The reason that Demar Dotson ended his holdout with Tampa Bay Bucs was the same reason he started it.
Money.
Dotson, the starting right tackle, had held out of part of the Bucs’ OTAs. But he realize that a holdout was a good way to lose money, not just make it, he said.
“I didn’t want to lose any money,” Dotson said from Bucs’ minicamp. “It’s like $100,000. I got some good advice that you don’t want to lose $100,000. I don’t have $100,000 to lose, so I wanted to keep my money. That was the only way to keep negotiating going through these six weeks and into training camp.”
Dotson, who has two years left on his deal, would seem to be limited with his leverage. He’s a non-Pro Bowl player on a weak offensive line on a weak football team.
“I think we have the mindset that we want to be good,” Dotson said. “We’re not going to do the same dumb stuff we did last year. We’re going to weed out all the bad stuff.”
Bucs’ coach Lovie Smith was glad that his team had 100 percent participation.
“It’s good to have him back,” Smith said. “He needs to be. Every rep that you can get, you need to be here to take advantage of. It’s just good to see Demar out there with the group.”
