The Bucs are counting on big things and many sacks from Da’Quan Bowers

Joe knows Bucs fans have an edge about them this time of the year as the 2013 training camp dates are soon to be released. It is not a bad edge, but an edge of excitement for what lies ahead.

With two strong receivers, a solid offensive line, a Pro Bowl running back and a newly beefed up secondary, many Bucs fans have playoff thoughts dancing in their heads.

But Darren Sharper of the NFL Network thinks Bucs fans should, as Deion Sanders would say, slow their roll. Sharper doesn’t believe the Bucs will be playing in the postseason, so he explained during the “32 for 32″ segment Monday. Co-analyst LaDainian Tomlinson agreed.

Andrew Siciliano: Do the Bucs make the postseason?

Darren Sharper: I don’t see that happening, either. This is a team in a division that is probably the toughest division in the NFL. They have to face the Saints, they have to face the Falcons, they have to face the Carolina Panthers who is going to be a tough team. I think that there just isn’t enough there now. There are a lot of pieces in place, it will be interesting to see how they gel but I don’t see them making it to the playoffs.

LaDainian Tomlinson: They are still a little ways away but they are getting close. They are not there yet. The area of need I am still looking for them to improve is pass rush. Andrew, you have to have a pass rusher in this league to compete. I would have loved to see them have gone out and got an Osi Umenyiora. That would have been a great fit on this defense. They did not and they have a lot of guys who are unproven. So in the end of the season, that hurts them.

Sharper: I could never cover anybody when we didn’t have a pass rush, Andrew. Never. How are you going to cover somebody when you don’t have anybody getting to the quarterback?

Joe thinks the Bucs will make a push to the playoffs this winter, but making the playoffs is a different matter. Yes, Joe strongly believes the Bucs are better off this year, but the NFC is as top-heavy as Joe has seen it since Bill Walsh, Joe Gibbs, Bill Parcells and Mike Ditka prowled the sidelines.

There will be damned good teams watching the playoffs on TV.

Now people think that Josh Freeman has a lot of pressure on him, and in many ways, he does. Well, how about Da’Quan Bowers? Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik is putting a whole lot of eggs into Bowers’ basket hoping that Bowers not just stays healthy, but can rack up double-digit sacks.

We will know by Christmas if the gamble pays off.

Bucs news forthcoming.

Aaron Hernandez is in some deep s(p)it. [SI]

Sophie Veraga is much better at selfies than Kelly Nash. [TheBigLead]

Searching for Jimmy Hoffa’s crypt is like a dog chasing its tail. [Chicago Tribune]

NSA claims to have stopped 50 terrorist attacks. Bravo gentlemen, bravo. [Washington Post]

So Wil Myers isn’t a miracle worker after all? [RaysIndex]

NFL Network studied the Bucs last night during its daily series “32 in 32,” in which every NFL team is examined while the network kills time before NFL training camps open up late next month.

Analysts LaDainian Tomlinson and Darren Sharper and host Andrew Siciliano dove into the subject of Josh Freeman. Tomlinson and Sharper had very different conclusions as to whether this season is Freeman’s last in Tampa Bay.

Andrew Siciliano: Josh Freeman, some people think he might be a weakness. We do know this: He is in the last year of his contract. Is this his last year, LT, with the Bucs?

LaDainian Tomlinson: I say no. People need to realize and remember that Josh Freeman left early. He left after his junior year at [Kansas] State. He’s still a young player. So he has a lot of football to play. He will continue to throw. I know he has had his ups and downs but here is the thing: At the end of the day, can you find a better quarterback than Josh Freeman. That’s what we are looking at in our league. You only have about five quarterbacks that play at an elite level. The rest of the guys are up and down so be patient. Patience is a virtue with Josh Freeman. I think he will eventually become the guy that can become the leader.

Darren Sharper: I am going to go out on a limb and say he will not be back. This is his last year, partly because of that roller coaster he takes the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on. I played against Josh a couple of times and to me, it’s not physical, it seems to be mental with him because he is out there and will go through these streaks that he plays bad and he will not be able to get out of those bad streaks. That, combined with he is not tied to Coach [Greg] Schiano, I think they will try to go out and find Schiano’s guy.

Joe thinks both analysts make salient points. Just what quarterback is available via trade or free agency who will be better than Freeman? That’s why Joe’s pretty sure, barring a horrific 2011-like season, Freeman will return to the Bucs in 2014. It is just a matter of whether he will be franchised or not.

But Sharper has solid takes. As Joe has constantly written, Schiano has no lineage to Freeman; he inherited him. If the Bucs cannot turn Freeman around, you think Schiano will lobby Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik to re-sign Freeman and go down in flames with Freeman? Joe doubts it.

Now Sharper is not the first person to suggest Freeman’s issues are between his ears.

No less an authority than former Bucs signalcaller Shaun King, one of but three Bucs quarterbacks  to lead the Bucs to an NFC Championship game, claimed last season that Freeman, who King very much likes, needed a shrink.

