Miscalculating Value
April 20th, 2022
“Look, Glazer, this stuff doesn’t happen on my watch anymore.”
More troubling Buccaneers history was shared yesterday on a conference call with Joe and various national media.
Joe nearly wept.
It was the predraft conference call featuring the SiriusXM NFL Radio draft guru, former Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik.
The first groin stomp was Dominik talking about not drafting Rob Gronkowski in 2010. Dominik has told versions of this story previously, but yesterday he revealed that misguided trust in medical reports claiming Gronk’s back was a huge red flag/problem is what turned Dominik to draft Brian Price at No. 35 overall and Arrelious Benn at No. 39 that year.
Gronk went at No. 42 to the Patriots.
Then there was the agonizing 2011 first-round decision and trade hope that missed the mark. Joe shared that yesterday.
And Dominik also shared what he called “my best worst story.”
In 2011,”Bill Polian calls me and offers next year’s fourth [round pick] for this year’s fifth” round pick, Dominik began.
Dominik passed on the deal because he didn’t think there was enough value to grab the Colts’ 2012 fourth-rounder because the Colts were so good with Peyton Manning.
History, Dominik reminded everyone, shows that Manning got hurt and the Colts finished 2-14. So Dominik passed on the No. 97 overall pick for a pick that turned into defensive back Ahmad Black at No. 151 overall.
With the pick Dominik didn’t take from the Colts, he could have selected running back Lamar Miller to complement Doug Martin, or punishing run-blocking center Ben Jones or Kirk Cousins, or linebacker Nigel Bradham. All those guys went at the top of the fourth-round.
Joe is always intrigued by the draft moves behind the scenes that didn’t happen. Joe suspects current Bucs GM Jason Licht also will cough up his tales of woe and ecstasy in about 10 years.
April 20th, 2022 at 10:35 am
…and that’s why he’s unemployed
April 20th, 2022 at 10:45 am
Joe,
Regarding Deebo… would you trade the #27 pick and let him ride out the last year of his contract with us? It would use up just under $5M of the cap.
April 20th, 2022 at 10:52 am
Hind sight is 20/20 and the draft is a game of averages. The key is to outperform the average…just like investing in the markets. If you outperform the averages you can to tremendously well. But, no one can get all the picks right.
April 20th, 2022 at 11:03 am
Dominick missed on virtually everything…..picks, FAs and coaches. He was a cap guy and probably a good one but he was never qualified to be a GM.
April 20th, 2022 at 11:20 am
Dominik was terrible and Licht was on the verge of getting sent packing as well. I mean Dominik gave up a 1st round puck for Darrel Revis what a collosal dumbskee move, the bucs have had a history of horrible draft moves from Bo Jackson and Booker Reese, the throwing Samoan, to the kickers and teh wasted entire draft year of licht, thank god BA and Brady showed up to put some perfume on this pig
April 20th, 2022 at 11:21 am
Tempting.
April 20th, 2022 at 11:30 am
I keep seeing this Dominik was a “cap guy”, but alot of the bigger contracts he doled out didnt come close to getting close to a return on the investment and the Bucs didnt spend big until the 2012 offseason. I specifically remember reading an article by you Joe which stated at one point Dom had a something like a quarter BILLION $$$’s in OLmen contracts on the books.
April 20th, 2022 at 11:30 am
1st round pick for Deebo… throw in Ddarden and Scotty Miller!!!
April 20th, 2022 at 11:41 am
These Buc draft stories are nightmare inducing Joe!
It feels like, as a Buc fan, that we’ve missed more than other teams. It probably just feels that way because of all the losing.
April 20th, 2022 at 11:42 am
Would Gronk have had a Hall of Fame career under Morris, Shiano, Smith, or Koetter? I think not. He would’ve been a blocking TE until he bailed in free agency.
April 20th, 2022 at 11:52 am
I’m not sure how everything works so let me know if I am wrong. Isn’t the reason Deebo is holding out is because he wants more money than his contract calls for? So would he play for us without a different contract, hence a lot more money? He would want I’m sure at least Godwin money.
