Demar Dotson Deserved Better
Yes, it's a business, and no, it doesn't work that way.
But Demar Dotson deserved better.
A gentle giant who towers at 6-foot-9 and 315 pounds, Dotson was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' longest-tenured player, having played all 11 of his NFL seasons with the Bucs. That run came to an end when he signed with the Denver Broncos on Tuesday, after Tampa Bay made little to no effort to bring him back for the 2020 season.
When he was signed by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as an undrafted free agent out Southern Mississippi in 2009, Dotson was little more than an afterthought. But in just a few seasons, Dotson established himself as the team's full-time starter at right tackle.
He would go on to start over 100 games for the Bucs at that spot, often being the best blocker on an otherwise lackluster offensive line. Only 10 players have ever appeared in more games for the Bucs than Dotson, more than franchise legends like Hardy Nickerson, Jimmie Giles, James Wilder, Gerald McCoy, Warrick Dunn, and even Hall of Famer Lee Roy Selmon.
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But the Bucs experienced little in terms of team success throughout Dotson's tenure with the team. While he played through numerous injuries to give the Bucs a consistent, reliable presence at a key position, the team vacillated between mediocrity and downright embarrassment.
Dotson never won a division title in Tampa Bay, and never saw the playoffs. He saw just two winning seasons, and the Bucs won five or fewer games in six of his 11 seasons.
Ask anyone in the current Bucs locker room, or anyone who spent time there over the last decade, and they'll tell of Dotson's quiet, by-example style of leadership that helped the team navigate so many of those losing seasons. While scores of faces would change every season, Dotson was quite literally the only constant over those 11 years, as no other player on the team had been with the team longer.
Yes, it's no secret that the Bucs went into this offseason looking for a long-term solution at right tackle, and they found it when they traded up for Iowa's Tristan Wirfs in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft. But Dotson's presence would have been invaluable to a young talent like Wirfs, who could have learned a great deal from a player with his experience and leadership.
Instead, the Bucs let Dotson's Tampa Bay career fade quietly into the night, just as the team begins to get playoff and Super Bowl hype for the first time in a long time, thanks to the offseason additions of Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski. The team is a popular pick to challenge the Saints for the NFC South crown in 2020, and make a run at the Lombardi Trophy.
If that happens, it's hard to imagine another player on this roster who deserves to experience that success more than Dotson. Lavonte David deserves it, and so does Mike Evans. But nobody spent more time grinding through losing season after losing season than Dotson, who should have been here to see it pay off with a postseason run.
Instead, he'll bring that experience and leadership to Denver, where he'll help a young quarterback in Drew Lock and a promising offense loaded with potential. The Broncos are coming off their third straight losing season, and they'll certainly benefit from Dotson's veteran presence as they try to get back to the playoffs.
Hopefully, that happens, and Dotson is able to taste playoff football for the first time in his professional football career.
But it should have happened here.
