Just A Hunch, Bucs Are Done With Jackson
September 23rd, 2010Now before Joe gets rolling here, Joe has no inside information regarding the premise of this particular post, just reading the tea leaves.
After learning that safety Tanard Jackson is suspended indefinitely by the NFL for substance abuse, it’s a good bet that Bucs fans have seen the last of Jackson playing for the Bucs.
Jackson was set to become a free agent after this season. He is not eligible to play for an NFL team before September 2011 — if the NFL clears the path for him to return.
Bucs general manager Mark Dominik is a big character guy. One of the reasons he has passed and purged players is that he doesn’t want a bad influence on a team that is growing from within.
That is the main reason he didn’t take a flyer on wide receiver Santonio Holmes for a fifth round pick. Dominik, Joe learned through third parties, was uncomfortable about what type of influence Holmes would have had on the young Bucs, despite his superior talent.
In short, Jackson, despite his talent, simply cannot be trusted. To be polite, Jackson is undependable. For a team like the Bucs trying to build a winner, it’s foolish to rely on a cracked brick as a key cog of the foundation.
September 23rd, 2010 at 8:18 am
You’re dead on.
We all know he won’t play for us again, so send a message and cut him now. He won’t be “game” ready until about the middle of next season, that’s almost 2 seasons gone. What’s the point?
September 23rd, 2010 at 8:22 am
I posted someting two months ago that I saw on mediatakeout.com that tandard had gotten a porn star Jemini pregnant. Now I am not trying to pass judgement at all but most Porn stars stay high and party that is the first thing I thought of is when I saw the article. Bottom line this is one of the most selfish things I have seen in football along with Plaxico shooting himself. In reality Tanard shoot hisself cause he was going to get paid big next year ( he was viewed as a top young safety but Now who knows if he can even get back in the League
September 23rd, 2010 at 8:23 am
I wan unaware that he was set to become a free agent. After a year out of football, I can’t imagine anyone paying him very much. I agree. I think the Bucs let him walk.
September 23rd, 2010 at 9:14 am
Joe,
I’ve heard some speculating that the Bucs knew this was coming down and that is why they kept 5 safeties. Have you any knowledge to confirm that? IF, and I do stress IF, the Bucs knew and still let him play the first two games then that would piss me off – no matter how much better he is than the backups.
September 23rd, 2010 at 9:45 am
lightningbuc:
Names will be left out of this story:
Roughly a month ago Joe heard this rumor about Jackson had failed a drug test. Again, Joe doesn’t print those kind of rumors. An issue like that is so delicate, that unless Joe had a copy of the failed test results, he wasn’t going to touch it.
So Joe spoke with someone who has a direct pipeline into the highest reaches of One Buc Palace. This person also works in the media and got word that a local Bucs beat reporter was about to run this story. So said media guy Joe spoke with called a very, very, very high source at One Buc Palace and was told, “You can run it. And you would be wrong.” So this person backed off, as did the Bucs beat writer.
At the time, Joe heard it was a fail/pass meaning the first test came up with something and the mandatory secondary test to confirm the results of the first showed up negative, hence Jackson passed.
Again, this was about a month ago.
September 23rd, 2010 at 9:50 am
@lightningbuc
They are denying knowing about it, however, about a month ago Mark Dominick supposedly planted a story with some bloggers, asking htem to say nothing (off the record) that Tanard was going to get suspended for substance abuse.
A few days later, Steve Duemigg revealed that their station was warned that the stroy was false, planted to test the bloggers in order to see who would keep it off the record.
Upon reflection, it’s an awfully big coincidence.
If Mark himself denies knowledge, which I THINK he did, then he may well have been caught in a lie. There’s a very small chance he is being honest…afterall, coincidences DO happen. I’m sure Javier and ZeroExpectations will jump on this, but I don’t really care if Dominick lies about it or not.
Remember, a couple years ago, Roger Goodell announced that he was going to startt penalizing teams when ther players messed up off the field. This was due to players like Tank Johnson, Ricky Williams and others.
Mark Dominick might be avoiding admitting he had foreknowledge in order to keep the team from suffering as a whole.
September 23rd, 2010 at 9:51 am
Bah, Joe beat me to it, lol.
September 23rd, 2010 at 9:52 am
BTW, someone did actually run that story. I forget the website though.
September 23rd, 2010 at 9:54 am
@Ian
His contract is suspended with him, so when he returns, he will still have a year (minus the last two games) before becoming a free agent.
September 23rd, 2010 at 10:26 am
Between the “Fals Leak a couple months ago and the fact that they kept 5 safeties…. Mark D and Raheem knew there was trouble looming. I agree with JOE: this is his 3rd infraction AND he is a free agent… His days as a Buccaneer are probably over.
UNLESS he resigns next eyar for a minimum contract guaranteeing nothing. I could see that as a possibility, if only slight.
September 23rd, 2010 at 12:09 pm
He’s done as a Buccaneer. There is no way that a team builds through youth with a player looking at strike four and a lifetime ban at such an important position. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. the Bucs will sit on his contract and status until the suspension is lifted, whenever that is. The ban could be for more than one year. He’s done here and likely anywhere else in the NFL.