Bennett Slaps Plan; Advises Team Glazer
May 23rd, 2015
Former Bucs defensive end Michael Bennett has advice for Team Glazer.
Yes, the team that let Bennett walk for no good reason was the recipient of free counsel from Bennett himself.
Amid talking on Portland sports radio about how he is trying “to work on it every single night” to provide the world with Michael Bennett, III, the guy who finished the last two seasons in the Super Bowl explained the difference between playing for Tampa Bay and the Seahawks — how the Bucs can change their ways.
“Yeah, [there is a] difference with the fans, ’cause [the] stadium is not packed at all [in Tampa Bay],” Bennett said. In Seattle, fans are “in the game, [Seattle] fans are so crazy. There is a difference in the organization. Tampa believes in free agency as a way to build their team, and not developing players. I think Seattle is just the opposite. I wish Tampa would do more of that. I think they would have more success.”
Well, apparently, the Bucs didn’t do enough. It seems the Bucs sorely could have used the services of players deemed unfit for the squad like Bennett, like Darrelle Revis, like Donald Penn, like Jeremy Zuttah.
Come to think of it, perhaps it was best the Bucs ran off these productive players. If they had kept them, then the Bucs would have lost the Chase for Jameis.
May 23rd, 2015 at 11:05 am
Ironically, Bennett went to Seattle as…a free agent.
May 23rd, 2015 at 11:12 am
More ironically, he was not resigned by Dominik because the pop-star was forcing his draft picks to develop!
May 23rd, 2015 at 11:20 am
Didn’t Seattle tried to hide Bennett on their practice squad before Dominik claimmed him? If so he did come up with SeaHawks.
May 23rd, 2015 at 11:28 am
Good points fellas. Never should have let him walk. Big mistake.
May 23rd, 2015 at 11:50 am
@The Buc Realist
I think it’s on record that Schiano didn’t want him back
May 23rd, 2015 at 11:55 am
Not the only mistake the “Dummynick” ever made. But certainly one of the biggest.
Another was trading a No. 1 pick for a FA to play in zone coverage.
But despite all of that, Joe continues to think the Dummy was a good if not great GM and hung the “Rock Star,” tag on him.
Let’s all pray the same type of tag doesn’t come to haunt Joe’s self proclaimed “America’s QB.”
Joe also conveniently forgets the Bucs offensive line was a turnstile with Donald Penn being the usher in 2013.
May 23rd, 2015 at 11:57 am
@whocares92
I never saw that “record”!
or is this the same “record” that Schiano is blamed for every wrong move and Dominik gets credit for all the right moves!
May 23rd, 2015 at 12:04 pm
Resigning Micheal Clayton was another “Dummynick” mistake.
May 23rd, 2015 at 12:12 pm
Yea, the guy never got more than 9 sacks a seasons. Big mistake letting him walk.
May 23rd, 2015 at 12:27 pm
Never understood the off line dismantling….who in the NFL lets a whole group go and puts a bunch of new faces together in one off season…and the continuously trading up using draft picks is anoying…
May 23rd, 2015 at 12:33 pm
I think letting Bennett walk was more of a Schiano move than a Dominik decision. If I’m not mistaking Dominik was the GM that initially brought Bennett into Tampa Bay so he had a stake in seeing him succeed. Schiano didn’t like guys that he couldn’t completely control like college players which is why he also pushed Talib, Blount and eventually Freeman out the door.
I agree with Bennett, teams that have sustained success throughout the league are the team that are able to draft well and fill their team needs through the draft. However to build a solid team through the draft takes many many years to do so you have to be able to mix free agents in with those draft picks until the team at the point where they are pretty solid at most positions and only need address a few areas each off-season. The Bucs aren’t even close to that point so they have to bring in more free agents (for now) until they have that core group of draft picks to build on.
May 23rd, 2015 at 12:40 pm
@The Bucs Realist,
Can’t agree with you at all on this one – that is a big reach. Dom found Bennett and kept him around for a while. IMO, Dom was very high on him, that is until Schiano showed up. Pretty easy and obvious to see who did not want Bennett here anymore, and it wasn’t Dom. There is plenty you can blame on The Rock Star (Cheeseburger Bowers, your boy Clayborn, resigning Stone Hands Clayton, etc) but not that one.
