“Poor Choices Off The Field”
April 5th, 2015
Mark Dominik weighs in after Josh Freeman’s re-emergence.
The gloves have come off. Not all the way, but they’re getting there.
Former Bucs rockstar general manager Mark Dominik was pressed to answer the question, “What went wrong with Josh Freeman?”
Dominik is an emerging voice on SiriusXM NFL Radio, and co-host Alex Marvez wouldn’t let Dominik get away with a bunch of fluff talk during a discussion about Freeman signing with the Dolphins on Thursday.
Dominik referenced “poor choices off the field” by Freeman and didn’t hesitate to say, “There’s a lot of people who tried to throw myself and Coach Schiano under the bus in terms of leaking information that came out to be false.”
There’s more via the NFL Radio audio below, which represents a great listen for those interested in Buccaneers history.
Dominik went on to say he’s looking for Freeman to “stay on track. Get to the preseason.” And he called Freeman a “rollercoaster ride for me,” while saying he still believes Freeman can become a premier QB in the NFL.
There’s more, as well, including what Dominik claims largely derailed his regime.
April 5th, 2015 at 10:11 am
Happy Easter Joe and Bucs fans everywhere!
April 5th, 2015 at 10:19 am
To me, you can be a bust, Even get lazy after a big contract, or sometimes things just do not match and work out. But it is totally different to try and darg everyone down with you on the way out, Its the Lies and slander of others that makes me wish that J-Fro 6 pak will hit rock bottom and nothing but failure in his life!
The Hawk had class and thanked the fans after he was traded. I have never hear Freeman ever thank anyone for all the chance and cover ups of his epic failure of a career!!!
Kudos to Alex Marvez for pushing some truth out of the pop-star. I do wish he would have asked when did these “poor choices off the field” started.
There were a lot of fines and cover ups of Jfro drunk and late to practice in 2011!!! we want the Truth!!!
April 5th, 2015 at 10:22 am
Yep. Happy Easter. I am still trying to find the egg with the money in it!!!
April 5th, 2015 at 10:22 am
oh yea, Happy Easter everyone. ( except josh freeman ) I hope you wake up before noon and eat a rotten egg!
Great article Joe!!!
April 5th, 2015 at 10:26 am
Competency is what derailed that era and regime.
April 5th, 2015 at 10:28 am
I agree Completely TBR.
I can deal with the fact Freeman was a garbage QB a majority of his time here. Him holding team QB records is irrelevant considering we’ve had piss poor QB play pretty much our entire existence. I can deal with that, we’ve had lot of garbage QBs before and I do not dislike any of them. But how Josh left is absolutley unacceptable and its sickening that all these fans support that loser still to this day but refuse to give Glennon any support.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Schiano wasn’t a good coach but I personally love the man for getting rid of that cancer known as Freewee for us. Job well done Schiano, best of luck to you.
April 5th, 2015 at 10:45 am
I see Freeman in a similar light to Johnny Manziel. They both screwed over their teams with me-first mentalities and substance abuse problems.
However I will also say that I believe in redemption and would love to see both of these guys as starters in the NFL so the Bucs can square off against them
April 5th, 2015 at 10:52 am
I wanted nothing to do with Glennon and was a huge Freeman supporter. But after…that, I am disgusted with him and his people trying to ruin coach Schiano’s career. It turned what could have been a promising year into a media circus and mediocrity.
As for Glennon, I think in the right offense he can become a starting quarterback. He obviously wasn’t a fit in Sullivans offense. I have really warmed up to Glennon.
April 5th, 2015 at 11:20 am
Can you imagine the questions Smith and Licht will get concerning Winston when he fails them? First being, didn’t you see the red flags?
#DP #HGH #PEDs #MushBrainRetard
April 5th, 2015 at 11:20 am
Hey thanks to all wishing a Happy Easter! Back atcha.
In that spirit I’m going to follow mama’s advice. If you don’t have something good to say about someone then say nothing. In that case I’m speechless about JFro!!!
However I read Tom Jones 2cents this morning and I think Jones made a great point about Dominik.
Regardless of how you feel about his performance as the Buc’s GM he has turned out to be an informed and articulate commentator.
r
April 5th, 2015 at 11:34 am
@stpetebucsfan
That is fantastic, Glad to know that Dominick is good on TV. I am sure that all the fans that have shelled out money the last 6 years now have a feeling that they did not waste their money watching the horrible teams that Dominick put together!