Again, Joe is convinced there is no quarterback controversy. Freeman is your Bucs quarterback. How long that will be depends on Freeman himself.

No controversy at all.

When Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik traded for star cornerback Darrelle Revis, by far the dominant question among Bucs fans wasn’t whether Revis would be ready for a Week 1 showdown with his former team, the Jets, in New Jersey. Strangely, there was a more popular question, “What number would he wear?”

The answer took awhile, but at virtually the same moment Joe was told by suits at One Buc Palace that Revis’ number hadn’t been decided, Dominik released the information on SiriusXM NFL Radio.

Welp!

Now according to Business Insider beat writer Cork Gaines, who is also the conscience on RaysIndex.com, Revis had to cough up $50,000 to get No. 24 from Bucs safety Mark Barron.

It is unclear if this is a record payment for a uniform number. In 1993, Rickey Henderson paid a new Blue Jays teammate $25,000, also for the no. 24. That is about $40,000 now with inflation.

Maybe the best story ever for uniform number bartering also came in 1993 when Mitch Williams “paid” two cases of beer for John Kruk’s no. 28. Williams only wore the number for one season before switching to no. 99.

To be fair, Cork learned this information from the diligent work of Brinke Guthrie, via the highly reliable UniWatch.com, which is infatuated with anything dealing with uniforms.

If anyone wonders why Revis had to buy the jersey number, it is an unwritten rule in professional sports that if a new teammate wants a jersey already assigned, then he must pay said player a ransom to release the number. The rule is pretty strictly enforced by the rank and file.

Joe hopes Barron put the cash to good use helping the local Tampa Bay economy.

Joe’s read the buzz out of Chicago that the Bears may cut Devin Hester.

Joe’s also acutely aware that the New Schiano Order couldn’t find a returner last season, doesn’t have an established returner now, and it’s got a wide open competition near the bottom of its wide receiver depth chart. The Bucs also have a pile of available cash to pay Hester, whose contract called for $2 million this season.

Hester wasn’t his lethal-returner self last season, and he’s 30 years old. But the guy is healthy and surely is far better than what the Bucs have to offer now. He also would represent great depth as a No. 4 or No. 5 receiver.

For Joe, the Bears making it public that Hester doesn’t have a roster spot locked up is code for Chicago seeking trade offers.

Rockstar general manager Mark Dominik has a lot of recent history dealing with the Bears (Gaines Adams, Brian Price, Gabe Carimi). Perhaps a move for Hester is just the kind of low-risk, high-reward gamble that could improve the Buccaneers.

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Joe’s written quite a bit about new Bucs running back/fullback Brian Leonard because Joe’s confident fans will see a lot of Leonard if he stays healthy. The Bucs haven’t launched a season with a third-down back with this much experience in a long time.

After being a featured back at Rutgers, Leonard backed up Ray Rice during his senior season and was drafted by the Rams in the second round. He spent the past four seasons as the Bengals’ third-down back.

Joe asked Leonard to describe his game to Bucs fans.

“I think I have great hands, great hands out of the backfield. That’s one of my best attributes,” Leonard said. “I’m great at picking up protections, and I feel like I’m a smart player, too. You know, seeing the field and seeing the rotation of the safeties and picking up blitzes. If I get the opportunity to run the ball, I feel like I’m really successful at that, too.”

Joe doesn’t expect Leonard to set the league on fire, but he should be an upgrade over D.J. Ware, another bonus for Josh Freeman.

An interesting Buccaneer Man stat on Leonard, he’s got one fumble in 288 NFL regular season touches.

Killing time and creating content during the current dead period for the NFL until training camps open, NFL Network has begun a weekday series “32 for 32,” a preview of each NFL team in just over five weeks until teams begin the drudgery of training camp late in July.

Monday was the Bucs’ turn, and Joe will highlight elements today and tomorrow.

Analysts LaDainian Tomlinson and Darren Sharper broke down the Bucs with host Andrew Siciliano. It was noted by Siciliano that on paper it appears the Bucs have a “far better” secondary. But the two analysts somewhat disagreed. Sharper, a former cornerback himself, was skeptical.

Darren Sharper: They can only go up. But it will be the health of Darrelle Revis as he is the answer as to determine how good this defense can be. But it will be guys like Johnthan Banks and Eric Wright, playing second and third corner, to slow down those receivers. They have to go against guys in a division with Drew Brees and Matt Ryan who can air it out.

LaDainian Tomlinson: Look, they went from having no Pro Bowlers to two [Dashon Goldson and Revis]. But I like Mark Barron, too. I think he can be a future Pro Bowler. So I am going to go out on a limb and say this secondary will be top-five in pass defense. I know they play in a tough division but I think this will be a strength for their team.

In case none of Joe’s readers picked up on Tomlinson’s musings, how quickly he forgot Ronde Barber, eh?