May 23rd, 2015 at 12:48 pm
@ Waterboy
I hear that whole scenario about Schiano only wanting guys he could control, but the truth of the matter was Bennett supposedly had an injury (shoulder IIRC), wanted a long term contract, and the organization wanted to see what Bowers could do. As always hindsight is 20/20, but if you were a coach/GM would you give a long term deal to a guy coming off an injury who’s play was good but not great? Bowers sucking only made matters worse…another case of coaches, fans, and GM’s getting overly emamoured with “potential” and draft status…Bennett is a far better player who fits well in Seattle
May 23rd, 2015 at 12:52 pm
Pissing and moaning over a guy that has never had double digit sacks says all that needs to be said about how sad this organization has become recently.
May 23rd, 2015 at 12:53 pm
The Bucs use free agency NOT with the intent to build the team that way, but out of total desperation because we have SUCKED at drafting since McKay was fired (you can thank Chucky for that firing). Dom was pretty good in finding hidden gems in late rounds and UDFA. But a dart board would have better luck in the 1st rd – seriously! First round picks have about a 50/50 success rate and the Bucs are far below that. What do we have to show for the past 7 or 8 years? McCoy and maybe Evans?! 25% successful?! Terrible. Hideous. Absolutely horrific!
May 23rd, 2015 at 1:04 pm
@Toes says,
“…Bennett supposedly had an injury (shoulder IIRC), wanted a long term contract, and the organization wanted to see what Bowers could do. As always hindsight is 20/20, but if you were a coach/GM would you give a long term deal to a guy coming off an injury who’s play was good but not great?”
Dude, I normally love your opinions. But you are wrong here. First, “the organization” you referred to was totally Schiano who wanted to see what Cheeseburger could do – Schiano gifted fat azz the starting job in OTAs. This, AFTER Bowers demonstrated a track record of being out of shape and a lazy ass for two years (yea, yea, I know, he was injured, right…). But on top of that, Bennett played that whole last year here with that shoulder injury and was still very productive. He would have cost the Bucs a bag of peanuts to resign. And we drafted Cheeseburger Bowers knowing he had a bum wheels why? Because the “Bucs know knees”!
May 23rd, 2015 at 1:14 pm
Perhaps it’s just me…..but, I’m really, really tired of dragging up the Michael Bennett issue every month or so…..it’s the NFL and this sort of thing happens all the time…albeit more to the Bucs.
And…who to blame?…..Schiano or Dominick or both?….who cares….as far as I’m concerned, I find it much more negative to have basically wasted three #1 draft picks…….Barron, Clayborne & Revis trade…..than to have let Bennett go….and I think you can hang the drafts mostly on Dominick.
I, for one, would like to see us move on….it seems like we are simply constanly agonizing over lost players instead of focusing on their replacements…..they are who we have now and who we have to evaluate, develop or cut.
I’m happy for Michael Bennett….he has a SB ring….some $$$ and a stadium full of fans to root for him……quit asking him questions about Tampa…..he’s history.
May 23rd, 2015 at 1:22 pm
Tampabaybucfan is right!
If we start listing all the failures of Dominik, We will be here all week!
By the was you forgot Freeman as one of the #1 draft picks that did not work out!
May 23rd, 2015 at 1:54 pm
First round draft pick is not the same as #1. If we got #1 picks each year, it would mean we really sucked (worse than we actually did)!
May 23rd, 2015 at 1:56 pm
If the Bucs put a bunch of cash on the table, would Bennett suck it up and come play for the crappy crowd in Ray Jay?
May 23rd, 2015 at 2:04 pm
For no good reason?
Maybe the powers that be knew he was a crybaby prima donna. He’s good, but not as great as he thinks.
