Austin Seferian-Jenkins Needs To Grow Up

After being kicked out of practice by head coach Dirk Koetter,

needs to wake up, grow up, and man up.

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Okay…this has gone on long enough. We gave him a pass when he did the Captain Morgan pose after a touchdown, costing the Bucs a 15-yard penalty and subsequently losing a game to the Atlanta Falcons. We gave him a pass when he high-stepped into the end zone in the fourth quarter against the Tennessee Titans, despite the Bucs having their heads bashed in at the time. He keeps getting these passes with excuses like “potential” or “playmaking ability”.

It ends now.

Austin Seferian-Jenkins has proved himself nothing more than a petulant child. He’s a show off, he’s lazy, and worst of all, he’s a consistently injured “legend in his own mind.” Today was the straw that broke the camel’s back on that one.

I’ve come to ASJ’s defense on numerous occasions, using those same excuses I just mentioned. Throw in “if he can just stay healthy…”, and I’m as guilty as anyone. Seeing him get his rear-end tossed from practice then go on a twitter tirade, though? I’m done. At this point, I think most Buccaneers’ fans are, too. For those that haven’t seen it, here’s the clip of Koetter tossing ASJ from the field;

Then, to make matters worse, instead of focusing on making himself better and fixing whatever mistakes he made to get him booted, he takes to twitter. Always a smart decision. A tweet, that has since been deleted, Seferian-Jenkins tweeted out “MOVING ON!!!”, which immediately caused speculation that he was traded or cut. That’s not the case and Koetter said ASJ “didn’t know what he was doing” and that was cause for the dismissal.

Koetter then told media he didn’t know why Seferian-Jenkins left;

ASJ had plenty of tweets he’s since deleted. I took screen shots of them, but they aren’t exactly appropriate for this medium. There are still quite a few on his timeline that show exactly how maturely he’s taking this entire situation.

Look, Austin, if you’re reading this (and I hope you are), this is the point most Bucs fans, myself included, have gotten to with you; you are a bust. Yes, as of right now, this moment, you are a bust. You’ve been in the league two seasons and have played in the equivalent of one. Now, not saying injuries are your fault. It happens. I get that. We saw the same with Gerald McCoy in his first two seasons. You can bounce back from that and quiet critics. But you won’t.

Why?

You don’t want to put in the work to get the accolades. If you did, your coach wouldn’t have thrown your butt out of practice for not knowing what you’re doing. This is the second year in this offense and God knows you’ve had the time to study the playbook, yet you can’t do what you’re supposed to? And I sincerely doubt this was an isolated incident. There’s no way a coach throws a guy out for doing something wrong, or not knowing what to do, one time. We had Jon Gruden here for Pete’s sake and he wouldn’t have done that. I can guarantee he has a hotter, shorter temper than Koetter.

So here’s the thing, Austin. You want to get the praise? You want to get the accolades? The recognition? The love? Earn it. You have a golden opportunity to live up to that “potential” and flash that “playmaking ability” if you want it bad enough. Is it going to get much better than growing with your draft classmate Mike Evans? Having Jameis sling it to you? Doubtful. Not saying that’s the best quarterback or wide receiver in the league, but you know what? They’re pretty freaking good and have nowhere to go but up. You on the other hand? Not even Bill Belichick would take a flier on you right now. He may take chances on guys with character concerns, but the ones he brings in go to work. You? You obviously don’t.

Check your ego at the door, young man. You haven’t proven or earned one thing in this league yet. You’ve been on the sidelines and cost your team penalty yards from your childish “look at me! look at me!” celebrations that were in no way warranted. Stop running your mouth on twitter because you don’t like something and go out and bust your butt to change it. Cameron Brate is going to take your job. Why? Because he earned it. He didn’t think it should just be given to him.

I sincerely hope this was a wake up call for you. I sincerely hope we get to week five or six and you tweet me and make me eat my words. Nothing would make me happier. That would mean that you woke up, went to work, and lived up to that “potential” we keep talking about. That would mean you decided to man up and take what you thought was yours. That you earned it.

Next: Bucs' Defensive Line: Strength or Weakness?

Otherwise, what’s the point? Get out of the way so that someone else who actually wants to put in the time and effort gets a chance they’ve earned. The choice is yours. Prove guys like me wrong or be yet another Buccaneers’ bust that gets mercilessly ridiculed until you’re simply forgotten.