Lockout Would Be Detrimental to Benn

Pat Yasinkas of ESPN.com makes a great point about the potential effects a lock-out would have on Bucs receiver Arrelious Benn. Benn, the talented second round pick out of Illinois last season was lost in the second-to-last game to a blown out knee and his been rehabbing the knee all off-season. In the event of a lock-out though, Benn and the rest of his Bucs teammates would be literally locked out of the Bucs facilities and forbidden to have contact with any of the team personnel. So essentially, Benn would be on his own with regard to rehabbing the injury.

"There is uncertainty, but Benn said he remains focused on being healthy for a productive second season. He might have to handle the rehab part of that on his own and, in some ways, the on-field work might have to be handled in a similar manner. Freeman has said several times he plans to lead regular workouts with his receivers if there is a lockout. Benn plans to take part in those workouts."

I doubt much that Benn will really be “on his own.” I’m sure the Bucs will give him a pretty extensive plan at some point before the lock-out (meaning today, if not already). And he will have specialists around him and helping him at all times. But it would be nice if the Bucs training staff could be the ones monitoring the knee and keeping familiar with his recovery. As I’m sure Dr. McKenna can attest to, there’s a big difference between just seeing someone’s chart after six months and being the one whose there with the patient filling it out over the course of that period.

Yasinkas continues on to say that the entire Bucs team stands to lose a lot in the event of a lock-out.

"The Bucs could have more to lose in a lockout than a lot of teams, and that’s not just because of Benn’s situation. After going 3-13 in 2009, Tampa Bay went 10-6 last season and had the league’s youngest roster. The arrow seemed to be pointing up for this franchise. But a lockout and the possible loss of offseason workouts with the coaching staff could be a blow to this team’s progress."

We’ve covered this, and while that’s true I hope the Bucs can at least somewhat compensate with informal practices and unofficial team activities during the break. That all remains to be seen, and who knows maybe by some stroke of luck we’ll hear an announcement today that labor peace has been struck. I doubt it, but its possible.

And for what it’s worth Benn told Pewter Report recently that he was optimistic he’d be back by the start of training camp. He’s already walking without a brace.