May 23rd, 2015 at 2:06 pm
@ Realist
I could have easily added Freeman to Dominick’s list…but actually, I don’t think Freeman was a bad pick at the time….he had & showed talent…..could be dynamic…..who was to know that he would have a future meltdown?…..I really don’t count that against Dominick….but I’d like to.
I find it ineresting that Dominick let Bennett go….had poor drafts…..presided over the Revis trade etc….and yet still gets cut slack…..he’s a real politician…but a loser of a GM….
May 23rd, 2015 at 2:36 pm
Bennett never would have played well here. With his comment about fans, he obviously is a guy who has to be patted on the back to play hard. Instead of playing hard because of self pride and and a winning mentality. Apparently he has to be motivated by fans to win, I guess the fact that he gets paid millions isn’t enough. The guy sounds like a loser glad he’s gone.
May 23rd, 2015 at 2:42 pm
The biggest mistake is not letting a guy go who could only get 9 sacks, its that we haven’t found anyone better than that yet. That is the bigger issue. We’ve been trying to find guy as good as Simeon Rice for about a decade now (let that sink in) But hey, keep crying over a guy who could never reach double digit sacks.
May 23rd, 2015 at 3:00 pm
Too bad Bennet—Bonzai pointed out the irony of Bennets statememnts going to Seattle as a Free Agent—wasn’t in the Sombrero or RayJay during the Bucs run at glory, because the fans were definitely “into” it. That’s what winning big does.
I’ve seen numerous Seattle games back in the day when you could buy some of the best seats in the house on the street for $10. But they weren’t winning back then.
Even players can be bandwagoneers…
May 23rd, 2015 at 3:05 pm
And I agree with tbbf: I tire of Joe strapping himself into his WayBack machine to drudge up his personal grudges.
Seems like just yesterday Joe was calling Dominick the “Rock Star”, and not all he seems to do is complain about the past.
It’s like a famous rock band who no longer can produce solid, innovative music. So they get stuck in the past playing their old hits, wondering why fans don’t have the juice toward them as they used to.
So they turn the volume up to 11 instead…
But hey, Joe’s site, Joe’s rules.
May 23rd, 2015 at 3:40 pm
I’m with TBBF, I’m tired of whining over players we let go or traded. It’s exhausting because the Bucs have done it a lot, but we have to focus on the here and now. Personally, I’m pretty worried about both our lines. Other than GMC, we have no proven players on the D-line. I feel good about Smith, and we have excellent depth for rotation with Johnson, Spence, Melton, and English, but no real starters. On offense I’m only truly comfortable with Dotson, and he’s just your average tackle, who got called for a lot of penalties. Mankins was good, but not anymore, and last season he played like he didn’t want to be here. EDS can’t even snap the ball correctly if he starts at center, and Smith and Marpet are question marks, they could be great, or they could suck, we’ll see.
I know some of you like to think Fameis is invincible, but he’s not. A huge part of his success or failure depends on this line, and that’s out of his control.
May 23rd, 2015 at 4:02 pm
It is important to be thoughtful….
BuccaneerBonzai Says:
May 23rd, 2015 at 11:05 am
Ironically, Bennett went to Seattle as…a free agent.
The Buccaneers pull Bennett off Seattle practice squad. After not being resigned with the Buccaneers, Bennett was signed by Seattle. Stop being that person who speaks without knowledge. You sound like a repug.
May 23rd, 2015 at 4:09 pm
You got it! 🙂
May 23rd, 2015 at 4:10 pm
Greg Schiano was a terrible hire; he purged the team of it’s budding stars just to prove a point…Imho he set this franchise back years…
May 23rd, 2015 at 4:15 pm
@TBBF,
You are exactly right my friend. It just sucks so bad to have wasted all those 1st rd picks (and many 2nd rounders too). And I agree on Free too. He had shown great talent. Too bad he went off the rails like he did. And that was on him. Schiano may have contributed, who knows. But that boy was possibly headed in the wrong direction before Schiano got here.
May 23rd, 2015 at 7:35 pm
loggedontosay Says
“The Buccaneers pull Bennett off Seattle practice squad. After not being resigned with the Buccaneers, Bennett was signed by Seattle. Stop being that person who speaks without knowledge. You sound like a repug.”
