The Dolphins Make Me Cry.com - Forums

Rookie Mike Glennon will start Sunday

Edited to add: Freeman was released today after the team could find no takers for a trade.

The Bucs have given up on Freeman and are willing to trade him.

I read this this morning "This league is about finding a franchise quarterback, and with Josh's roller-coaster career, we don't feel he's that guy," a team source said.

Personally I think Freeman is one of those guys who could destroy a lot of careers because he "almost" gets it over and over.

I don't know much about Glennon other than he is very tall and skinny.

This is a case of a QB and a coach just not clicking and the coach not wanting to go down with the ship before his own guy has a shot.  I agree about Freeman.  I'm not sure why anyone would give any real trade value for Freeman.  Does anyone see real potential in this guy?

A friend of mine was very vocal this offseason about how much better Freeman was than Tannehill. Looking at this season so far, it is humorous how off his statements were.

It has more to do than with the relationship of coach and QB.  I'd think even a pissed of QB could do better than this ... especially in a contract year. Freeman has imploded and has made himself pretty useless as far as this team. The Bucs can't really get any worse by changing QBs right now.

The winless Bucs have lost their first three games, two on field goals in the closing seconds. Freeman has completed just 45.7 percent of his passes for 571 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions.

Freeman's completion percentage and quarterback rating (59.3) are last in the league, and Tampa Bay has lost eight of its past nine games dating to last season.

The fifth-year pro, once touted by general manager Mark Dominik as a franchise quarterback, has thrown for four TDs vs. 12 interceptions in the last six games.

I have never been impressed by Freeman so I am not surprised but this and I think he has very little value other than a backup going forward!!!!!

BUMP

Freeman was released today. 

It was just a matter of time before this happened. They had no chance of trading him away.

It took them long enough.  This has been a bad week for both he and the Bucs franchise. Hopefully they both can move on to something more positive. Well ... except against the Dolphins!!

I've rarely seen something like this get so ugly, so quickly.  I am not on the pulse of the Bucs, but was this a long time coming?  It seems that he was kinda up-and-coming just a year or two ago.

My understanding is it just became public. I mean I hear he has had an attitude for a while. Apparently he is late ... a lot. He even missed the team picture and wasn't voted captain. He says the vote was rigged but who knows. I can't imagine not answering calls and completely missing the team photo.

Like all stories it depends on who you want to believe but it seems to me it really started to get bad when the Bucs drafted a QB and wouldn't renew his contract. I think he started mentally checking out and becoming a pain in the arse to them rather than straighten up and lead by example.

^^ This is what happens when you get a new coach and he wants his own players.  Things like this.  This is why I'm more cautious about "Fire everyone" than a lot of knee-jerk people.

^ Something is fishy about him not being voted as a captain.  I'd be hard pressed to think that the coaches set that up.  It's just odd and he may have lost the locker room.

that wasn't set up, the guy just isn't a leader.  And the teammates knew it.  If he can't be bothered to show up for the team photo, what does that tell you about your starting QB?

While I agree Freeman was culpable in his own demise, the way the team is being run is a mess. The Bucs apparently through him under the bus badly with the whole drug testing thing, despite the fact that he reportedly passed 46 drug tests after he failed one for taking Ritalin instead of Adderall. Trading Aqib Talib and LeGarrette Blount to the Pats seems odd as well. I can't put my finger on what exactly bothers me about the way they seemed to discard them (Talib especially, as he's quite good), but something's fishy. -EK

That organization has been run haphazardly ever since they won that Super Bowl back in 2002. 

Apparently. If someone told you that a 2012 team had a 4000 yard passer, a nearly 1500 yard rusher, and basically 2 1000 yard receivers (one was at 1384, the other at 996), how many guesses would it take you to come up with last year's Bucs? They had talent, but are horribly mismanaged. -EK

Freeman's time on the soup line lasted all of four days, as he has reportedly just signed with the Vikings. Not sure if this means that they don't trust Ponder or Cassel (who just led them to a win over Pittsburgh in London last week), or if it means that Ponder's rib injury is going to take longer than expected to heal, or if it means that someone slipped a dozen hits of good acid into the Vikings' front office water cooler.

Unless it is the acid hits one, I think it means they are worried about Ponder's injury and don't trust Bethel-Thompson to back up Cassel.  Either Ponder or Cassel is a better option at QB than Freeman. 

