Mark Dominik: "You're hoping Mike Glennon is Brad Johnson"

Mark Dominik went from general manager of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to media personality. Whereas Greg Schiano seems to be roaming the halls at the NFL Network studios, Dominik is now an "NFL Insider" with ESPN. But when he appeared on the Booger and Rich show yesterday on 98.7 The Fan, he provided some local insight as well -- and most of the interview focused on Mike Glennon's past and future. 

"I think what's lost is that Mike Glennon put together a very nice season," Dominik said. "The win-loss record is not what anybody wanted, but what he did do is he did it without Mike Williams, he did it without Doug Martin, he did it without Mike James and he did it without an offensive line that really came together, losing Carl Nicks. So you look at Mike Glennon in a whole, sure he did have 19 touchdowns and 9 interceptions, but you gotta remember he didn't have a consistent run game, he didn't have all the weapons you liked to have on offense and I think that's why they focused their picks on offense in the draft."

Mike Glennon was a game manager last season, but Dominik thinks he can be a little bit more than that in the NFL. Not too much more, though. Just a Brad Johnson, say. 

"I think he's gonna be a little bit better than a game manager," Mark Dominik said. "You're hoping he's a Brad Johnson, you know that kind of guy, a Joe Flacco. A guy that everyone believes in him, everyone knows that he's doing everything the right way and he doesn't turn the ball over. That's what really made Brad Johnson such a great quarterback in this league."

I find it curious that he mentions Brad Johnson and Joe Flacco in the same breath, when the two are fairly dissimilar -- mostly due to Flacco's ridiculous arm strength. But I watched a few 2001 Buccaneers games this week (I do silly stuff like that sometimes), and Johnson's overall playing style did really remind me of Mike Glennon -- from the dropback to the way the ball came out. That's certainly not a bad thing: Johnson may not have been perennial Pro Bowler, but he was a productive quarterback. 

"So you're hoping he's that type of quarterback where you trust him with the football," Dominik said. "He's not reckless with the football or careless, and he makes good decisions. The one thing about Mike Glennon is he has a little bit more athleticism than you want to believe, and he's got a really nice arm and he's super well-respected in the locker room, and he's very very smart."

The focus on not turning over the football always weirds me out a bit. Every defensive coach focuses on that factor, but it's not that hard to not turn the ball over. The key is to not turn it over and still be a productive quarterback overall, and that's where Glennon faltered last year. He passed up a few too many open throws to throw to the checkdown, or take sacks. That leads to few interceptions and a relatively high completion percentage, but consistently leaving plays on the field leads to a stagnant offense. It's important to avoid turnovers, but it needs to paired with productivity. 

As noted before, though, that doesn't mean Glennon can't improve in that area. That's what the Buccaneers are hoping for by bringing in a veteran he can sit behind and (hopefully) learn from. But that move was about finding security at the quarterback position, too. 

"It makes a lot of sense what Lovie did to go get a guy that he's very comfortable with," said Dominik."That's the hard part of the CBA. The new coaches can't work with the players that are on the roster until the offseason program begins, and even then you're very limited in what you can even do. You can just really learn from how they are mentally without seeing them throw. So I think Lovie Smith and Jason Licht weren't very sure what Mike Glennon was, and so I think they stepped back and made sure they were protected with a veteran that they felt like they could turn to from day one."

There's a lot more in that interview, from noting that he thought Brian Price was his worst decision (in hindsight), to praising Gerald McCoy and Lavonte David, so I encourage you to listen to it yourself. Hopefully we'll see some more insight from Mark Dominik over the coming months, as he's certainly provided some interesting notes so far.