We have surely not heard the last of Martellus Bennett. The Green Bay Packers released the veteran tight end on Wednesday, a surprise move that brought an end to one of the more disastrous free agent signings in the Ted Thompson era.
Actually, the Bennett signing will likely go down as the worst free agent signing in the Thompson era. Not that there’s many more to choose from…
NFL wire confirms that Bennett has been cut with failure to disclose injury designation. Bennett is a vested veteran so his 2017 salary is guaranteed, but #Packers undoubtedly will file to get
back remaining portion and remaining pro-rated signing bonus ($4.2 million) from him.— Tom Silverstein (@TomSilverstein) November 8, 2017
Bennett had a shoulder injury that we learned of last week. The failure to disclose injury designation suggests Bennett knew of the injury some time ago, kept playing and kept collecting checks anyway.
Perhaps this is why he was talking retirement during the bye week. Perhaps this was why he was dropping so many balls.
Perhaps this was why he wouldn’t discuss said retirement with anyone.
Perhaps, who cares?
This was a disaster. The Packers — Ted Thompson and Russ Ball — let Jared Cook walk and decided to sign Bennett instead. Cook has caught 39 balls for 499 yards and a touchdown for the Oakland Raiders.
Bennett had 23 for 244 and no touchdowns for the Packers before being released.
The Packers’ top tight end is now Lance Kendricks, which is perfectly fine.
However, as Silverstein suggests, we haven’t heard the last about Bennett. The Packers are going to go after some of the money they paid him. And it appears they should.
Too bad this went down the drain so quickly. Big Ted will probably never sign another free agent again.
.@jasonjwilde to anonymous #Packers player: Do you feel @MartysaurusRex quit on you guys?
Player: It’s hard not to feel anything other than that.
— Wilde & Tausch (@WildeAndTausch) November 9, 2017