I heard today on SIRIUS NFL RADIO that Ponder's broken rib broke in a way that there something near his heart and its dangerous and bad (I'm not a doctor just what a reporter was saying) and a very bad injury. Thought is he is done for the year. This wasn't your typical broken rib injury that you can heal quickly. It was a very bad break

Update.  Freeman will be starting this week

I'll bet he ends up being far better than anyone thinks- good enough that people will think TB cutting him was a mistake. -EK

Sometimes a change of scenery can revive a stalled career

I think Mike Glennon's performance will need to be taken into consideration as well. Looking at his stats though, Freeman has been on a continual decline.

Which stats are you looking at? He had career highs in TDs and yards last year and his QBR was up from the previous year. I'm not implying he's a Pro Bowl QB, but Tampa just seemed to have an agenda and I'm not sure that 3 games this year after the solid season he had last year is justification for cutting the guy. -EK

Other than being last in everything he became a cancer to the team. They were forced to cut him and in fact, were made fun of for not doing it sooner. Regardless of whatever happens anywhere else he was done in Tampa before they benched him.

Last in everything? Are you talking about this season? The whole team is having that kind of year.  Insofar as the "cancer" thing, I haven't read anything other than him missing the team photo that wasn't filtered through the organization- the same organization that tried to throw him under the bus by implying he had a drug problem- which was a complete fabrication.

And let's be honest- TB has quite the history of quitting on QBs who promptly become winners and leaders, at a disproportionate rate to any other team I can think of. -EK

IF the rumors about Freeman are true (and the way TB handled this situation you must think they are or else why would they have just let him go) TB had to get rid of him ASAP. Goes beyond on the field stats. He has serious issues he needs to deal with and his off the field behavior was not that of a professional. Stage 1 of the Substance Abuse program among other issues TB has said he has is no small matter. His own teammates didn't even vote him captain because they know his issues off the field and such.

I don't blame Minny for taking a shot on him, each team has their own set of values and for them its little risk. But I don't blame TB for kicking this druggie to the curb.

This story is similar to when Buddy Ryan and the Eagles CUT Cris Carter years ago. It was for Carter's own good and helped him turn his life around and get help to live a clean lifestyle. Hopefully Freeman can get off the drugs and can likewise turn his life around.

The same reason they let Blount and Talib go. They weren't part of the new management's plan going forward.


Intersting, insofar as he was part of the program due to taking Ritalin. He voluntarily went into the stage 1 program, passed 46 drug tests, and is not subject to the suspension rules as they would play out for other players. Gee, I sure hope he can get off his ADHD drugs in time to not ruin his life. 46 clean tests and one failed one for Ritalin and you're comparing this to the CC situation? Really?
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/9750827/josh-freeman-tampa-bay-buccaneers-nfl-drug-program


Odd, since there were several reports that they actually DID vote him captain and Schiano altered the vote.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/09/11/its-players-only-meeting-time-in-tampa/

Edit to add: I'm not a big Bucs, Vikings, or Freeman fan one way or the other. I just think it's cowardly to use a player as a scapegoat for your team's own poor play and your management's inability to run said team, then when you can't find a trade partner for the player, begin smearing him in the media. Have some class. You'd think after the way the careers of Doug Williams, Steve Young, Vinnie T, and even Trent Dilfer (he DID finish 2nd in MVP voting the year Baltimore won their first SB) panned out, that Tampa would learn something about giving up on a QB so soon. -EK

"altered the vote" seems like something Freeman and his agents would "spin" to put him in a better light

Blount and Talib are different circumstances. Players come and go on NFL teams every year, Freeman's situation is totally different and involved substance abuse among other issues.

Freeman has issues and it wasn't like teams were beating down his door when he was cut. Word spreads. I'm glad he has passed 46 tests since the one failed. Hope it continues but he has issues not just drugs but with alcohol as well. Caused him to miss meetings and team photos among other things. Constantly showing up late and not in a "clean state of mind". The TB players, coaches, and management know this, lived this, and saw it first hand. They saw it first hand...he has a substance abuse problem. Period! Hope Josh cleans up his life.

The team called a players only meeting to address the matter. Had nothing to do with Freeman's agent or Freeman.

