Dominik Among “Second-Chancers”
December 13th, 2014
Albert Breer, of NFL.com and NFL Network, projects six openings at general manager across the NFL in a matter of days, and Breer says former Bucs rockstar general manager Mark Dominik is among the “second-chancers” who could get a serious look.
What? How could this be? So many Bucs fans consider Dominik to be clueless.
Joe isn’t in that camp. Dominik surely wasn’t great, but he had improved from when he was took the job and was to work with a 32-year-old head coach and a paltry payroll.
Scribe Adam Caplan, however, behind a paywall at ESPN, dissected 16 potential GM candidates in three tiers, and Dominik wasn’t on his list.
For those interested in NFL front office kind of stuff, Breer’s article (linked in first paragraph) is quite interesting. Here was his nugget on Dominik:
Mark Dominik, ESPN analyst: Was a Buccaneers lifer before being shown the door at the end of last season, so Dominik was part of a championship group early on and built a team that still has young talent. His downfall as GM in Tampa Bay was striking out on his first draft pick — quarterback Josh Freeman — which seriously set the franchise back.
Frankly, Joe can’t consider Freeman to be a bad draft pick when it comes to the front office. The Bucs, with a new regime and plenty of offensive line talent, needed to take a shot at developing a quarterback. And look what Freeman did; he was among the very best in the NFL in his second season at 22 years old. After regressing a bit, he came back to lead the NFL’s ninth-ranked offense in 2012, setting franchise records in the process.
Is Freeman’s downfall from there really Dominik’s fault? Joe suspects that question will be addressed thoroughly in the interviews Dominik scores in a couple of weeks.
Also, Joe has to think Darrelle Revis will also come up in any Dominik interviews. Revis is playing to his Hall of Fame form this season. If that continues, Dominik can make quite a case that scoring Revis for the Bucs was a very positive maneuver.
December 13th, 2014 at 5:08 pm
The Michael Clayton contract alone should scare off any potential suitors.
December 13th, 2014 at 5:17 pm
We don’t consider it” his track record says it is fact end of story
December 13th, 2014 at 5:33 pm
Freeman was not an accurate college QB. That’s not something that QB’s just develop usually. Especially in Tampa Bay with total crap offensive coaches. Team’s need to groom the right QB and Freeman was definitely not it.
December 13th, 2014 at 5:44 pm
Woe to the team that hires him.
December 13th, 2014 at 5:45 pm
Seriously I think that Dom was overall pretty good, and worked well with Schiano,… and had they kept them both for 2 more years, the BUCS would be real contenders again!
December 13th, 2014 at 6:17 pm
I want what idahobucsfan is on.
December 13th, 2014 at 6:24 pm
Lets hope he lands at Carolina, New Orleans or Atlanta….
December 13th, 2014 at 6:32 pm
Your correct Idaho.
December 13th, 2014 at 6:36 pm
Bet the Redskins hire him
December 13th, 2014 at 7:28 pm
Mark Dominik should be hired to help a team manage the cap and contruct contracts…
He should stay the hell away from ANY and ALL talent evaluation positions…
Dominick’s failures in the draft are only secondary to his epic failures signing underperforming players to ridiculous contracts… Quicy Black, Jeremy Trueblood, Michael Clayton, just to name a few…
Every free agent was grossly overpaid… Goldson, Wright, Revis, Nicks, Jackson, to name a few…
And as a bonus the guy would refuse to draft offensive lineman which combined with Lovie and Licht fuc#@ing up has led to the giant turd fest you see today on offense…
December 13th, 2014 at 8:04 pm
I can see Dominik doing well with another team, after learning from the mistakes he learned from his time with us.
December 13th, 2014 at 8:09 pm
Mac,
Actually under Schiano, Quincy Black began to develop right before he had his unfortunate career ending injury…as for the other players mentioned, not so much.
Unless you love a “blocking icon” of a receiver. Who also takes credit of the Giants WR’s development and their recent championship.
December 13th, 2014 at 8:33 pm
Idaho you are 100% correct!!!!!!! Getting Revis was one of the best moves of the year last year and how he is playing is 100% showing he was right.
December 13th, 2014 at 8:34 pm
I think Dom will get another shot and I think if Schiano and Dom were still around, this team would be much better than it is right now. Seriously!!!!!!