Oh wow. You cornered the market on that, lol.
May 23rd, 2015 at 7:37 pm
OneBuc55 Says
“Greg Schiano was a terrible hire; he purged the team of it’s budding stars just to prove a point…Imho he set this franchise back years…”
Hmmmn. Let’s see.
What happened when Raheem took over? Purge.
Schiano? Purge.
Lovie? Purge.
It’s what newly hired coaches do.
May 23rd, 2015 at 7:38 pm
@Harry
I agree. If Freeman had not had his break with reality (I think it was mental issues), I think he would eventually have become a very good quarterback. He was developing slowly, but he was improving until that last year.
May 23rd, 2015 at 11:43 pm
I think Bennett has a short memory span, not unlike the rest of the Bucs’ haters. The Bucs did absolutely nothing in FA for Rahem except overpay tremendously for an average punter in Keonen. Maybe this perception, (of the Bucs being big FA players), is accentuated by all of the FA signings that were/ are failures.
He has also forgotten, if he even knew, that when the Bucs were not abysmal, there was a waiting list (real and exaggerated) for season tickets and tickets in general were harder to find than a 13 sack a year DE.
May 24th, 2015 at 6:48 am
Hmm, if Seattle don’t believe in free agency how did Bennetts over rated butt land on that team?
And if the Bucs don’t believe in developing talent and go for free agents why was Bennett told to walk so Bucs draftee Bowers could get more time?
I really don’t get the love some Bucs fans & media have for this clown (or his brother), never had a 10 sack season and is always running his mouth saying dumb stuff, like how the extended version of these comments mentions the Bucs love of trades and how the Hawks are too smart to go that route despite the names Lynch, Harvin, Graham, Winslow, MacDonald, Whitehurst all joining that team via trade.
Like the Bucs every method of building a roster is used by Seattle, they’ve just done a better job.
May 24th, 2015 at 8:11 am
No sense crying over spilt milk.
Onward and Upward.
May 24th, 2015 at 9:28 am
EVERY team relies on Free Agency to fill out their roster. It is impossible to “build” a team otherwise.
Fact: if the average player lasts 5 years, and each team gets 7 draft picks, that’s 35 players assuming EVERY player drafted makes the roster—much less contributes in a solid way. How does a team fill out the remaining 18 spots on their roster?
Besides, doing a rotten job in the draft means a team HAS to go FA…which explains the problems the Bucs have had…
Sorry, but Bennett is just another loose mouth under a hat.
May 24th, 2015 at 11:27 am
Bennett says, “Scoreboard!”
May 24th, 2015 at 7:54 pm
Bucs needed him more than any other team and he probably wanted more from Tampa than any other club would give. Yes you pay him if you’re Tampa but there’s a rain he’s getting paid like a lower level pass rusher. One 9 sack season in a contract year before that he never topped 4. Clayborn outsacked him as a rookie and he’s up there in age so I’m off the Bennett train now. Jacqiues came in and did the same thing Bennett did. Michael Bennett UDFA out of college
May 24th, 2015 at 8:28 pm
Who let Bennett Walk that was never talked about
May 24th, 2015 at 8:47 pm
Bennett, Zuttah, Penn, Joseph and others succeeding @ other NFL franchises is just indicative of poor talent evaluation by the Bucs. They release Penn, Zuttah and Joseph and replace them with a wash out from Seattle, one from the Pack and a couple of guys who were recommended by their OL coach who could not keep his job in Cleveland…. The Bennett cut was a Schiano deal and one that probably dealt with the fact that Greg did not want to coach this guy and got rid of him just like he did with Blount and Talib… But the OL destruction is simply a sign that the Bucs’ brain trust had absolutely no clue what they were going to do in 2013; perhaps this was on Tedford and his system, we will never know. The only thing I know I can say about the OL now is that it is bad, one of thew worst in the NFL if not rock bottom. I sincerely hope that the 2 2nd rounders can jump right in and start effectively but that is asking a lot of even the most ardent koolaid sippers…