Green Bay Packers Cut Martellus Bennett: This Blogger Is Not Surprised
ESPN: GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Mike McCarthy would not directly connect the dots between tight end Martellus Bennett's retirement talk and what led to his unexpected release Wednesday. Instead, the Green Bay Packers coach called it "an injury situation."
The Packers waived the veteran tight end with the designation that he failed to disclose a physical condition.
The move capped a rocky stretch for Bennett, who made a surprising bye-week announcement on social media that he was "pretty sure" he would retire after this season. He then was sidelined with an unexplained shoulder injury that popped up following the first practice after the bye. He hasn't played in a game since Oct. 22.
It’s already been a crazy year in the NFL. We’ve got disarray on every level, from rifts forming between ownership and players, to a myriad of injuries to some of the league’s best. Today, on top of all of that- the Packers cut Martellus Bennett.
Bennett is a Pro-Bowl tight end who won a Super Bowl last year with the Patriots. Obviously, with Aaron Rodgers, Bennett’s arrival to the Green Bay Packers seemed like it could be a match made in heaven. Pairing a quarterback who possessed a seemingly unfair combination of mobility and accuracy, with a tight end who possessed an equally unfair combination of size and speed looked like it would spell disaster for the NFC. But a broken collarbone to Rodgers, in addition to an already devastated receiving corps, meant that the Packers’ hopes of NFC domination were quickly fading. After a Packers bye week, Bennett sat out with an apparent shoulder injury and started talking about possible retirement after this season. Bennett’s always been an outspoken player, and has never been afraid to voice his opinion of any matter or in any context, and that’s always been something I’ve respected about him. He’s always been very open about the fact that football isn’t his life, and that he’s much more interested in creative pursuits than playing in league for fifteen years; that’s also something I really respect about him. That being said, I do think his attitude holds him back and makes teams nervous.
Take Bennett’s stint with the Bears for instance. Bennett came in and immediately made an impact in 2013, setting career highs in yards and receptions. The Bears were absolutely clicking that year, and Bennett excelled in his role. Now every miserable Bears fan remembers 2014 as the year it all fell apart. It’s hard to separate Bennett from that trouble, since idiot head coach Marc Trestman’s inability to discipline Bennett consistently after a training camp fight cost him a huge amount of respect in the Bears’ locker room. The rift continued on from there. Even after Trestman’s firing, Bennett held out of the next year’s training camp because of a contract dispute, even though he wasn’t entering the final year of his agreement. Additionally, Bennett sat out for much of the second half of the season with a rib injury, and then aired out his problems with his teammates in the media. Needless to say, he did not leave Chicago on good terms.
This is all a roundabout way of saying: Martellus Bennett is a great guy to have on your team when it’s doing well, and a difficult guy to have on your team when it’s doing poorly. I’m not saying he’s incapable of change, or of acting differently, only that the evidence up to this point shows that that’s how he acts, and that he isn’t that interested in changing. I’m not sure whether the Packers cut him because they got an inkling that this was coming, or that based off of his prior experience they decided having a divisive player in the locker room wasn’t worth the risk, but I wouldn’t be surprised. He’s not been a guy to ever stick it out when a team’s in the gutter, or a quarterback goes down, and while I’m not necessarily insinuating that it’s a ploy on Martellus’ part, the circumstances of this latest release do seem a bit damning.
Regardless, Bennett’s been reclaimed by the Patriots, and I’m sure he’ll be a force to be reckoned with for the rest of the season. While I hold a slight grudge for his actions while he was on the Bears, I can't deny that he’s a beast on the field and a joy to watch. If anything I’m happy to see him land with a good team, albeit breathing a sigh of relief that he’s no longer in the NFC North.
