Martellus Bennett: Packers’ Decision To Cut Him Was “All About Money” & Came After He Chose To Have Shoulder Surgery

Update:

Martellus Bennett took to Instagram (via Zach Heilprin of MadisonSportsZone.com) to explain what took place with the Packers before their recent decision to waive him with a failure to disclose an injury designation a few days ago.

“The Packers examined my shoulder on my [free agent] visit March 10 and cleared it. They even gave me an x-ray as well.

“It [got] worse during the season, specifically against the Cowboys, so I asked to have it check and we checked it. After a few days of contemplating to play with it or get surgery, I chose surgery. Now we are here.

“They tried to (expletive) over me. [Team doctor Pat] McKenzie trying to cover his own (expletive) after trying to persuade me to play thru a major injury and me choosing to get surgery. They have access to all my medical records. My shoulder wasn’t where it is now at the beginning of the season. I (expletive) it up playing for the Packers.

“Dr. McKenzie didn’t make [me] feel safe and was pushing to play, which I thought was weird. Not that he was trying to get me to play through it, but the way he was saying things. I didn’t trust him. So I got three other opinions from doctors who all said I need to get it fixed. So I decided to do that. And they decided to waive me with some (expletive) excuse. Failure [to] disclose.

“Every week we do a body evaluation sheet in the weight [room] and pretty much every week I circled my shoulder. I just kept playing but it got worse.

“During the bye week I got off anti-inflammatories to clean my system and could really feel the pain. So I asked to examine it the first day back in. And that’s when we found out it was really (expletive) up.

“They knew. They panicked. Thinking that I was trying to go on IR and be on their books next year. When I mentioned that I would possibly retire. So they tried to (expletive) me before they thought I would (expletive) them. This was all about money. All about money. I get it. But don’t lie homie. You knew [what] was up.

“I had intentions of playing all eight games, as I mentioned in the post during the bye week, but found out it was worse that I felt after getting it checked out. Now, I’m like (expletive) it.”

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Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that the Packers waived TE Martellus Bennett because he has a torn rotator cuff in his shoulder.

According to Rapoport, Bennett may try to play through the injury for the Patriots, but if he’s unable to do so, New England could place him on injured reserve.

Either way, the risk is minimal for the Patriots, considering that they will pay him just $423,529 in base salary for the rest of the year because most of his compensation has been paid out in the form of a signing bonus by Green Bay.

The question here is whether Bennett suffered the injury during the season or prior to signing with the Packers.

This would explain why the Packers used failure to disclose medical condition designation upon cutting him on Wednesday. It’s possible Green Bay could go after some of this signing bonus if he had the injury prior to being signed.

Bennett, 30, is a former second-round pick of the Cowboys back in 2008. He’s currently in the first year of his three-year, $21 million contract and stands to make base salaries of $3.6 million and $5.65 million over the next two years of the agreement.

The Packers elected to waive Bennett with a failure to disclose medical condition designation on Wednesday.

In 2017, Bennett has appeared in seven games and caught 24 passes for 233 yards receiving and no touchdowns for the Packers.