Broncos QB Jake Plummer retires to avoid trade to Tampa Bay

[Nick]

Plummer retires to avoid trade to Tampa Bay
By Jason Cole, Charles Robinson and John Murphy
March 2, 2007

The Bucs want Jake Plummer, but the feeling isn't mutual.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers made a deal to acquire the quarterback from Denver on Friday for a fourth-round draft pick in this year's draft.

But according to a league source, Plummer has decided to retire, nullifying the deal that would have sent him to Tampa Bay. Plummer apparently was not interested in joining a team which would not name him to an immediate starting spot, which the Buccaneers refused to do.

Plummer would have had to battle returning starter Chris Simms for the starting job in Tampa Bay. The deal also could have opened the door for an AFC West battle between the Broncos and Oakland Raiders for the rights to free agent signal caller Jeff Garcia, who has received initial interest from both teams.

Plummer lost his job in Denver last season to rookie Jay Cutler after playing inconsistently over the first half of the season. Plummer also fell out of favor with the Broncos during the playoffs in the 2005 season after a poor performance in the AFC championship game against Pittsburgh.

The 32-year-old Plummer finished last season with 11 touchdowns and 13 interceptions in 11 starts. Plummer played well in the previous three seasons, throwing 60 touchdowns and 34 interceptions in that span.

Plummer seemed to lose his confidence as last season progressed. After losing his starting job, Plummer was upset with how Denver coach Mike Shanahan dealt with the change. Plummer was particularly angry that he received a phone call from his position coach to inform him of the change rather than hearing directly from Shanahan.

[Revelstoke]

Schefter:
NFL Network's Adam Schefter has learned that Denver quarterback Jake Plummer will retire instead of accepting a trade to Tampa Bay.

http://www.nfl.com/

Wow who saw this comming?

Seems like a lame way out of a trade. Hes still got some good football in him i think.

[general counsel]

I respect him a lot for making the choice that works best for him and his family. This is where the modern pro football player has so much more flexibility than the players of the past. Guys like johnny unitas couldnt afford to walk away, they didnt get 10 million signing bonuses. All the more power to jake the snake, there has never been a guy with less skills that has made more money in the history of the nfl. Average at best, he got paid more money than john elway.

ramming speed to all

general counsel

[Nick]

Originally Posted by general counsel

I respect him a lot for making the choice that works best for him and his family.

Is that what's happening here? It seems as though Plummer was upset about being traded to a team that wasn't going to cement him in as the starter, and decided he'd rather quit than go there and compete. I'm not sure there's much to respect about that.

[AvengerRam]

Not that simple.

I don't know what JP's family situation is, but if he's settled in the Denver area, with kids in school and with friends, and has enough in his bank account (as he should) to be set for life, what's wrong with saying "at this point in my life, I'd rather retire than move accross the country to compete for a job"?

[Nick]

Originally Posted by AvengerRam

Not that simple.

I don't know what JP's family situation is, but if he's settled in the Denver area, with kids in school and with friends, and has enough in his bank account (as he should) to be set for life, what's wrong with saying "at this point in my life, I'd rather retire than move accross the country to compete for a job"?

Well for one, it says in the article posted that Plummer "apparently was not interested in joining a team which would not name him to an immediate starting spot, which the Buccaneers refused to do." There was a report at the end of the season from the Denver Post that Plummer told teammates and friends that he didn't plan on coming back to Denver to be Cutler's mentor. So it sounds as if being a starter was important to him.

It seems awfully strange to me that Plummer would wait until a trade has been reached to announce his retirement if his decision really was about any ties he'd set up during his four years in Denver or his family situation. My understanding is that Plummer likely doesn't have permanent or hard-to-change family ties to the area either; three years ago he broke off an engagement to six-year girlfriend Sonia Flores and as of last spring wasn't married but was dating.

[AvengerRam]

As I said, I'm not aware of his specific family situation.

Still, I have no beef with a guy who's 32, has made his money, and decides that he'd rather retire than compete for a job/mentor a young QB.

[Nick]

Originally Posted by AvengerRam

As I said, I'm not aware of his specific family situation.

Still, I have no beef with a guy who's 32, has made his money, and decides that he'd rather retire than compete for a job/mentor a young QB.

I have no beef with his decision either, but my point was that I also don't see anything to really respect about deciding to retire after being traded to a team that wasn't going to name him the starter immediately without competition.

[Nick]

UPDATE: So apparently the deal has been updated. The Broncos are in fact sending the rights to quarterback Jake Plummer to Tampa Bay in exchange for a conditional 2008 draft pick. Now the Bucs control Plummer's rights and, should he remain retired, no harm no foul. But if he plays, then Denver gets a pick in '08.

[Nick]

The plot thickens. On the website for the Jake Plummer Foundation, there's an official release that confirms Plummer's retirement.




Story broken by CBS4 in Denver.

[ramsanddodgers]

Originally Posted by general counsel

I respect him a lot for making the choice that works best for him and his family. This is where the modern pro football player has so much more flexibility than the players of the past. Guys like johnny unitas couldnt afford to walk away, they didnt get 10 million signing bonuses. All the more power to jake the snake, there has never been a guy with less skills that has made more money in the history of the nfl. Average at best, he got paid more money than john elway.

ramming speed to all

general counsel

A good argument for rookie salary caps. Takes money out of the pockets of players who have already proven their worth and not being paid for their potential.

