There were two different reports yesterday as to why Simeon Rice was dumped by the Bucs. The first one, from Jay Glazer of FoxSports.com, said Rice was given the option of taking a pay-cut, refused and was released. The second, from Chris Mortensen of ESPN, said Rice was dropped because he failed a physical. But which version of events is true? ProFootballTalk (Mutiny Coming in Tampa) has a posting in which a Tampa radio host, Steve Duemig, upholds Jay Glazer’s version of events – that Rice did not fail a physical, but was in fact dumped because he would not take a cut in salary. PFT alleges that Jon Gruden has used the tactic before of saying a player was hurt when he really wasn’t, as a means of smoothing over that player’s abrupt exit. Unfortunately for Gruden, his other players are apparently on to him – partly because he made a media statement before a team dinner saying everyone in camp was healthy. The Tampa players are particularly bent out-of-shape because Rice was apparently pulled away from the dinner and told he had five minutes to accept a pay-cut or be waived – a rather b.s. way to go about things by any standard. PFT also speculates that Derrick Brooks could soon be shuffled out the door in the same manner, now that the Bucs have Cato June on the roster.
Obviously, Jon Gruden is a jerk-off – but that’s not the issue that concerns us here at The Viking Age. What we want to know is: How hurt is Simeon Rice really? Did he fail a physical or what? And if not, why would the Vikings not already be on the phone trying to get him in for a work-out or evaluation or whatever they need to do? A healthy Simeon Rice would be an immense boon to this team, especially if he was playing with a chip on his shoulder. Unfortunately, according to PFT, it looks like Tennessee has decided to jump on the Rice thing early and have him in to kick the tires on him. Of course they have – because they’re a top-notch organization that knows what it’s doing. Then again, given the Vikings’ almost certain non-contender status, it’s unlikely that Simeon would choose them over a team like the Titans, or perhaps the Bears or Steelers, who are much more viable playoff teams, even if the Purple did somehow get the jump on them. Of course, the Vikings do have a lot of cap-space – and who knows what might happen if you threw a ton of money at the guy? Winning now might become not so important to him. All we can hope is that Chilly and Rick Spielman and the rest of the brain-trust are on top of this. Cause if I find out later that Rice was perfectly okay and they didn’t even at least inquire about him – well, then I might have to say something mean about someone, and you know I hate doing that.