Believe it or not, Joe sides with both Tomlinson and Sharper. The key to how great this secondary can be is Revis. If he returns to form from a ACL knee surgery, there is no reason to believe the Bucs cannot have the best secondary in the NFL.

But Tomlinson is also correct. The Bucs, as criminally awful as the pass defense was last year, could have three Pro Bowlers if Barron has a solid season. Barring an epidemic of injuries, there is no way the Bucs should repeat last year’s horror show with the talent on the roster, even if Matty Ice and Brees are slinging footballs against the Bucs over four games.

Bucs news forthcoming.

Jiggly, bikini-clad NFL cheerleaders gyrating to an awful pop music song in the tropics. Yes, please (utilizing mute button, of course). [TheBigLead]

Gamecocks defensive end recruit hints strongly that he chose South Carolina because the academics are a breeze. Hope he makes the NFL. Sounds like he will need the cash. [GoUpState]

This just seems creepy all-around: A Georgia defensive end and a high school cheerleader are at Nick Saban’s lakehouse. [Busted Coverage]

Why can’t Seattle’s John Moffitt use a bathroom? Who does he think he is, “The King of Turds?” [MyNorthwest]

More on Rays savior Wil Myers. [RaysIndex]

This time of the year to escape the seemingly incessant non-basketball association and golf talk on radio — man, the MSM would make Josef Goebbels smile the way it tries to indoctrinate the masses, led by the four-letter outfit of course, with the repetitive drumbeat of a once proud sport — Joe has a comfortable sanctuary to turn to: SiriusXM NFL Radio.

This afternoon, the co-hosts of “Movin’ the Chains,” Pat Kirwan and Tim Ryan, discussed what the Bucs need to do to make a playoff run.

Kirwan is hesitant to anoint the Bucs a playoff contender.

Yet.

In Kirwan’s eyes, there are two positions on defense the Bucs need to address before he can take the notion of a Bucs postseason berth seriously: a third-down pass rusher and a SAM linebacker.

(Gasp! Cue the “SAM linebacker is not important” chorus, which was non-existent when Quincy Black played.)

Kirwan suggested that the Bucs acquire two players on defense to fill these needs. One player Kirwan has all but been begging Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik to sign in recent months is former Dixie Chicks defensive end John Abraham. After again professing how much Abraham could help the Bucs, Kirwan did some research during a commercial break that may have solved the riddle as to why Dominik (or other teams for that matter) has not pursued Abraham.

Per Kirwan, in the last eight games the Bucs and Dixie Chicks faced each other, spanning four seasons, Abraham has a grand total of one sack.

This was surprising to Joe, as well, and it led Kirwan to wonder aloud.

“Usually, teams love to pick [players] from teams in their own division,” Kirwan said. “They obviously have Abraham on their own tapes. I wonder if they noticed something?”

Of course, there are but few people who could answer this question and they all have offices at One Buc Palace.

Maybe Dominik, who generally doesn’t like to toss cash at aging free agents after getting burned (badly) in his rookie year as general manager, noticed how the Bucs were able to take Abraham out of games the past four years and, thus, doesn’t value his skillset?

Former offensive lineman Mark Schlereth discusses the Bucs’ defensive acquisitions this offseason and works in a comment about Josh Freeman in this BSPN video.

After just one interview, Joe has learned that Bucs cornerbacks coach Tony Oden is adept at coaching non-speak. He had all the empty coaching cliches down pat, such as, “We made a decision this offseason to not look back but to look forward,” which flies in the face of Coaching 101; you learn from mistakes through film study.

Though Oden was not the Bucs secondary coach last year, the Bucs’ pass defense was sinfully awful last season, just a handful of yards (14 to be precise) away from setting a 92-year record for NFL worst pass defense. Oden was absolutely tight-lipped when asked what he learned from last year’s film and how he would correct mistakes. Not even the IRS would be able to get any information out of him.

But when the subject of rookie cornerback Johnthan Banks came up, Oden sang like a bird, praising Banks, effusively.

“He will be up against a lot,” Oden said. “What he is learning is everyone is good here, everyone is fast. You have to play with that sense of urgency down in and down out. Things are going to go wrong and that the most important play for a cornerback is the next one. I think he will be just fine.

“He has confirmed some things we learned about him: He is a very passionate person, very prideful. He wants to do it right. Wants to do it the right way. He is smart and knows how to adjust.”

Banks seems to be, based mostly on Oden’s information, an extension of Leonard Johnson, who Oden highly praised for his exceptional work ethic. While Banks bragged how NFL receivers are no faster than SEC receivers, he will soon find out the NFL is not the SEC. It’s grown man football.

How quickly the Bucs’ secondary improves from last year may depend on how quickly Banks adjusts to the NFL. The strength of a secondary is tied to its weakest link. To date, no one suggested Banks is on Darrelle Revis’ level quite yet.