The Bucs And John Abraham
March 10th, 2013
The choice to, for all intents and purposes, let defensive end Michael Bennett walk away by Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik makes Joe scratch his head.
No, Bennett was not a first round draft choice, nor a second round draft choice. He was picked up off the rookie free agent scrap heap. Yet this free agent turned into a helluva defensive end.
No, he’s not Reggie White, but he’s the best the Bucs have, consider:
* Da’Quan Bowers has yet to play a full season, is playing on a knee that made him drop from maybe the first overall choice in the 2011 draft to a second round pick. Oh, and there’s that gun hassle in New York he is facing that may cause him to lose unknown playing time in 2014.
* Adrian Clayborn is coming off a nasty knee injury and surgery. There’s no way of knowing if he can bounce back to 100 percent. If someone suggests he will, Joe wants to know who this man is and Joe will hire him and his crystal ball to buy stocks. Anyone who dismisses Clayborn’s return as trivial has been visiting one of the fortune tellers on Madeira Beach.
There has been scuttlebutt that the Bucs are sniffing former Dixie Chicks defensive end John Abraham; one of a few teams rumored to be interested in Abraham. Alex Marvez of FoxSports.com looks at Abraham’s suitors.
Tampa Bay: Defensive end Michael Bennett appears headed for free agency after a nine-sack season in 2012. Tampa Bay has the salary cap room to re-sign Bennett so either the Bucs knows something that interested suitors don’t or have made a poor talent evaluation. Defensive ends Adrian Clayborn and Da’Quan Bowers were Tampa Bay’s first- and second-round draft picks in 2011. Clayborn is coming off a season-ending knee injury; Bowers was arrested this offseason in Queens, N.Y. for bringing a loaded gun to the airport. Abraham would provide insurance in case there are issues with either player and serve as a nice complement off the bench in pass-rushing situations.
Interesting that Marvez mentioned the Bucs. He may know something no one else does about Bennett. Frankly, Joe never thought of that angle. What that may be, well, you may have to revisit that Madeira Beach fortune teller.
Joe listened to Bill Polian recently on SiriusXM NFL Radio and Polian believes Abraham has little left in the tank. Polian suggested anything more than 15 plays a game for Abraham and towards the end of the season, Abraham will be on fumes.
Unless the Bucs think they can get a bargain with Abraham, and Bennett would be getting too high of a bid from other teams, this move still puzzles. Joe.
March 10th, 2013 at 12:20 pm
Polian has little left in the tank too
March 10th, 2013 at 12:26 pm
Polian 15 snaps? I think brooks and sapp can do 15 snaps a game come on. It would be a good security blanket to land Abraham, however I doubt he would play for us being that we play ATL twice a year
March 10th, 2013 at 12:30 pm
That’s just the seemingly fruity twinkle-toe’d Alex Marvez being a Gossip Queen (in my opinion). No need to see your Fortune Teller..Joe.
March 10th, 2013 at 12:33 pm
Beginning of the end for Dominik.
March 10th, 2013 at 12:57 pm
Joe as Yogi always said “It ain’t over til it’s over”, so all the guess work and what will happen is just that, guess work. On opening day of the regular season, we will see who is where doing what because any more we just don’t know. I would not be suprised of Blount was a Linebacker for example.
The only fact right now is prepare for St Paddy’s day.
March 10th, 2013 at 1:01 pm
Another theory here, and I’m just throwing this out there, is that Schiano wants to be more of a blitzing defense, in which case DE is devalued.
Or, another theory is that free agency doesn’t start for two more days so we should all just let this thing play out before we crucify Dominik. I would not believe a single thing coming out of Bennett’s camp considering who his slimmy agent is.
March 10th, 2013 at 1:02 pm
If just for situational rushing …depth ….veteran leadership ….and the right price with a performance clause in his contract, why not? If it’s evident he’s burned-out during camp, force early retirement or waive him.
March 10th, 2013 at 3:20 pm
@jacko 101 I believe he’s got more then 15 plays a game as well but isnt the fact that we play atlanta twice a year more motivation to play here?? They did just release him after he was the most productive d-lineman They’ve ha the last few years. I like Bennet but I believe there’s not that much of a drop off scheme fit wot bowers and Bennet but the price for Bennet might not b conducive when we got a cheaper younger version of him on the roster with more potential. If he wants 5 or 6 mill a year I say he’s a buc for life if he wants more I say drop 5 or 6 on a Avril or someone who has better sack numbers Avril has dam near double the career sacks Bennett got n half the time.where just spoiled because we actually have home grown talent worth resigning. Just not gonna break the bank when there’s cheaper more productive options. With that said Bennet don’t smell the coffe come on home for 6 million a year so we still got enough money to drop n revis’ bank account
March 10th, 2013 at 3:39 pm
Let’s see:
Clayborn is coming off a major knee injury
Bowers could face jail time
Letting Bennett walk is a bonehead move.
Looking at those circumstances, how is signing Abraham a bad move?
March 10th, 2013 at 3:50 pm
Why pay Bennett that money when we have other things we need. We have young up and comers at DE let them play, we already know they can run stop which is most Important to schiano. We need physical corners, blitzing DBS, and a olb. Bring In Abraham for pass rush downs
March 10th, 2013 at 3:55 pm
It’s not a question of want, it’s a question of value. Signing a guy to huge money after one good season reminds me too much of Marcus Jones. If Bennett had 2 years left on his deal and performed both of those years, then yeah – big money time. Bennett reportedly will let the Bucs match any offer he gets, so it’s all going to depend on how high a price he ends up commanding.
March 10th, 2013 at 4:01 pm
@Joe
If we let Bennett walk don’t forget about the compensatory picks. If he was actually worth keeping around and plays well for another team we could very likely end up with a third round compensatory pick next year. If we pick up a stud DE/DT with the first pick in the draft, a strong possibility with Dom’s love of D-lineman, then we wouldn’t be much worse off than if we had kept Bennett. (Plus the rookie will come MUCH cheaper).
I think Dom knows what he is doing here.
March 11th, 2013 at 1:54 am
Likely smokescreen by the Buccs to make other teams feel he’s not worth the big money. Hopefully this tactic pays off Tuesday, and the Buccs match a contract that was in their cap ceiling for Michael all along.