I can not say that Coach Schiano was a bad coach. No one really knows, because Dominick was that BAD of a NFL GM!!!!
April 5th, 2015 at 11:37 am
Nice try but you’ll always be the moron who had no idea how to run this franchise you drafted him it’s still your fault. If Winston turns out the same atleast the did major research even though they’ll lose their jobs but what I don’t understand is he’s a quarterback how did his off field issues fly under the radar, even raheem worked as his d coordinator so they had to know something. I think he was always into that weirdness and bucs ignored it, he sweats entirely too much
April 5th, 2015 at 11:44 am
@bucs4lyfe
They lied for freeman and covered up for Freeman all the way back to 2010. In 2011 My sister in-law had her baby at St. Joseph’s, I personally saw Freeman racing into the parking lot extremely late. Then only to hear on Game day radio with Dominick saying how hard Freeman works during the week and that he is first in and last out.
They sold the Bucs fans a bill of goods and lied the whole time about it!!!
April 5th, 2015 at 11:54 am
“Competency is what derailed that era and regime.”
An alcohol abusing QB who stinks up the joint with his play and then tries to smear the coach on his way out the door is a pretty enormous disruption. Schiano definitely got a raw deal, being saddled with Raheem’s QB and then only getting half a season with his guy before the Glazers pulled the plug.
April 5th, 2015 at 12:01 pm
Don’t recall any of the warning signs on Freeman that were there for Manziel.
Maybe they weren’t checking out the right bar?
#barrythecarthief has a unhealthy obsession with Jameis.
April 5th, 2015 at 12:08 pm
Can you imagine how screwed we’d be if we gave Freeman an extension before the 2013 season? Holy crap we’d be in cap hell for years if we did. As is often the case, the best decisions in life are the ones you don’t make.
April 5th, 2015 at 12:12 pm
“The wrong bar” now that’s funny. Happy Easter JBF!!
April 5th, 2015 at 12:15 pm
One could argue Dominik did a better job with the cap than Licht has done so far.
We are in a much better cap space than when Gruden and Allen were let go.
April 5th, 2015 at 12:30 pm
@BoltIsle
not entirely true. At the time that Bruce Allen was release the Bucs had over 40 million under that cap ( that was a much lower cap back then ) Bruce Allen fixed the cap before Dominick took over!
I have a link but I do not think Joe would approve!
April 5th, 2015 at 12:32 pm
I really thought we found our franchise QB after that 2010 season…
We had the youngest team in the NFL, the youngest coach in the NFL and we finished 10-6 and should have been in the playoffs…
Things were looking so promising until they imploded in 2011…
What a bummer…
April 5th, 2015 at 12:35 pm
I want to know if Dominick would have done last year if he was still GM. Would he have traded back into the first round and scooped up Teddy Bridgewater along with Mike Evans? We could have then made a play for Leonard Williams this year. I don’t understand NFL GM’s….does anyone?
April 5th, 2015 at 12:38 pm
Brdigewater is looking like the real deal and I had doubts about him but he has and continues to prove me wrong. We would have lost out on Sims and jenkins (trading both picks to get back in round one) but what a nucleus we would have had going forward.
April 5th, 2015 at 12:43 pm
Bridgewater for ASJ and Simms? Id take it.
April 5th, 2015 at 12:44 pm
@The Buc Realist
A bad gm made a bad pick and added insult to injury by moving up for him, everyone was scratching their heads at this pick and he was kinda unknown. What gm with sense or there with sense won’t lie to protect themselves about a pick? Covering up for him since 2010? The record setting year by a buc quarterback, 25 touchdowns 6 interceptions you mean that year? None of the work ethic or drug comment were even talked about before schiano got here, wonder why Glennon has never worn a captain badge… Somewhere in the fog shadowing a horrible head coach Freeman, talib and Eric wright became known for adderall and it was decided daquan Bowers would outwork Michael Bennett. How does Freeman get labeled a liar and Dominick get labeled as an honest man? The fact that the entire football world wants to know what happened I’m not giving anyone benefit of doubt. He works in the media so he must be telling the truth lol
April 5th, 2015 at 12:51 pm
Happy Easter to all. Bucs realist hits it out if the park. The problem with Freeman was he tried to take down the entire organization when he was demoted.
April 5th, 2015 at 12:55 pm
MGM
Just an honest question. Not trying to bait you. Do you think Bridgewater or Winston will have a better career.
