Sep 22, 2013; Foxborough, MA, USA; Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Williams (19) drops a pass against the New England Patriots during the first half at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark L. Baer-USA TODAY Sports
Earlier today, the Pewter Plank brought you an opinion article on news reported by Pewter Report, which claims that wide receiver Mike Williams was fined for missing rehab and meetings while on injured reserve and looked down upon by the team because of his personal life.
Now, it appears, there may be factual errors in the initial report.
Pewter Report’s initial article stated the following:
- But the team grew so concerned with Williams’ behavior over the last two months of the season that it was deemed immature and unprofessional as he accumulated several fines totaling more than $200,000 for either being late to mandatory team meetings or missing those meetings and scheduled rehab days for his torn hamstring during the 2013 season.
Not long after that report circled the Buccaneer community, Roy Cummings of the Tampa Tribune received comments from Williams’ agent refuting the claims.
The agent for Bucs WR Mike Williams tells TBO he is not aware of Williams being fined for missing team meetings or rehab appointments.
— Roy Cummings (@RCummingsFHCN) January 30, 2014
Williams agent says Williams surgery did not require immediate rehab. Says only fines he knows of were for uniform violations
— Roy Cummings (@RCummingsFHCN) January 30, 2014
And then Cummings provided more information which further invalidates these initial reports.
NFL does no require players on IR to attend team meetings so any meetings missed by Williams following his placement on IR are not fineable
— Roy Cummings (@RCummingsFHCN) January 30, 2014
For further evidence of this league policy, there are two recent examples from other NFL teams making these rules known to the public.
One example was in Dallas, when Jason Garrett told the media that injured wide receiver Dez Bryant was not allowed to attend team meetings, which was his misinterpretation of the rules which state that a player is not required to attend team meetings.
The author in the article above referenced the Vince Young/Jeff Fisher drama from a few years ago with the Tennessee Titans, which led to the team placing Young on IR and releasing a statement with the following:
- Players that are on injured reserve are not required to attend team meetings.
So if the Buccaneers fined Williams for anything, it could not have been for missing team meetings while on injured reserve, which the initial report seemed to indicate.
This whole situation is further proof as to why it was time for the Greg Schiano/Mark Dominik regime to come to an end, because the franchise had become the laughingstock of the NFL that Greg Schiano proudly proclaimed he had arrived to prevent.
And now that both men have moved on to other jobs, there are still lingering stories and rumors about just how poorly they ran their franchise and managed the public relations aspect of leading an NFL team.