December 13th, 2014 at 8:36 pm
Joe I agree the Revis move was 100% the right move in bringing him to Tampa. Revis playing at an amazing level right now. Dom and Schiano right now would have had the Bucs easily on top of the division.
December 13th, 2014 at 9:00 pm
“What? How could this be? So many Bucs fans consider Dominik to be clueless.”
I wonder if 28-52 has something to with it Joe??
December 13th, 2014 at 9:22 pm
Dominik was and is better than some of you think. He gutted the team from top to bottom, had no money to spend and was to build a winner? Look at Jacksonville, they’ve been trying for as many years and still are terrible. Hard to look at draft history when you keep making changes at HC, every new coach wants to prove they need “his” players. Lovie brought in 150 million of “his” players and only a one hit draft class. I am glad Dominik drafted McCoy and David, and if you look around the league a lot of the other picks play (miller, biggers, watson, lorig, goode, means, etc. etc.) I know this, Clayborn would have much more production than high priced Michael Johnson, no one can control injuries (see Brian Price) but id rather have a healthy Clayborn and a non tough guy in MJ.
December 13th, 2014 at 9:27 pm
@ Connor, did Dominik tell David to push Geno Smith out of bounds, did he have officials call a bogus call against Kellen back in 2010? Did he have Drew Brees or Russell Wilson have comeback drives in 2013? Did he have Glennon throw backed up in the 4th Q twice against Cardinals in 2013? I think win/loss can be a factor but not proof positive of a good GM. I doubt Dominik had Freeman go mental and fall apart…I liked him for many reasons and hope he has a fairer shot.
December 13th, 2014 at 9:40 pm
Schiano was fired too soon
December 13th, 2014 at 11:40 pm
Tampabaybucfan Says:
Lets hope he lands at Carolina, New Orleans or Atlanta….
I agree. Hopefully the ATL as Arthur Blank did hire McKay who is now a VP of some sort in the organization. After a 4-12 run in 2013 and probably a 10+ loss season to back that up I am guessing that the Vincent Price lookalike Home Depot guy might just want to clean house and start anew as the ATL has far too many weapons to be performing so bad on the field….. Still do not get the interest in Dominic, I kind of understand how Bruce Allen opens doors by riding the coattails of a legendary father and a brother who is a rather powerful politician but hopefully he lands somewhere where he can indirectly help the Bucs by sinking another franchise….
December 14th, 2014 at 1:55 am
Everyone that thinks that the Revis acquisition was a good move on Rockstars part might be forgetting the circumstances at that time. You had what WAS arguably the best corner in football coming off major knee surgery suffered a quarter of the way into the season. When the new manager was brought in that offseason, everyone knew he was told his number 1 priority was to get rid of Revis in that being the final year of his contract bc the owner wasn’t going to pay him. And then, in addition to Revis wanting out over the situation, no one in the league was going to risk paying an injured player top corner money.. We were the only team in the conversation! Every single bit of leverage was in our favor and we still found a way to screw it up in the typical “mark Dominic overpaying fashion” by giving up a first round pick, top 10 pick. The only thing that rivals that idiocracy is letting him walk a year later showing nothing in return… Key moves by Dominic like the Revis deal or second round draft blunders are exactly why this franchise is in the gutter.
December 14th, 2014 at 3:06 am
Never was as bad as the last coach he hired.
Unfortunately, Dom’s inexperience could’t overcome the most stubborn & ignorant coach ever ushered into in the NFL.
He also couldn’t match scheme to the talent Dom provided him…
…ultimately, Dom’s last coaching hire culminated in a perfect storm of ignorance, inexperience and Schiano’s arrogance – making him responsible for his own demise.
Dom may get another chance, but I doubt anyone will look twice at any other HC from Rutgers.
December 14th, 2014 at 6:11 am
To all those that are saying that bringing Revis in based on how he’s playing now need to look at the whole picture to see why it was an awful move.
Sure looking at it in a bvubble every team/fan would love a 100% Revis BUT you take that bubble away and that’s where it doesn’t look so good.
The guy was still hurt and we traded away a 1st & possible 3rd for him so we could pay him a third more than the next highest paid corner in the league, it was a total win now move for a team that wasn’t a real contender.