I remember Fameis freshman year, the Heisman and the National Title and I thought too bad we’ll never get a chance to grab this kid. Of course that was before I knew of any of the off field issues. But everybody here but mostly L&L have me on board with giving him yet another chance.
IMHO I”d far rather have Winston than Bridgewater I think the diffeerence in upside is huge.
April 5th, 2015 at 2:00 pm
Poor choices on draft day
April 5th, 2015 at 2:26 pm
Oh sure, Schiano didn’t tank Freeman’s career at all, right? The “Rockstar” GM should learn a little humility and admit that he f***** up, for the most part. I’m not saying that Freeman could do no wrong, but I firmly believe that the blame wasn’t entirety his. With Schiano and Dominik there, he was bound to fail. Glad both of them are gone. Hopefully Lovie and Licht won’t follow the same road and turn into people I’m gonna hate for the rest of my life.
April 5th, 2015 at 2:29 pm
I have friends that partied with his brother and him the odd time. Josh is an awesome dude and I fully blame SCHIANO 1000%. I support Freeman 100% and wish him the best of luck.
April 5th, 2015 at 2:37 pm
Yeah, good luck to Freeman. He deserves it. Best QB in Tampa since Brad Johnson, but you know, this is a dysfunctional franchise and even someone like Freeman can fail miserably. I, for one, won’t forget the epic 4th quarter comebacks. I really believed that he was the answer, but nope… Schiano AND DOMINIK ruined everything. I wouldn’t be surprised if Winston or Mariota will fail in Tampa. I sure hope that things are changing, but I’m not so sure… Lovie and Licht better get serious and show the fans that they can make this team relevant again.
April 5th, 2015 at 2:48 pm
The only thing you can blame Schiano for is not tolerating the off field (which led to on field) bullish!t from Freeman. I’m pretty certain the Glazers weren’t paying the guy millions to just be a fun guy to party with.
April 5th, 2015 at 2:49 pm
I’m sick of hearing those who know and those who claim to know what really went wrong with Freeman dance around the topic. “Poor choices off the field” – “The wheels came off”…. Quit alluding to something but not saying what it was. Tell the F*ck what happened.
Buccaneers fans deserve to know. If Big Poodle and SR and Joe and many others all know the juicy details – then why shouldn’t all who care about and follow and spend $ with the Buccaneers know?
Why is Winston’s life and his transgressions an open book and talked about frequently – but Freeman somehow deserves some special level of privacy where no one who knows will say what happened. If it was a true mental health issue – then why was it OK to talk details about Aaron Sears but not Josh. If it was mainly a substance abuse issue – then why is it OK for JF’s substance abuse issues be so widely known and discussed but somehow that’s off limits regarding Freeman? If it was simply a matter of not caring enough about football to put the work in combined with too much partying – why would that be all hush hush?
I just don’t get it – but I’m damn tired of hearing media insiders say – I know what happened but can’t say. Screw that. When does the “statute of limitations” for silence on something like this run out? Freeman is long gone. All those who drafted and coached him are long gone. Buccaneers fans deserve to know the truth about what happened to Josh Freeman because it really effected what became of this franchise and still does to a degree.
April 5th, 2015 at 3:10 pm
@pickgrin
Just so no one here gets in trouble, At a certain club, My “friend” allegedly saw 3 guys carry out a passed out Bucs QB that had pee’d his pants, And people around that were with said QB were threating everyone if they went for a phone to take a pic!
Now, I don’t know all the side effects of adderall and Ritalin, but it did not look like that was the cause!!!
April 5th, 2015 at 3:16 pm
So you are saying said establishment does not have any security cameras? Joe’s not buying a bridge in Arizona.
(Joe has heard the same story before and calls BS. If some goon goes after someone’s phone, then here comes the cops. Three or four guys cannot stop a crowd from pulling out a phone.)
Just blows Joe’s mind that everybody and their brother claims Freeman was on something and yet there is not one photo or video anywhere, yet Tom Brady jumps off a cliff in the jungle and there is video. You know how much cash you could make with a photo or video of a trashed Freeman? C’mon.
April 5th, 2015 at 3:33 pm
@ Joe
Its not that easy Joe, first off it was late. And not being a trained TMZ paparazzi. So you are enjoying yourself, then you see some commotion, you get a glance and you think ” OMG Tito Jackson is dead!” then your buddy reminds you that its just the Franchise on a Thursday night, Then some huge dude tells your buddy to take his hands out of his pocket because some one might grab a phone. Then you drink a couple more, strike out with a couple of girls and taxi ride home. Allegedly!
