Earlier this month, Buccaneers G.M. Mark Dominik said that left tackle Donald Penn could be fined if he failed to report for the team’s currently-ongoing mandatory minicamp. The team later acknowledged that Dominik’s characterization of the situation wasn’t accurate -- and that he merely was hoping to persuade Penn, an unsigned restricted free agent, to sign his tender offer.
One league source has offered up a different theory. The source believes that Dominik wasn’t hoping that Penn or his agent wouldn’t know that Penn couldn’t be fined, but that Dominik himself didn’t know that only players under contract who miss a mandatory minicamp can be fined.
“It’s the lesser of two evils to try and spin it that your G.M. tried to outsmart a player than admit that he’s just a moron who doesn’t know the basic rules,” the source opined.
It makes sense. Still, the lesser of two evils in our view wouldn’t be to concede that the misstatement was part of a plan to trick players, but to concede that the G.M. misspoke. Indeed, we think that would have been the better way to handle the situation even if the explanation offered by the team reflects the truth.
In the end, the Bucs possibly opted for conniving over incompetence. Either way, it was a major blow to the credibility of Dominik and, in turn, the credibility of the organization. And it fairly should move Dominik squarely onto the hot seat for 2010.