Don’t Get On That Plane
March 16th, 2016
Updated 11:38 a.m. – Free agency is often a battle of wills.
“Testing the market” can be a brutal struggle for a player who turns down a contract from his current team, and then that respective team often shakes while it digs its heels in.
Look at the details surrounding Doug Martin’s fat new contract. He agreed minutes before the free agency bell rang one week ago, and Martin appeared to be out of town and wasn’t part of a local Bucs news conference. It sure smelled like Martin wasn’t just playing verbal hardball with Tampa, he was in another NFL city about to bite on another deal.
A great illustration played out yesterday and this morning with one of Joe’s favorite Buccaneers of all-time, Donald Penn, who hasn’t missed a start since jumping into the Bucs lineup at left tackle in Week 5 of the 2007 season.
Yesterday, Penn prepared to step on a plane to visit the Giants after talks stalled with Oakland, where he’s anchored left tackle for the past two seasons.
That trip won’t happen. Ian Rapoport of NFL Network broke news this morning that Penn will re-sign and “will never get on the plane.”
Good for Penn. Joe makes no apologies for still rooting for Penn, who just had a Pro Bowl-worthy year. He didn’t want to leave the Bucs and certainly never should have been kicked out the door.
Update: Per Rapoport, Penn has signed a two-year, $14 million contract, with half of that guaranteed.
March 16th, 2016 at 7:54 am
very true,exit of Penn and Zutah were one of the major factors in the 2-14
debacle.
March 16th, 2016 at 7:59 am
happy for penn. always loved his passion and fire.
March 16th, 2016 at 8:00 am
I liked Penn too and could never understand him getting the boot. Good for him!
March 16th, 2016 at 8:07 am
Jason Licht ran him (and the rest of the line) out.
But I actually will give Licht props for it. It was the right move. That offensive line was inconsistent. One game they would be up, another they would be down. They would do okay for the end of a season, leading us to believe we’d be great the next…only for them to bomb.
I loved Penn and Zuttah…but Jason Licht did the right thing by getting rid of them all and starting over. They were not worth the price tag.
Not worth the price tag? Really? If the Bucs kept Penn, the money flush on Anthony Collins could have been used wisely (potentially) elsewhere, and the Bucs could have used the Donovan Smith pick on a major asset. Yes, it all worked out winning the Chase for Jameis, but dumping Penn was a significant blunder.–Joe
March 16th, 2016 at 8:09 am
Have any of them made the same money since? Or better?
March 16th, 2016 at 8:09 am
Get off it. Everyone here said something had to be done about that line. They were beaten like a base drum. Penn was getting beat badly himself and what short memories people have. Day after day the complaints were written on this site that he needed to go.
The problem was the players brought in were worse. Not better. So it took 2 years to fix the problem. Now we have to see if Sweezy can play as good as Mankins. So it may not be done yet.
March 16th, 2016 at 8:30 am
Bonzai it was Lovie Smith I can recall clear as day talking about the offensive line being a problem right after we hired him. Complete personnel control. I don’t remember Light having any quotes of that nature. Not even saying it was 100% Lovie but his hands were all over those moves from the get go. Dude came in with a plan before he even hired Light. He pretty much said this
March 16th, 2016 at 8:35 am
Bonzai, you really have it in for Licht. However, you forget that Lovie was given final say over the roster NOT Licht. Lovie mishandled the roster from day one. Lovie, mad the bad coaching decisions. This is Licht’s first season having control of the roster. Time to get off of Lichts sack and focus your negativity elsewhere.
March 16th, 2016 at 8:51 am
A lot of guys should have been kept over the years. The Bucs piss away good players and high draft picks like they don’t even want to win. Then they turn around and overpay dumpster dive free agents. One of many reasons this stretch of awful football has been difficult to stomach.
March 16th, 2016 at 9:00 am
Yep, the Bucs are the only team in the league that let’s good players go.
If we end up with a consistent playoff team in the near future and have one of the better QBs in the league we can all look back at the Penn, Zuttah, and Revis release as a blessing in disguise. Time to move on.
March 16th, 2016 at 9:00 am
Go back and watch tape of that 2013 Bucs Oline in action. They were terrible – and Penn was a primary culprit in that hot mess. + he was due $8M the following year. Would he have taken a 40% pay cut to stay with the Bucs? Hell NO!! Yet that’s exactly what he he has made in Oakland the last 2 years.
March 16th, 2016 at 9:13 am
Are we really complaining about 2-14 still? It WAS WORTH EVERY LOSS!!! You would have rather been 7-9? For what? People make no sense. You either win the super bowl or you don’t. There is no in between. You wanted to win a few more games in 2014, for what?
March 16th, 2016 at 9:37 am
What R.O. just said.
March 16th, 2016 at 10:15 am
Penn should still be a Buc . End of story. Atleast we hit on his replacement, the second time around. Not sure how anybody would want Anthony Collins, who played right tackle and did so for 8 games, to replace penn who was an above average starter for such a long time.
March 16th, 2016 at 10:26 am
LOL… The OL did stink and the one that got away was Davin Joseph…. He was much better than Penn IMO….
well IDC anyways…. Draft me 2 more top notch OL men a TE and FB this year and I will believe we have a chance to win a SB or two in the next decade….
Bring in a couple guys like Mankind and GC to plat D and we will be good this year
March 16th, 2016 at 1:56 pm
So glad we got Collins and let Penn go!
March 16th, 2016 at 5:32 pm
Penn played decent for us. Oaktown paid him more than our Bucs ever would have. never blame a player for wanting to..and getting paid. You would want to get paid too!