The money available for salaries is unreal now compared to Johnny U's day. Back in the day the players played for the love of the game and worked off season jobs to pay the bills.:x

.... and yes, I realize Plummer wasn't a rookie when he was thrown the exorbitant paycheck...

[ramsanddodgers]

Originally Posted by Nick

UPDATE: So apparently the deal has been updated. The Broncos are in fact sending the rights to quarterback Jake Plummer to Tampa Bay in exchange for a conditional 2008 draft pick. Now the Bucs control Plummer's rights and, should he remain retired, no harm no foul. But if he plays, then Denver gets a pick in '08.

http://www.nfl.com/transactions

Tampa Bay Buccaneers 9/3 Jake Plummer (QB) reserve/ Did Not Report.

[laram0]

Originally Posted by Nick

Plummer retires to avoid trade to Tampa Bay
By Jason Cole, Charles Robinson and John Murphy
March 2, 2007


The 32-year-old Plummer finished last season with 11 touchdowns and 13 interceptions in 11 starts. Plummer played well in the previous three seasons, throwing 60 touchdowns and 34 interceptions in that span.

Now see what the RAMS did to the poor guy.

"Jake" Plummer stats 1st game of the 2006 season at the DOME.

Completed 13 of 26 passes-(138 passing yds)-(3 interceptions)-(1 fumble lost)-(sacked 4 times). Could have saved face by retiring right after that game.


WAY TO GO RAMS!!!!


"Jake" Delhomme is next! Here kitty,kitty,kitty,kitty

[Goldenfleece]

I can't say I'm surprised. Plummer told everyone who would listen that he didn't want to go to the Buccaneers before the trade went down. They pulled the trigger anyway.

This article is from March:

Plummer mulls retirement rather than join Buccaneers
By Len Pasquarelli
ESPN.com
(Archive)
Updated: March 3, 2007, 4:21 AM ET

In a twist that could scuttle a proposed trade to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, veteran quarterback Jake Plummer told friends and business associates Friday afternoon that he plans to retire from football rather than continue his NFL career in another city.

If Jake Plummer walks away from football as he appears prepared to do, from a performance standpoint he should have hung it up after 2005. A comparison of the quarterback's last two NFL seasons:

2005 2006
W-L as starter 13-3 *7-4
Pass yards 3,366 1,994
Comp. Pct. 60.7 55.2
TD-INT 18-7 11-13
Passer rating 90.2 68.8
* Lost job to Jay Cutler
QB rankings (out of 32 qualifiers)
2005 2006
Comp. Pct. 16th 27th
Pct. INT 2nd 28th
Avg. gain 9th 24th
Passer rating 7th 28th

ESPN.com reported Friday morning that the Denver Broncos had reached agreement in principle on most of the elements of a trade that would send Plummer to the Bucs, where he would compete with Chris Simms for the starting job.

But only a few hours later, it appeared Plummer was ready to carry through on retirement suggestions he made earlier in the offseason, when it first became apparent the Broncos were shopping him in trade talks.

A source in the Tampa Bay organization said Friday afternoon the deal to acquire Plummer is "on hold ... at best." The source indicated that there were ongoing discussions aimed at convincing Plummer to accept the trade and play in 2007, but that the veteran passer was prepared to walk away from the game.

Plummer's older brother, Eric, knew something was up when the veteran QB asked him recently about whether he should retire from playing football.

"The couple of times he broached the subject with me, I felt like he was done,'' Eric Plummer told The Associated Press on Friday night. "As soon as the season was over, he was talking about the fact he didn't know if he wanted to keep playing anymore. He never decided 100 percent."

Under the terms discussed, the Broncos would have received a middle-round draft choice, believed to be a fourth-rounder, in exchange for Plummer. The trade was expected to be announced on Friday, provided all the major details were completed.

But that was before Plummer, scheduled to earn a base salary of $5.3 million for the 2007 season, wavered.

"The trade might have brought that [retirement] to a head,'' Eric Plummer said. "He didn't want to go to a new team, learn a new system, new teammates. He asked me what I thought [of retirement] and I said it was his call. I'll miss watching his games on Sunday.''

Tampa Bay re-signed Simms to a two-year contract earlier this offseason. But with Simms coming off a 2006 season in which he underwent an emergency splenectomy, the Bucs have been shopping for a veteran quarterback to bolster the depth chart.

Veteran backup Tim Rattay became an unrestricted free agent on Friday and was not expected to return to Tampa Bay.

Plummer, 32, lost his starting job in Denver to rookie Jay Cutler late last season and the Broncos have been entertaining trade offers in the offseason.


"It's professional football. You get traded. We bring in new guys every year," said Cutler, adding that he heard the news from third-string quarterback Parsons. "They're going to bring another quarterback in sooner or later and he's going to challenge me. So that's part of football, and with Jake, you know there are no hard feelings between us whatsoever.''

A 10-year veteran, Plummer has started 136 games in stints with Arizona (1997-2002) and Denver (2003-2006). He has completed 2,484 of 4,350 passes for 29,253 yards, with 161 touchdown passes and 161 interceptions, for a passer rating of 74.6.