It’s still baffles Joe that Bill Belicheat had so much love for helmet-wielding, cabbie-slugging, Adderrall-popping, coach-cussing, referee-charging, pistol-friendly, granny-hassling, injury-prone Aqib Talib.

Jimminy Christmas! This new Boston Herald story even claims Talib turned down a long-term deal from the Patriots in favor of the one-year, $5.5 million contract he’s got now.

Talib drew a gaggle of reporters this week at Patriots practice and the video is below. Talib can’t remember what month it is and talks about conditioning and contracts like only he can. Yes, Joe’s salivating at the thought of Talib covering Vincent Jackson when the Bucs head to New England in September.

Clayborn is sporting a changed look this season

Before the Bucs drafted Adrian Clayborn, Joe was big on the Iowa product. In his rookie year, Clayborn proved to be a monster, just ask Matty Ice, who likely wakes up on cold mornings still feeling Clayborn’s power the way Clayborn planted him into the turf of the Stadium on Dale Mabry Highway, forcing a fumble.

After a blown knee in his sophomore year, Clayborn is already working agility drills and said he appreciates his NFL status even more, so documents Woody Cummings of The Tampa Tribune.

“I think the main difference between this year and last year for me is that I’m a little more appreciative of the game of football now and what I have,” Clayborn said after Monday’s first offseason practice session.

“I don’t want to ever take that for granted, because I realize now that all it takes is one play and you could be out. One play and it could all be over for you, so, you know, knock on wood.”

Now Joe noticed Clayborn’s changed physique immediately Monday. Joe asked Clayborn if he dropped weight and Clayborn said he had, but not enough to reach his goal of a playing weight. That sure could have fooled Joe as svelte as Clayborn looked.

Basically, Clayborn has been working out like a madman since his knee injury and his upper body looks totally different, much more build up of the shoulders and arms it appears.

Clayborn is a good dude. A quiet guy, but a good dude and he’s the kind of guy Joe pulls for. If he keeps his body in shape like it is now, Joe will be very interested to see how his shift in body composition will change or enhance his play at right defensive end.

Start your day with the Morning Cup of Joe from HootersCalendar.com. And don’t forget to visit HootersCalendar.com for amazing videos, pictures and cool gifts. It’s Joe’s second favorite website.

Bucs news forthcoming.

If there is a more embarrassing arrest, Joe has not heard of it. [BrowardPalmBeach]

Dude was so drunk, he didn’t see the tree he slammed into. Thought his car just blew up while on the road. [Palm Beach Post]

Killer donkeys. [Daily News]

Man, Joe feels bad for Michael Crabtree, who seemed on the verge of breaking out. [PFT]

Did Merlot Joe set up Fernando Rodney to fail yesterday? [RaysIndex]

Now when Greg Schiano said after the end of last season that he wanted competition at quarterback, he wasn’t lying. Schiano wants competition at all positions. The cliché ”a rising tide lifts all boats” applies.

In Schiano’s mind, better competition — read: depth — makes for a better team. Guys on the second string want to play and by busting their tail, they put the fear of God in the minds of the suddenly-motivated starters. It’s a snowball effect.

Alan Dell doesn’t totally buy it. The Bradenton Herald columnist believes both Schiano’s words and actions are a signal to Freeman that he better be renting.

Even if Freeman has a great year next season and the Glazers throw a ton of money at him, there is no guarantee he’s Schiano’s guy.

They are friends and both said they talk about many things, including life off the field. That’s warm and fuzzy, but it has nothing to do with whether Schiano believes he is the best guy to lead his offense.

This is a fickle love affair that is a few interceptions away from imploding.

Dell sort of hits the nail on the head with a curveball not necessarily meant for the nail.

If Freeman has an All-Pro year, tosses 30 touchdowns with scant interceptions and the Bucs make it to the postseason if not win January games, does anyone really believe Freeman won’t suddenly be Schiano’s guy?

And if Freeman has a monster year, does anyone really believe Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik will let Freeman walk? He’d franchise him before he’d let him sign with another team.

What all of this means is, very simply, Freeman’s future is up to Freeman. Nothing more and nothing less.

Joe has zero issues with Bears middle linebacker Brian Urlacher. But why do some hold him to a different standard than Ronde Barber?

Joe has gone on record that Ronde Barber will be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame someday He probably won’t be a first-ballot Hall of Famer ,as it is extremely difficult for a defensive back not named “Ronnie Lott” to get in as a slam dunk.

Only a maximum of five “modern day” players can be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame annually. And Joe likes it like that.

It should be difficult for a player to get in the Hall because that truly means it is a club of the elite of the elites, unlike in baseball, which has devolved into the Hall of Pretty Good. Or worse, the basketball Hall of Fame, which pretty much lets anyone in the door.

One of the uneducated gripes about Ronde Barber has been that he is a system cornerback. Joe will get into that in a momen,t but for some reason, there are actually employed people who think a Cover-2 player is somewhat unworthy.

Joe wonders where those people are today? A truly great middle linebacker, Brian Urlacher, announced his retirement today. For the better part of his career, Urlacher played in a Cover-2 defense.

Still, Joe has yet to hear or read one person wave off Urlacher’s credentials as a “system player,” despite playing in the same system as Barber did his entire career.

Why the double-standard? If it’s good enough for Urlacher, why not Barber? If playing Cover-2 weakens Barber’s career numbers, then why isn’t Urlacher’s career likewise trivialized?

Yes, Urlacher will be in the Hall of Fame, too. Rather than some snob potentially mocking Urlacher as a “system player,” it would be much smarter for Urlacher’s detractors to point to a way-over-the-hill Jerome Bettis, who in his last home game freight trained Urlacher for a game-clinching touchdown in the snow and mud of Heinz Field.

