Teair Tart forced his release from the Tennessee Titans, and since then he’s been working to clean up his reputation
There are times when a boss and an employee need to split up.
There are only two outcomes that can happen when an employee gets to the “this job” stage of their employment and starts to cause problems at work.
Because NFL players can’t just leave a team at any time, and because leaving is the kiss of death in professional sports, Teair Tart said “fire me” during his disappointing last season with the Titans when they wouldn’t give him a multi-year deal.
As a rookie undrafted defensive tackle, he made his way up the Titans’ depth chart and started 36 games over the course of four seasons. He then asked to be let go. After being grumpy and pouting for a few weeks, he finally got it on December 15.
Tart ended the season with the Houston Texans, who claimed him and played him in the last two games. “I needed a culture change,” he said. “I feel like I should have stayed out of that situation.”
Tart’s bad mood stays with you.
But as a free agent, his bad mood turned away potential partners. This led the former Florida International University star to the Miami Dolphins, who signed him to a one-year deal worth just under $1.3 million and guaranteed him $567,500.
The Dolphins couldn’t pass up on Tartt’s run-stuffing skills, even though they had already signed six other defensive tackles—Da’Shawn Hand, Benito Jones, Jonathan Harris, Neville Gallimore, Daviyon Nixon, and Isaiah Mack—to replace Christian Wilkins and Raekwon Davis, who were free agents.
According to a league source who works in an NFL front office, Tartt, who had made 79 tackles, 2.5 sacks, 16 tackles for loss, 16 quarterback hits and seven pass deflections in his 1,396 defensive snaps, is possible the most talented of all the defensive tackles Miami signed this offseason.
He possesses a low center of gravity and has the frame to play the nose tackle, or zero technique, which is important for the formation of a 3-4 defensive front, which the Dolphins likely will run under new defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver.
“We’ll work through the spring and see how he fits in what we’re doing,” General Manager Chris Grier said last week when asked how Tart would be used. “I would leave that for Anthony to answer, too, instead of me just assuming.
“They know nothing has been promised to any of them, and that’s the exciting part. They all know they’re coming in to compete.”
WHY SO MANY DEFENSIVE TACKLES?
But why seven veteran free agents, who will fight to see who complements Zach Sieler and fills the two, maybe three, backup spots?
“I think it was the opportunity to add guys that we thought are quality players that had good upsides,” Grier said, right before warning defensive tackle could be a position Miami addressed in the upcoming NFL draft, which begins Thursday.
As for Tart, who turned down better offers to play for the Dolphins, the location, the fact he’s coming back to his South Florida roots, was the biggest factor in his choice.
But the 27-year-old also saw a chance to cement himself as an NFL starter.
And more importantly, a chance to restore his name.
“I was in Tennessee for four years. Never had work ethic problems until I explored a release. Coming from a Belichick setting you got to play hard, practice hard,” Tartt said, referring to former Titans head coach Mike Vrabel, who played under Bill Belichick. “Expect me to be competitive, spirited. I’m not afraid to show emotion out there. “I’m excited for a new beginning,” said Tart, who was thrilled to be reunited with newly signed Dolphins center Aaron Brewer, with whom he did battle daily in practice with the Titans, and inside linebacker David Long, for whom he ate up blocks when the two were together with the Titans. “Tennessee is the past.”
