic as are those who wallow in it. Maybe it’s time to stop reading the hate filled comments section altogether.
September 1st, 2014 at 11:57 am
Oh come on. The question is like asking whether Miley Whatsherface match Sophia Loren’s class and stature.
September 1st, 2014 at 6:14 pm
If you think a player is trash, you don’t look to restructure, you look to unload. –Joe
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You mean like they did with Freeman?
September 1st, 2014 at 6:58 pm
“If you think a player is trash, you don’t look to restructure, you look to unload.” –Joe
I agree 100%. That’s why *I* didn’t say ANYTHING about “trash”. Your word, not mine. My point is that Mankins isn’t what he was. Until I see otherwise, I’m going to assume that he is better than all the other guards the Bucs have… combined. But the fact that the Pats wanted to reduce his salary means that THEY don’t believe he will play at his previous level. And since they were willing to trade him for a ‘tweener’ TE and a fourth pick, are they also saying that they have someone who is even be better in a backup role?
I believe the Bucs got what they paid for. Time will tell is it was a bargain… for one or the other.