Mark Dominik Explains Bucs Release Of Matt Bryant
October 18th, 2018
“Hey, Bisaccia, man, Ted Nugent, Mike Nugent, I don’t give a crap about kickers or any rocker not named Bon Jovi.”
Usually, when the Bucs dump a good player for no apparent reason, the truth behind the team’s reasoning is never revealed.
You can’t say that about Falcons kicker Matt Bryant, one of those ex-Bucs studs who likely will be talked about for the Hall of Fame one day.
After leaving Tampa Bay, his last nine years with the Falcons have been spectacular. The man has nailed 68.6 of field goals from 50+ yards in his career.
Today, the man who cut him, former Bucs rockstar general manager Mark Dominik, explained the move on WDAE-AM 620. But first, Dominik acknowledged that social media hates him whenever Bryant does something special like he did when he booted a 57-yard field goal Sunday to sink the Bucs.
“Twitter loves me every time Matt Bryant makes a kick; I get it,” Dominik said.
Dominik noted that he was the one who lobbied to sign Bryant off the street when he was in the Bucs’ pro personnel department. The Giants, Colts and Dolphins had given up on him.
After Bryant’s decent 2008 season with the Bucs, the team signed Mike Nugent as competition for Bryant, Dominik explained, “a legitimate open competition. Dominik said there was no guaranteed money in Nugent’s deal.
But then Bryant injured his hamstring and didn’t kick a field goal all through the 2009 preseason. That made the decision difficult, Dominik said, because Bryant wasn’t ready for Week 1.
“[Then special teams] Coach [Rich] Bisaccia loved Mike Nugent,” Dominik said. “You can look at the Oakland Raiders roster this year, 10 years later, who is the Raiders’ starting kicker? Mike Nugent. So it shows you how much Bisaccia loved Mike Nugent, and so did I. … Looking back, should we have kept Matt Bryant? Of course. But there’s a lot of factors that fell into that.”
Dominik went on to say “it’s a shame” that Bryant became “a Buc killer” but he’s a big fan of Bryant and his family.
Joe enjoyed hearing that story spelled out by Dominik. Joe knew previously that Bisaccia was a huge Nugent guy.
Next up. Why Michael Bennett was tossed for no good reason and why Lovie Smith arrived in Tampa and instantly knew Darrelle Revis wasn’t good enough to play for him.
Derrick Brooks takes on the tough questions of the day — your questions — with sage columnist Ira Kaufman.Click below and enjoy this great production from The Identity Tampa Bay and JoeBucsFan.com, presented by Caldeco Air Conditioning & Heating.
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October 18th, 2018 at 10:17 am
Whatever!!! Excuses Excuses!!!
October 18th, 2018 at 10:17 am
Interesting stuff, and I forgot about that. No team should be in a position to have to justify keeping two FG kickers on the roster.
>…knew Darrelle Revis wasn’t good enough to play for him.
Let it go, Joe. The Bucs weren’t going to win with Revis. It made sense to give up the salary to be able to sign more guys. It didn’t work out, but the reasoning was there.
October 18th, 2018 at 10:24 am
I can’t hear what you are saying because your lips are moving. Whank, Whank, Whank.
October 18th, 2018 at 10:27 am
The Buc kicker curse!
October 18th, 2018 at 10:31 am
Is this national kick a bucs fan in the groin day?
October 18th, 2018 at 10:35 am
Revis was one of the worst signings in bucs history a colossal mistake up there with drafting booker reese, roberto aguayo, bo jackson saga, steve young and not re-signing doug williams….that kind of makes the letting go of bryant seem a lot better than I thought, still stings tho as the bucs have not had a solid kicker since he was let go…….time to get rid of these cursed uniforms, go back to the previous ones these are a stinky losing uniform
October 18th, 2018 at 10:56 am
Matt Bryant was the most consistent & clutch kicker we have ever had… I believe even more so than Gramatica & Igwebuike.
Cutting him created the kicking curse we have lived with for the last 10+ years.
October 18th, 2018 at 11:11 am
Nugent was already garbage when the Bucs signed him. He’d already blown jobs as a high-round pick for a kicker.
October 18th, 2018 at 11:30 am
Buc believer Says
“Whatever!!! Excuses Excuses!!!”
