When the Tampa Bay Buccaneers got Brent Grimes to return for the 2018 season, it seemed like great deal for both sides. The team had just taken cornerbacks in the second round of the draft, but they desperately needed a veteran presence on the squad.
Unfortunately, Grimes wasn’t quite the bargain the Bucs had hoped for, mainly because of what he was making and what he was asked to do.
The Tampa Bay Bucs cornerback went on his wife’s, Miko Grimes, podcast and said he felt disrespected by the Bucs in their offseason negotiations, and it only got worse when he was asked to shadow Antonio Brown when the Pittsburgh Steelers came to Tampa for Monday Night Football in Week 3.
‘We get to the Steelers and then they start asking me to follow people,’ Grimes said, explaining that corners ‘that follow receivers all the time’ … “earn $13 to $15 million.’
That particular moment would go on to screw up the remainder of the 2018 season as Grimes would be benched for the second half in Week 4 and he says it stemmed from what happened the previous week.
‘They said [I was benched because] I was on my phone at halftime, which is true because I’m on my phone [at halftime] every game of my career,’ Grimes said.
Grimes estimated up to 70 percent of players are on their phones doing something at halftime, which he thinks is no big deal and certainly not a reason to be benched.
Why does Grimes really think he was benched? When Miko Grimes suggested on the podcast it was payback for not wanting to shadow Antonio Brown the week before, he agreed.
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Basically, Grimes didn’t think $7 million was enough to expect him to shadow an opponent’s best receiver.
“That just fu**ed up my whole vibe for the whole year to be completely honest,” Grimes said.
Via JoeBucsFan:
Grimes also explained on the podcast that he told Bucs coaches he wanted to sit out the season finale last Sunday because he was so frustrated by Hoke. Coach Hoke apologized, Grimes said, and Grimes eventually played.
Miko Grimes said she helped convince her husband to play in the game because she knew it might be the last of his career. Miko added that she’d like Brent Grimes to play one more season for any price, as long as he’s having fun and has a shot at the postseason.
