Brooks Says Penn Is Underappreciated
November 1st, 2013
Joe’s celebration of Donald Penn’s making his 100th consecutive start on Sunday continues.
Here’s another nugget from Bucs icon and former Penn teammate Derrick Brooks, this time on Penn being underrated.
“I don’t think he gets the credit leaguewide because of the team’s struggles,” Brooks told Joe. “He’s a classic example of a player whose talent doesn’t get appreciated because of the record of his teams lately. He reminds me a lot of Paul Gruber, who was one of the better tackles in this league but the Bucs struggled during his time and Donald Penn is kind of in that situation. But you ask defensive lineman around the league and they single him out as the Bucs’ best offensive lineman over the past five years.”
One thing often overlooked is Penn being voted by his peers to the NFL Network’s Top-100 (No. 97) after the 2011 season. Considering how the Bucs finished 2011 with a 10-game losing streak and were absolutely horrendous, it was very noteworthy that Penn got the honor.
November 1st, 2013 at 10:31 am
Congrats Donald, you are one resiliant & tough guy….you are very much appreciated by this Tampa Bay Buc Fan…..I hope you stay a Buc til the end….
November 1st, 2013 at 10:58 am
I love Penn, he’s been a beast in some games. Can you imagine Jake Matthews with his bloodline coming in, and Penn taking him under his wing and sharing some tips? YuP, I can!
November 1st, 2013 at 1:21 pm
Draft a top left tackle that can be there for the next 10/12 years and move penn to either guard or rt tackle to finish out his career. you will solve many problems.
November 1st, 2013 at 1:28 pm
Except that Penn isn’t anywhere near as good as Gruber was. I would LOVE to have Jake Matthews as well, but you just don’t pass on Quarterbacks. If Mariota, Manziel, or Bridgewater is available you take ’em. Glennon is serviceable enough but we need some swag. A guy like Manziel would infuse some serious life in to this otherwise apathetic town. Personally, I’d take Jameis Winston over everyone, but that would mean that we’d have to go 1-15 NEXT yr as well in order to be in position to grab him.
November 1st, 2013 at 2:22 pm
I like PENN a great deal and he probably is underrated but he play has fallen off a bit the last couple of years.
November 2nd, 2013 at 12:59 am
@tampa2, Winston is why Im all over keeping Glennon at the helm for now. But build up the O line and snatch a WR/TE. If we could get Matthews, and trade the rest of the picks to get back in for Watkins, that would be colossal!
Next year plays out the way it does, and hopefully we trade up far enough to snatch Winston!
November 2nd, 2013 at 8:40 am
Penn is the best LT in Buc History. He is a wall. The most amazing thing about Penn, is I never remember anyone having a big day against him.
When you play the best DEs in the league every single week- everyone eventually has a bad game. The Best ProBowl tackles in the league will occasionally have the bad week- when they really struggle against one guy or another.
Not Penn. he wins his matchup every single week. It’s incredible.
Everyone who wants to replace him- just wait til we have to. We’ll spend a first round pick on a LT. Soon everyone will say how great he is.
We’ll notice real quickly, that no LT plays as well as Penn did.
Every pregame amps up some superstar De.
Once the game starts- you don’t hear the guys name mentioned all day.
Penn spent get the recognition, because he was undrafted. He wasn’t hyped entering the league.
If he had been drafted in the first round, he would be heralded as one of the very best in the league. Because he is.
Mr. Brooks, as always, I agree with you knowledgeable opinion!
Donald Penn is one hell of a LT!