“Why Am I Going To Sit Here And Be A Parachute For You”
March 8th, 2016
Doug Martin’s agent must be careful, says a former general manager.
Welcome to a great look inside the negotiations of Doug Martin and your Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
It’s served up by a guy who knows how this stuff works, former Bucs rockstar general manager Mark Dominik, who joined Steve Duemig yesterday on WDAE-AM 620 yesterday to talk all things NFL free agency.
Dominik has a good feel for the Martin situation, knowing Martin’s agent and Mike Greenberg, his former money guru who works alongside current Bucs GM Jason Licht.
“At some point they gotta hold their ground also and stop bidding against themselves,” Dominik said of the Bucs’ negotiating position.
“I’m sure they’re now going to sit there and put an offer in front of Doug, a last bid offer, ‘Hey look, this is what we’ll do before free agency. And when free agency hits our offer may go down a little bit because, you know, you gotta take a chance that if you’re going to go bet on yourself and it doesn’t hit, then why am I going to sit here and be a parachute for you when I’m willing to take a chance?'”
Dominik went on to say that the Bucs must let Martin’s agent know that playing the field and coming back to the Bucs to match or beat an offer is a situation the Bucs don’t want. Because that means the Bucs would be paying the very top of the market for Martin with no “hometown discount” or “no state-income-tax discount.”
“It’s a critical 24-48 hours for Doug Martin and his agent,” Dominik said. “They have to be pretty sure now they have a real landing spot to take that chance.”
Hopefully, this nonsense is finished and the Bucs sign an 11th-hour deal with Martin before the free agency dinner bell rings tomorrow at 4 p.m.
Speaking prior to the DeMarco Murray trade yesterday, Dominik also said he thought the market was opening up, with more teams in the mix for running backs. And Dominik bumped his market value of Martin up to a maximum of $7 million, after saying it was a max of $6 million last month. (You can hear all of Dominik and Duemig by clicking the link above.)
March 8th, 2016 at 9:36 am
Maybe Dom should’ve used his own advice in acquiring Revis or any of his other awful moves.
Guy has escaped blame by the local media for being a bad GM because, he was a good source.
There’s a reason he hasn’t gotten another shot as a GM
March 8th, 2016 at 9:38 am
He’s exactly right. They should not outbid themselves. That said, I do want them to make good offer and keep Martin on a 4 yr deal. And even though what he says is exactly true, the Dominic haters are going to be out there just screaming about how they hate him. pathetic
March 8th, 2016 at 9:40 am
F*#k Mark Dominik!
March 8th, 2016 at 9:45 am
C’mon TT, that ship sailed years ago. No GM is perfect. I’m sure that in Licht’s autonomous GM position now he’ll miss on a few too. I think Dom has some perspective on dealings that many don’t know or understand. Which is why he’s often asked to opine.
Besides, what’s the value of a shutdown corner and future HOF’er?
March 8th, 2016 at 9:55 am
BFM- what’s the value when your the only team bidding? If the Bucs don’t re sign Martin that will mean only one of Doms first rounders got a second contract with the team!
Local media is so desperate for a source they are scared to bash this guy as a bad GM. I know NO GM is perfect but it would’ve been nice if he hit on a few of his premium picks.
March 8th, 2016 at 9:56 am
Whenever he speaks its in one ear and out the other. Saying he did a horrible job as GM is putting it mildly. The only reason he’s an “expert” now is because no one will hire him in the NFL. That’s how much his peers respect his expertise.
March 8th, 2016 at 9:56 am
I think it’s interesting that the Titans GM knows Doug Martin inside and out and he still chose to trade for Murray and his big contract, that tells me Jon Robinson knows something about Martin he don’t like.
March 8th, 2016 at 9:59 am
No, he escaped (some) blame because reasoned folks saw a truly horrible general manager precede him: Bruce Almighty.
It is stunning to Joe how people want to crucify Dominik but give Bruce Almighty a complete and total pass. Joe can only think of three decent players he drafted in, what, five years? Three players in five years! (Granted Chucky had a big say in who to draft.)
March 8th, 2016 at 10:00 am
Its sad to watch Mark “douchebag” Dominik hang on to his past in Tampa. He was so bad, he hasn’t even received a sniff from other NFL teams for a job
March 8th, 2016 at 10:06 am
oh wait, Dominik changed his opinion on Doug’s value?? that’s so unlike him to flip flop. “i’m hunting big backs”…..the following season, draft Doug, pick up Rainey. Dominik and Lovie are 2 opposite ends of the spectrum. one has no conviction and changes his mind like i change my underwear, and the other is stubborn beyond belief and refuses to change despite a mountain of evidence against him. let’s hope Licht and Koetter take the good elements of both of those styles….feeling stronlgy about something, but also being willing to admit when it doesn’t work and adapt on the fly. Licht already did that by $hitcanning Ghost Johnson, Collins, and Stewart McClown.
March 8th, 2016 at 10:07 am
Sadly, this is probably accurate.
The Bucs will most likely offer Martin a contract today, and a good one that will be their highest offer. If it is in the $7-$9 Million range and Martin doesn’t take it, that says a lot about his wanting to be here.
I don’t blame Martin for trying to squeeze the most out of this, as RB’s are looked down on today in terms of value and seem to last only a few years nowadays.
But I also won’t blame the Bucs for holding their ground after today. I just hope a deal gets done. Martin produced and deserves a payday. And Jameis and Koetter deserve to have a top RB in the I backfield next season. It would be foolish to bank on Charles Sims or a diamond in the rough FA when you have a young QB and offense, when you already have the real deal and could’ve kept him around if you didn’t pinch pennies.