If he has a substance abuse issue, surely he would have had a DUI, a failed drug test for some sort of recreational drug, an arrest for public intoxication... some sort of documentation of SOMETHING. I'll await the links to those. Something concrete- not rumors or innuendos put forth by the team that screwed released him. -EK

Not all drunks or people with alcohol issues get a DUI or arrested for public intoxication.  ::)

You can believe what you want, not trying to change your mind you are entitled to be wrong. But he was cut for reasons other than his play and it wasn't like teams were fighting to sign him when he was a FA. He has issues.  Hope for his sake he can turn his life around.

Do you have any sort of source for these "alcohol problem" claims?

Seems to me that Schiano wanted to get rid of him for no good reason (which he has a history of; see Talib and Blount) and they intentionally leaked his drug test failure to try to provide cover, which is super sleazy.  Freeman failed one test for a drug that has very similar effects to the one he is allowed to take, and he has been completely clean since then.

If someone is going to accuse him of alcohol problems, they'd better provide some evidence.

It was leaked from the Bucs camp that Freeman had alcohol problems and he did call into a local radio interview one day and was slurring his speech. He also no-showed his own "youth camp" that he put on and called into another local radio show apologizing....he was slurring his speech then too on that radio show and rambling about stuff nobody could understand what he was talking about. Do we know for 100%, no. But there is enough evidence to suggest that something is going on. Everyone from Warren Moon to Boomer Esiason all but said it on telecasts as well that Freeman liked to "party hard". I mean they gotta be careful what they say so they aren't sued but everyone knew what they meant reading between the lines. There are enough stories out there from various sources (Not just the Bucs) that points to Freeman having issues with alcohol/drugs.

This notion that TB wanted him gone so bad they leaked a bunch of lies. Usually when a coach or team wants someone gone they "talk him up" and heap praise on him and trade him for anything they can gete. You don't run his name through the mud and badmouth him and cut him. Makes no sense!!! That logic doesn't fly!

Freeman did have alcohol problems.  First off, I live in Tampa.  I've seen regular pics of him drunk passed out in a closet.  My fiancé's friend was banging him and there would be pics put up in Facebook that would quickly be taken down. I have no proof of this, so take it for what it's worth, but I have no reason to lie.

Like I said, I live in Tampa and have a lot of Bucs friends. Here is what they say about Freeman:

He chokes.
He throws boneheaded INTs.
He's a coke head (rumor)
He does molly (rumor)
He never learned not to throw off his back foot.
He's inaccurate.
He's not a leader.

Personally, I don't see how he can have a top tier WR and one of the best RBs in the league, and be as bad as he is. Even his 2nd WR in Mike Williams could be a number 1 on some teams.

That being said, Bucs fans hate Schiano just as much.  They want him gone now. 

It's pretty cool that the Patriots could use them.  If they could only do that with other cast-offs then they might have a pretty successful organization. Talib was suspended by the league for drugs and then traded. Blount had already failed in Tennesee.  Hardly no good reason.


Not sure what the love affair Freeman is other than something to argue about. He has/had issues and burned some bridges in Tampa. If he does well somewhere else then so be it. He wasn't the first and won't be the last.

So where'd the leaks come from?

Sure it does:

- you decide that you want him gone, whether you can get something for him or not
- you try to trade him but get no bites
- you leak a bad story to sour public opinion on him
- a few days later, you cut him (with the appearance that "drug issues" were a factor)

The only problem with this logic is that it assumes it would be a public relations nightmare if you just cut the guy. From the sound of it, that doesn't seem to have been the case here. Why leak a story to sour public opinion on a guy that have already soured on him? Seems like those in Tampa weren't that enamored with Freeman in the first place.

I don't care enough about Josh Freeman or TB to debate this topic forever. I have said my piece.  But to me TB had a player on its hands that was in Stage 1 of the Substance Abuse policy (for whatever reason, he's in it) and has a alcohol problem. Who was missing team photos and meetings, calling into radio shows drunk, and on top of all of those headaches was playing poorly on the field. They were dealt a crappy hand with having to put up with all of this and cutting him was their only option. And when you just cut your starting QB who you used a 1st round draft pick on not that long ago..that isn't all on the coach. That decision is agreed upon by the owner, GM, and coach. No coach or GM is able to make that roster move without approval, it's not like they cut the 3rd string TE. From top to bottom in that organization they all saw the same thing and it wasn't a pretty picture with Josh.

For Freeman's sake I hope he turns his life around off the field, gets clean and has a Cris Carter like turnaround in life.