But i am sure that Jarret Reddicliffe friends have better stories than my ” friends” story. Allegedly!
April 5th, 2015 at 3:37 pm
Buc Realist – even if what you said did happened and you saw it with your own eyes – it doesn’t address what I said. I’ve heard all the rumors. None really explain why telling what happened to Josh Freeman is somehow off limits to talk about. I can make an educated guess as to what went down with Freeman – but it would be nice to know for sure – and I don’t see any reason why Bucs fans should not be made aware of the whole truth at this point.
Again – if it was a mental health issue – why OK to talk details about Sears’ situation and not Freeman’s? How about a response Joe.
April 5th, 2015 at 4:31 pm
It’s like Chip Kelly, you see the coach clearing house, Talib, Blount, Winslow and anybody else that dare not fit their mode, so Josh I’m sure heard and saw thewriting on the wall, but he still has to be a professional
April 5th, 2015 at 7:13 pm
Save McCoy, what was wrong with all his picks.
April 5th, 2015 at 8:38 pm
“Poor choices off the field” – Was Dominik talking about himself? lol
April 5th, 2015 at 10:34 pm
What doomed his regime was horrific drafting, disastrous free agency, woeful player development, and hiring pathetic coaches. I can’t think of one aspect of his regime that was even moderately good. Sure, he lucked out on GMC and LVD, but his regime was an unmitigated disaster. Most dumpster fires smell better than his decisions.
April 5th, 2015 at 11:41 pm
I was horrified when Dominik traded up to reach for Josh Freeman. I also remember there were immediate rumors on draft day that Freeman had ADHD and a learning disability. That day I offered my reaction to that pick thusly: We just set back the franchise 5 years. It always takes time to find out exactly what you’ve got at QB. Turned out Freeman was the bad pick I suspected him to be.
April 5th, 2015 at 11:44 pm
you know Dominick does not how freeman has a long career.
April 6th, 2015 at 12:45 am
Josh Freeman and the 2 past regimes prior to the current one are gone, never to come back to Tampa. They’ve moved on. Many of you still making negative comments and falsely blaming Freeman as the sole reason Schi and Dom got fired should do the same. Schi was simply a college coach who could never adjust to the fact that you can’t treat grown professional players (who have the same life/family responsibilities as their coaches) the same way you would treat college players.
April 6th, 2015 at 9:20 am
Bucfan68 :
You say comment on how schiano handles grown men, you should hear the stories about your boy Chucky many of our elite players couldn’t stand him cause he lied to their face every week. I will put my toes on the line every dam morning to get paid what they get paid. Schiano first year he was asked to get rid of all the deadwood from RAH , his second year was a mess cause freeman and virus which somehow he gets blamed for virus in building. Freeman was what he always was in college inconsistant and no accuracy.thays why bucs offense was up and down and team went as josh did. Than he had his issues off field during offseason which as a GROWN MAN he should have handled. Would be interesting to see what schiano would have done with another year to finish his plan, maybe he bust maybe not. Well let’s move I. From freeman dude doesn’t play here and get more media attention than those who who do.
April 6th, 2015 at 9:22 am
Someone needs to ask Mark why he chose Mark Barron when Luke Keuchly was avail. The other day on espn he rated Keuchly as the 2nd best player from that draft and everyone at the time knew how great Luke was but him
April 6th, 2015 at 11:10 am
Good question Carlos Gomez. The Dummy was just a terrible GM when it came to drafting and personnel is the answer.
This little story sure throws a curveball at Steve Duemig who has insisted all along The Free had no off field distractions and that it was all Schiano.
Sorry, but it has now gotten to the point where I feel the Bucs and The Free owe Tampa Bay Buc fans around here an explanation.
I spend over a $1000 a year on season tickets, so yes, when I spend money on a product, if there is something wrong with it I want to know what it is and what caused it.
The Free may think he was answerable to no one but himself, but until he stands up and takes accountability for his actions, he will never be on the road to recovery.
He needs to stand up and give an explanation or he is just to cowardly to continue playing in this league.
See Chris Carter who did the right thing and took Buddy Ryan off the hook for his remark for why he cut him.
April 6th, 2015 at 1:45 pm
My buddy knows the chick free was banging and doin coke with and I aint talking about soda.