So far, Licht does not have a good track record with FA’s. A lot of influence could have been from Lovie, but with him gone this is Licht’s chance to prove himself.
Letting go a top 3 rusher in his first year without Lovie would not look good, especially if Martin is successful with his other team and wins a SB.
March 8th, 2016 at 10:14 am
Didn’t the Bucs outbid themselves on Michael Johnson, Anthony Collins, Verner was a pro bowler, but they won’t outbid themselves for one of their own. If DM doesn’t sign, we will be forced to draft because other RB’s and their agent will know Bucs need a running game to go with Jameis, not sure how they cannot se this. They will have to overpay someone, not depending any rookie not named Ezekiel Elliot
March 8th, 2016 at 10:21 am
Joe wants to prop up Dom compared to Allen? Allen may not have been the best GM but at least he constructed playoff rosters, something the “rockstar” failed to do.
Comparing Dom to a equally bad GM doesn’t make him look good it just continued a depressing era of Bucs drafting.
I guess the reasoned folks forget all the bad picks and bad free agents Dom brought in. Those same reasoned folks forget how poor his drafts were prior to Schiano as well
March 8th, 2016 at 10:36 am
I love the Muscle Hamster, but with Derrick Henry sitting in a position to be drafted at pick #39, I can sleep at night. We could add Alex Mack at center ( + $9 mil), jettison EDS (- $3 mil) and add Doug’s money (- $7 mil). With Henry’s rookie contract (+ $1 mil) we have a much improved line and a younger, more physical feature back for the same cost!!! Don’t forget, we still have Chris Simms for 3rd downs and Mike James and Bobby Rainey, who aren’t super stars but are most certainly serviceable!
March 8th, 2016 at 10:54 am
Dom was our gm for five years. He worked for the Bucs for 20 years. We got some professional insight, and all some fans can say is “he sucks” “he never drafted anyone”. Okay, no he wasnt the best gm ever. Not even close. But when you got a guy who was with an NFL team for 20+ years, cant you just be friggin happy for the content? Is it so hard to sit back and enjoy the pov from a proffessional with more insight than everyone on this board combined? It comes off as ungrateful and entitled, hmmm no wonder kids today are so fking spoiled.
March 8th, 2016 at 11:23 am
Bruce Allen was worse. Not as bad as Licht when it comes to free agency but overall the worst because Allen’s wasted drafts were indefensible. So far Dominik is the best of the bunch sadly.
Licht can drastically improve his record by securing Doug Martin long term. No free passes to lapdog Licht for 2014/2015 free agency.
March 8th, 2016 at 12:56 pm
I’ll always remember the worst move by Dom ever IMO, that CB Wright…..good gosh what a stinker that was.
….and he’s offering advice?
5 or 6 or 7….money we have, we can spare to keep someone we drafted (moved back into the 1st in order to do so). What if last year wasnt a fluke and he stays healthy this year and runs just the same or better? If that occurs, and he’s doing it with another team, we’ll be kicking ourselves AGAIN!@!@! UHG!!!!!!!
March 8th, 2016 at 12:59 pm
Jason Licht may have an ace in the hole by the name of Mike James. Although James didn’t do much in 2015, if memory serves he notched a couple of century mark games a few years back in relief for Martin. He suffers very few negative plays because he’s a downhill runner like Martin and he’s three years younger, so he’s low mileage. While I’m sure Licht and Co. want to resign Martin, keep in mind Jason is Bill Belichick trained so it would be just like a Belichick disciple to have one up his sleeve. Otherwise, why would James have spent all of 2015 languishing on the practice squad?
March 8th, 2016 at 12:59 pm
If Mr. Martin wants to be a buccanner he will be, remember it takes two parties to come to an agreement on a contract, not just one. I do hope Mr. Martin resigns with us, but if not then good luck to him. The past several big $ RB that changed teams only inccreased their $ not their skill sets. The ca$h is always greener across the fence. If Mr Martin leaves I hope like I do every year we go the the Super Bowl and we win.
March 8th, 2016 at 2:00 pm
Don’t over pay! The Bucs are about to become a passing team under Koetter.
March 8th, 2016 at 2:11 pm
HAH! Really? And the threat of a run game doesnt affect the pass game? Really?!?!?!?
March 8th, 2016 at 5:12 pm
Don’ Overpay? What is..Overpay when you have won a total of 8 games the last 2 seasons? You gotta let loose with some of the cap money somewhere. So what we waiting for. mankins cleared enough space to compensate martin. Why are We..so cheap? Why is it DE’s like Mario Williams bybass our Bucs and go straight to a Fl team with no cap space willing to make cap space for him.?
I’ll tell you why. Because our Bucs have a rep. A history of not paying when they need to. Go ahead. Lose martin. And you same ..Overpay voices will be screaming bloody murder come midseason when we are..winless.
March 8th, 2016 at 8:51 pm
upon further review, I can see the reason Licht is toeing the line on Martin. Eventhough he had 1400 yards rushing.he had only 4 100 yard games.One
was 235 against Philadelphia.He also had 5 games under 52 yards,icluding a 31 yard stinker against Houston. Have to give him a pass on that one Seemed like
JJ Watt was playing to shut Doug down instead of rushing the passer.
For every good game doug had a bad game to cancel out the good game to
show somewhat of an inconsistent pattern.
So I would be surprised if the bucs pay him 8 mil a year.
March 9th, 2016 at 6:36 am
Maybe Jon Robinson knew Doug would stay a Buc,…that’s why he didn’t go after him.