Understandably, some Green Bay Packers players aren’t too happy with Martellus Bennett right now.
In a wild sequence of events last week that included a shoulder injury, more than a half-dozen alleged doctor visits and an Instagram tirade, Bennett was able to successfully jump from a Packers team that’s going nowhere without injured quarterback Aaron Rodgers to a New England Patriots squad that has Super Bowl aspirations.
The tight end’s abrupt departure, subsequent trashing of Green Bay’s team doctor and immediate impact for the Patriots have, unsurprisingly, made him a persona non grata in Packer Land.
“At the end of the day you have to think of it as a business. Me, personally? I thought he quit on us,” Packers safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix told reporters Thursday, via Madison.com. “I don’t fault him, but I did think he quit on us. He let us down — as a teammate. For a guy that came in, of his caliber, his leadership quote-unquote, I expected more from him. I held him to a higher standard, me personally. But he handled it the way he wanted to handle it.
“I honestly think winning on Sunday gave us a motivation to go out every week (going forward) and compete. That was the hump we needed to get over — winning a game, first and foremost. That Marty stuff, I’m glad we got it out of the way. It’s time to move on.”
Bennett, who won a Super Bowl with the Patriots last season, appeared in just seven games for Green Bay after signing a three-year, $21 million contract in March. He played seven snaps last Sunday in his first game back with New England after the Patriots claimed him off waivers, catching three passes for 38 yards in a win over the Denver Broncos.