April 20th, 2022 at 12:01 pm
This is why Mr. Licht needs to keep watching this place. We have some good football minds that post here….and its free, i mean wth. They got away from us last year’s draft and that ended up not so well (so far).
April 20th, 2022 at 12:07 pm
Deebo looking for $25 mil, forget that dude, he has only had one good season and it was in an offense that used him as the focal point, needs some more consistency. He is a $15 mill a year guy right now if he is looking for a raise. He is a system guy right now with the niners
April 20th, 2022 at 12:10 pm
How about when the idiot Dominik passed on Cam Jordan, who absolutely dominated the Senior Bowl and the practices, and instead selected Adrian Clayborn, who wisely skipped the Senior Bowl… and also tested smaller, slower, and far weaker than Jordan (and was less productive in college)? Did I mention he had a major issue with his right arm? Seriously, just from the Senior Bowl alone, Jordan should have been the pick. There were guys like Aldon Smith, JJ Watt, Cam Jordan, Ryan Kerrigan, Justin Houston in that draft… and we got Adrian Clayborn… what a failure Dominik was. Ohh, Mark Barron over Luke Keuchly… UGH!
April 20th, 2022 at 12:27 pm
Sparky, correct. We would be renting him one year for a nice price and then almost certainly losing him the next year. All for the price of a first-round draft pick. Never happen. Nor should it.
April 20th, 2022 at 12:39 pm
He was he was correct in his assessment of not making that trade with the Colts. Them going 2 and 14 was completely unforeseen.
April 20th, 2022 at 1:24 pm
Brian Price was on his way to becoming an absolute stud, maybe better than Gerald McCoy, before he had some personal issues that knocked him pretty much out of the NFL. Regis Benn never had a real chance here, as this was the year we drafted Mike Williams in the 5th round and was so good he earned a starting spot IN THE SUMMER.
April 20th, 2022 at 1:46 pm
dominick was terrible
April 20th, 2022 at 2:38 pm
All these GM’s miss on players. It’s an inexact science. Without his back issues, gronk would’ve been a top half of the first round pick. The Patriots drafting him in round two, wasn’t without trepidation. But, the risk reward was too great to pass up. Even if the bucs had drafted him, would he really have made a difference? I say no. WillieG is correct.
April 20th, 2022 at 2:42 pm
I wouldn’t be surprised if the bucs land one of these disgruntled wide outs. AJ brown, Samuel, or Metcalf. One or all will likely be traded during the draft. Don’t worry about the cap. Even if it hamstrings you later on, isn’t a Superbowl worth it?
April 20th, 2022 at 2:44 pm
Armchair GM is fun, especially when get to criticize historical decisions.
Of course, we all applauded with great enthusiasm the selections of OJ Howard, Noah Spense, ASJ, Mike Glennon, Jeremy McNichols. No one thought anything of William Gholston.
The GM position is a thankless, what-have-you-done-for-me-lately, job.
April 20th, 2022 at 2:53 pm
The Bucs had one of the better TE’s in football in 2010, Kellen Winslow, so there’s really no reason that Gronk would have been on the Bucs board as they didn’t run a lot of 2 TE sets.
Price, at the time, was considered a solid pick. I don’t recall much negative feedback. But he got that freak injury early, and it just derailed everything. Again, was that a bad pick because he got injured? I would say no, the GM can’t control what guys get injured and which ones don’t. You can draft or avoid drafting based on injuries, but you can’t tell the future.
April 20th, 2022 at 3:09 pm
But hey rockstar general manager. At least we got Revis’ retirement tour.
April 20th, 2022 at 7:45 pm
Ya that’s a bad look Sir..
April 21st, 2022 at 9:32 am
Dumbernik sucked, sucks, will suck and will have sucked. Now he whines about his ineptitude. Good grief. He ruined the Bucs and then had zero capability to bring them back from the trash heap. Is is a heap of trash.