Martellus Bennett hasn’t exactly been shy about discussing his feelings toward the Cowboys since departing Dallas for New York this offseason, comparing his new to team to his old team, his new quarterback to his old quarterback, etc. Now, Bennett says one of the reasons he’s having more success in New York than he ever did in Dallas is that, while in Dallas, the Cowboys tried to make him into Jason Witten, version 2.0 rather than Martellus Bennett, version 1.0.
"A lot of times in the past I felt like people tried to change who I was," Bennett told Jim Rome in an interview this week, via ESPN Dallas. "Everybody loved Witten so much. I thought they wanted me to be exactly like him. But that wasn’t my game. There are a lot of things Witten does well. And there are a lot of things that I do well that he doesn’t do. I think they loved that model of a tight end that they tried to pressure me to be exactly like him. And when I wasn’t, I think it kind of hindered our relationship."
Bennett went on to say that he is already closer to Eli Manning than he ever was to Romo, but this doesn’t come from a place of bitterness. Rather, Bennett models the sort of relationship he hopes to build with Manning in the coming years on the one he saw Romo and Witten sharing--albeit from the outside--when he was in Dallas.
"Me and Eli are a lot closer than I was with (Tony) Romo," Bennett said. "I think Romo is a great quarterback. And I think he’s done some great things for the Cowboys. But I just think his relationship with Witten is one of those special things they were able to build. Being here, I’ve just been trying to build the same thing with Eli. And I think I’ve had the chance to build and grow into that role instead of being the guy that’s going to be second hand in the relationship. It’s kind of like somebody who is dating two women. One woman is going to get more attention than the other."
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