Even worse is how Dom ignored the CB for so many years until it got to the point that he he had to sort it, doing his usual trick of over reacting rather than being proactive. There were multiple Pro Bowl corners available very cheap that same off season, we could have kept the picks, saved the 2nd we used on Banks, got 2 high end corners and still had enough cash to throw at a veteran end to try and help the pass rush.
Lets see, we can have Revis & Banks or…
Brent Grimes/Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie/Sean Smith (pick 2 of the 3), resigned Michael Bennett to a long term deal & drafted Sheldon Richardson in the 1st with Kiko Alonso in the 2nd.
Which of those options is the more sound investment in terms of overall defensive quality/depth improvement?
This after he swung and missed with the obvious awful signing o Wright the year before, the guy had no real eye for talent and got bent over the negotiation table virtually every time we signed a guy.
Dummyniks negotiations must have gone something like this…
“How much does your player want Mr Agent?”
“$4 million a year for 3 years, 6 guaranteed.”
“How about $7 million a year for 5 years?”
“Huh, sure.”
“Its a deal, $9 million a year for 5 years, 20 guaranteed.”
“WTF just happened?”
December 14th, 2014 at 7:57 am
Anybody that thinks the Revis move WASN’T among the worst all-time Bucs move, you’re clueless.
How is going out and giving a 1st and 3rd round pick for an injured and aging (damaged goods) superstar and then turning around and paying him well above market (he’s making $12 million THIS season after finishing LAST season healthy when he was paid $16 million)? That’s called DOUBLE payment. First you pay the king’s ransom of a 1st and 3rd and then you dump cash down the drain and pay a over 25% over his own market value from a year later. Don’t forget, good CBs were being signed to other teams for around $5 million a season… and we paid $16… and that’s all Revis was for us… GOOD. We spent $1 mil a game, and a 1st and 3rd for GOOD.
How does the fact that the Pats signed a healthy Revis to $12 million this season, not forfeit ANY draft picks escape some of you that think Dominik’s move was anything but one made of pure desperation and ignorance as well as being wrong?
We will learn a lot about what the Pats think of Revis this offseason when he is due $18 mil to come back to the Pats. The Pats can cut him without paying a penalty…the funny thing is, the two year earnings would be $30 million with the Pats if they pick up his 2015 option, while his two year earnings with the Bucs would’ve been $32 million…and that despite the salary cap continuing to go way up. Horrible deal all around by the Bucs.
December 14th, 2014 at 8:04 am
Jon Says:
December 13th, 2014 at 9:22 pm
Dominik was and is better than some of you think. He gutted the team from top to bottom, had no money to spend and was to build a winner? Look at Jacksonville, they’ve been trying for as many years and still are terrible. Hard to look at draft history when you keep making changes at HC, every new coach wants to prove they need “his” players. Lovie brought in 150 million of “his” players and only a one hit draft class. I am glad Dominik drafted McCoy and David, and if you look around the league a lot of the other picks play (miller, biggers, watson, lorig, goode, means, etc. etc.) I know this, Clayborn would have much more production than high priced Michael Johnson, no one can control injuries (see Brian Price) but id rather have a healthy Clayborn and a non tough guy in MJ.
—————-
Didn’t you know? Clayborn is technically ON the team… he’s just hurt AGAIN. The Boydog, as Raheem used to call him, will finish his 4 years with the Bucs with a whopping 13 sacks… an average of 3.25 a season and managed to stay healthy for a grand total of 36 of 64 games… averaging 9 games played a season.
And BTW, drafting Clayborn was among the stupidest 1st round draft picks in recent draft history. Here’s a guy that had very limited burst off the line and was better suited to play LDE but because of a medical condition would fare much better at LDE. So we picked him with Cam Jordan still on the board… then we took Bowers, not a bad gamble on a great college talent, but with Justin Houston, the only true RDE type left in the draft, still available.
December 14th, 2014 at 8:06 am
Oops, meant to say “because of a medical condition [Clayborn] was better suited to play RDE”.
December 14th, 2014 at 10:25 am
Dominik had a few good draft picks and even fewer successful free agent signings under his watch. McCoy, David and VJax count as his best acquisitions. Unfortunately, the list of failed draft picks and free agent signings is long. To be fair, the team needed a QB and taking Freeman was an attempt to stop the seemingly never ending revolving door at the position. Dominiks’ success was partly tied to two inept head coaches. If you rate him based on the talent he collected and not the win/loss record, he would still be at a D+/C-.