I hate to stick up to Mark Dominick at this point, but he made the right call at the time. It sucks. Totally sucks. But sometimes things work against you.
Looking back it;s easy to say otherwise, but at the time I recall most of the fans wanting to move on too.
“He doesn’t kick off!”
“He’s not the good!”
“He can’t make the long kicks!”
“He may never come back from his injury!”
Fans love to rewrite history to favor current opinions, but the simple truth is that the majority of fans were behind the move. I wasn’t. A few others were not, but most were. They talked Mike Nugent up big.
October 18th, 2018 at 11:37 am
How about having Dominik explain his 28-52 record as Bucs GM?
That failure has an explanation for everything. How about this one — why is Dominik not employed in any capacity by an NFL team?
Because he was awful as a GM and would be worse now. It’s not right to continue quoting him or calling him “rockstar.”
October 18th, 2018 at 11:48 am
Yes, indeed it was! He wasn’t worth the first round pick that was given up. I will never understand why one of the Joes (I know who) will not let this go. Trading for Revis was a boneheaded move, especially because it didn’t make the team better. The defense was middle of the pack. Not worth $16 million a year.
October 18th, 2018 at 12:18 pm
So if I remember correctly Bryant hates us because at the time he was spending time with his terminally ill son. We cut him for his injury. I am certain if we gave him a hefty injury settlement he would have understood but the perception is that did not happen. I seemed to remember that Manhattan United was at the forefront of the Glazers pocketbook at the time not the Bucs. It wasn’t the cutting of Matt Bryant it was the timing and economic result. If I am inicorrect Joe please correct my memory.
October 18th, 2018 at 12:23 pm
Duran Duran-lovin’ ex-GM Mark Dominik came undone when he was making bone-headed decisions during his disastrous administration. He just wasn’t hungry like the wolf. We’ll save a prayer for him to take a long trip to Rio! Do do do do do do do dodo dododo dodo
October 18th, 2018 at 12:23 pm
Is Licht ‘s record any better then Mark Dominik ?? Licht should be moving on. Revis was a great move to have a shutdown corner but Lovie blew it.
October 18th, 2018 at 12:27 pm
@Nick2 — almost positive that you are correct on your memory of how the timing of Matt Bryant’s release made it even worse. (with him dealing with his terminally ill son)
October 18th, 2018 at 12:56 pm
Don’t believe a damn thing Dominik says.
October 18th, 2018 at 1:09 pm
So Dominik blames someone else for letting him go … shocker.
October 18th, 2018 at 1:29 pm
If Connor Barth hadn’t torn his ACL playing basketball a few years back we’d be in a totally different position.
October 18th, 2018 at 1:44 pm
Revis never should have been traded for in the 1st place.
And Bryant was always solid for us, and set a team record for longest FG. There was no reason to bring in competition against in him the first place.
Just another item on the long list of terrible decisions by Dom.
I like him much more now that he’s an analyst, and can’t destroy our roster any more.
October 18th, 2018 at 2:47 pm
Dr. Stroud- You might want to hand the key to your “medicine” closet to someone trustworthy. No one, I repeat NO ONE should ever quote one Duran Duran verse, much less THREE!!! LOL!
October 18th, 2018 at 3:01 pm
@Bucsfanman: you know me too well! In my spare time, I just love diagnosing injuries miles away from my air conditioned office at the St Pete Times!
October 18th, 2018 at 4:42 pm
I would probably pay more attention to this “excuse“ if his resume wasn’t littered with re-signing Michael Clayton, cutting Michael Bennett, re-signing Luke stocker… This isn’t a single bad decision. This is one of many bad decisions.
October 18th, 2018 at 6:41 pm
Why talk about this now. Half truths and blame
Check the salaries at that time. Bryant wanted to stay but you helped to force him to leave
October 18th, 2018 at 6:57 pm
ben Says
“Is Licht ‘s record any better then Mark Dominik?”
About three times better.
October 18th, 2018 at 7:33 pm
Bogus, half truthes
October 18th, 2018 at 7:46 pm
Half truthes.why did nugent have a larger contract. Bryant went to Miami because of a hurt kicker and the same at the Colts as for the giants they dumped everyone from the previous year. No it wasnt a true competition but just show.
October 18th, 2018 at 8:02 pm
Ctord@yahho – Is this national kick a bucs fan in the groin day?
HAAAA!!!!!