Bucs offensive line coach Bob Bostad offered some rare public commenary

It’s darn rare to hear from — and see – Bucs offensive line coach Bob Bostad, who put in a heroic effort last season as the Bucs’ O-line did its share of circus juggling but still had a dominant running back and strong pass protection.

Buccaneers.com video captured Bostad yesterday chatting about his unit. (Click the link to watch.)

Interestingly, Bostad offered heavy praise of Demar Dotson, saying the Bucs’ right tackle has “catapulted” off his work last season.

This is encouraging, considering Dotson was the weak link on the line and the Bucs have yet to put solid competition alongside him.

Jeremy Zuttah and Donald Penn also received Bostad’s love in the video.

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Greg Schiano said rookie defensive tackle Akeem Spence is “tailor-made” for the Bucs’ tilted nose tackle position.

Rockstar general manager Mark Dominik also commented on how Spence could be a “Day 1″ starter.

But now, in Joe’s mind, the high hopes for Spence have hit a new level. Spence himself said Monday that he’s “expected to start.”

JoeBucsFan.com: Can you talk about the little things on coaching that you’ve picked up since you’ve been here that maybe opened your eyes a little bit?

Akeem Spence: I mean it’s real mental, because once coach says it to you once, I mean that’s all he’s going to tell you. And then you get in a meeting room and you’ve just got to bring it straight to walk-throughs and, you know, you can’t mess up. Like me, like I’m a guy I’m expected to start, so I’ve got to have it so I can be able to run with the [first team.] Because I know Gerald McCoy ain’t going to mess up. Bowers ain’t going to mess up. So I can’t mess up. So I got to be on top of my game. That’s the biggest thing, man.

Now Joe appreciates the Bucs laying high expectations on the fourth-round pick out of Illinois and seeing how he responds to the pressure and demands.

But Joe’s always nervous about the possibility of young players being gifted starting jobs. Kyle Moore, Sabby Piscitelli, and other ghosts of Bucs past come to mind.

Spence has veterans Derek Landri and Gary Gibson to fight with for playing time. Joe hopes the best player wins, and whoever does start at nose tackle better be ready to fill the shoes of Roy Miller. No, Miller was no Pro Bowler or pass rusher, but he was an anchor on the No. 1 run defense in the NFL and could have been re-signed inexpensively.

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Bucs safety Mark Barron positively decleated Robert Griffin III last year.

Despite starting for a team that finished south of a .500 record and experiencing some ups and downs in his rookie season, Bucs safety Mark Barron considers himself a lucky guy.

Last year, amid the whirlwind of the NFL combine, pro day, draft, rookie minicamp and then training camp, Barron sort of found normalcy with the guy who he lined up next to on Sundays, future Hall of Famer Ronde Barber.

Barber is gone, but he has been replaced by Pro Bowler Dashon Goldson. Oh, yeah, there’s also the best-in-the-business cornerback (when healthy), Darrelle Revis.

Barron confessed after the first practice of OTAs Monday that he’s been fortunate as he works to become “a veteran.”

“Somewhat, yes, but there are still some things I want to improve on,” Barron said. “I am a lot more comfortable, I will say that. I have to get a feel for my new teammates and do the best that we can do.”

That would be Goldson and Revis, but Barber is still on Barron’s mind.

“Just like with Ronde as far as learning things from him, I like learning and studying the game,” Barron said. “I picked up [tips] from him and now there are two more players I can pick up from. I feel like I am in great situation learning from three great players.

“I can learn a lot from both of these guys.”

If Barron can progress, along with the additions of Johnthan Banks, Goldson and Revis, damn, Joe can’t help but think the Bucs could very well have the best secondary in the NFL, worst to first.

Part Two of “Project Revis,” a series of NFL Network video reports with exclusive behind the scenes access at One Buc Palace, continued to document Bucs cornerback Darrelle Revis rehabilitate from a knee injury.

Revis is seen here doing agility drills on the Bucs’ practice fields with tackling dummies to hone his footwork.

Bucs director of sports medicine and performance Todd Toriscelli noted that most athletes he works with have four gears from zero to full sprint. But Revis, he said, is so fast he has five gears. Toriscelli tells NFL Network’s Andrea Kremer that Revis is running and working in third gear at this point in his rehab.

Yes, Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman continues to make news, even in the nondescript periods of OTAs.

Yesterday, NFL.com began a daily series of top quarterbacks under 25 and, as Gregg Rosenthal writes, Freeman is No. 10 in what Joe feels is a pretty thorough, and fair examination (the link has several Freeman videos).

Too often the Buccaneers dialed up the right play, got the coverage they were hoping for and the play wasn’t made. Routine throws were missed. Red zone tosses often didn’t give the receiver a chance. Freeman’s accuracy came and went, and I didn’t see Freeman anticipate or go to his second read enough.

Occasionally, Freeman didn’t see the open man, but it’s been more common to see him just a beat late on a throw like on the play below. Often, the timing was just off. Freeman sometimes would think a receiver was going to sit down on a route, but a miscommunication happened.

Freeman’s first-round talent has shown up in his four NFL seasons. He owns every tool you look for in a quarterback; he just hasn’t shown the ability to do it consistently. He’s shown enough that there’s hope Freeman can be a top-10 NFL quarterback for a team that regularly contends for the playoffs and Super Bowl. He has that type of skill set.

Now, maybe the last time for a few days, Joe will touch upon Schiano’s recent comments to NationalFootballPost.com about Mike Glennon potentially starting.

Schiano said something Monday, in his animated if not entertaining press conference after the first practice of OTAs, that maybe he is too much of a straight shooter with national reporters and, with a twinkle in his eyes, said, “Josh knows how I feel… and so does Mike Glennon. … It’s May. We have to write about something. There needs to be news.”

Bravo, coach. Bravo!