It's a brave new world. Athletes now break news about themselves on Twitter. The latest? Marty B., who reports on his Twitter account that he is hearing rumors about being traded.
His exact tweet:
Rumors about me being traded. Always possible I dunno. But I do know I'm ready to be the guy.
There should be rumors about Marty B. being traded. Obviously Jason Witten is the number one guy in Dallas, that's just a fact. But what a lot of us have forgotten about is that John Phillips had basically supplanted Bennett as the number two tight end in Dallas before he was injured and lost for the season in the pre-season. Phillips was always a good blocker, but he started to show some skill in the passing game before he went down. He's also versatile, the Cowboys can line him up in the backfield as a hybrid fullback, something they just can't do with Bennett.
Now, Bennett has been pretty good at run blocking from the end of the offensive line, he's improved greatly in that area since he's come into the league. But Phillips is no slouch in that area either, and he has the greater versatility. Bennett has never become the pass-catching phenom we all thought he would with his athleticism and size. It's just never come to fruition.
So Dallas has an all-world tight end in Witten, and an effective and versatile backup in John Phillips. Does that leave any room for Marty B.? Not really, so it makes all the sense in the world that the Cowboys would be shopping him.
Still, I never expected Martellus Bennett to break the news about rumors of his own trade. That's the new reality in sports.
Should the Cowboys trade Marty B.? Is John Phillips the man as the backup? Your opinions are needed.