So Antonio Bryant’s days with the Bucs are over. Joe is very sad about this.

Even the good people of the NFL Network are aware of what Bryant meant to the Bucs. So they put together a highlight package of his top plays as a Buccaneers wide receiver.

Click here and enjoy and realize what the Bucs will be missing this fall.

When the Bucs tendered wide receiver Maurice Stovall last week, it was Christmas in February for Stovall.

That’s because he had his salary doubled, per Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune.

Stovall was a third-round pick of the Bucs in 2006 and he was given an original draft position tender, which carries with it a $1.176 million salary for 2010 .

Stovall is hardly an All-Pro receiver, instead he’s dynamite on special teams. Still, he’s worth more than Michael Clayton.

Let’s do some quick math:

In 2009, Stovall had his best season in his four years with the Bucs. He had 15 catches and a touchdown for 366 yards, an average of 15.3 yards a catch.

In 2009, Michael Clayton had 16 catches (and too many drops to count) for 230 yards and a touchdown for an average of 14.4 yards a catch.

To be fair, Joe wasn’t able to retrieve any blocking information about Stovall.

Joe apologizes for not bringing this to you sooner.

Whether the Bucs draft Tennessee stud safety Eric Berry or not remains to be seen. If that happens, Berry just might fit like a glove.

Of course his defensive coordinator at Tennessee last year was Monte Kiffin, the father of the Bucs’ Tampa-2 defense. This, Berry feels, gives him an edge with the Bucs as he spoke on WCNN-AM 680 in Atlanta.

“One of the biggest things that I learned from Monte was actually getting into the mind of defensive coordinators.  When we are in meetings and things like that he doesn’t tell you the play that he is calling.  He actually tells you why he called the play and what situations he is going to call it so you can actually get in the mind of a defensive coordinator and you kind of see yourself anticipating what he going to call on third and short or second and long and things like that.  I think that is what he taught me the most probably.

“[I'm r]eally focused on getting [to Indianapolis] and talking to the coaches and seeing what they really have to say.  A lot of the mock draft stuff could be true or couldn’t be true so I really stay out of that and really try to get it from the direct source.  Obviously if I do go to Tampa, I know their whole playbook so that would be a plus.  If I just take care of what I need to take care of and get ready to play someone is going to have to get me.”

Joe has a feeling if the Bucs draft Berry, he will fit in perfectly and understand the defense as a rookie much better than Sabby the Goat will entering his third season.

(Hat tip to Anwar Richardson of the Tampa Tribune.)

Like most personnel decisions, the rationale behind the Bucs not re-signing talented wide receiver Antonio Bryant was based on a number of factors.

Sure, salary played a part. So too did his age. Also, his injuries were a concern.

But Woody Cummings, of the Tampa Tribune, did some research and through his sources learned the Bucs were concerned about Bryant freelancing too much on routes. In particular, Bucs staffers felt Bryant caused a few of quarterback Josh Freeman’s interceptions because he was not running crisp routes.

Precision was another issue. It turns out that Bryant is a bit of a free lancer when it comes to running his routes and that penchant for being off just a tad resulted in a handful of picks for Freeman last year.

Bucs insiders won’t say how many of Freeman’s 18 interceptions were the result of imprecise routes run by Bryant, but the number was apparently big enough and the problem chronic enough that the Bucs felt a need to move on and get someone else to be their top wideout.

Keep that in mind as the search begins for a replacement. What the Bucs want in their new top target is something of a perfectionist, someone who, in addition to making the great leaping catches that Bryant made, will further help his quarterback by running an 8-yard curl or a 12-yard dig when the play calls for an 8-yard curl or a 12-yard dig.

Now before people pile on, Joe knows that imprecise routes, even off just slightly, can result in unwanted results. Did Bryant’s spectacular catches and ability to stretch the field make up for freelancing? It appears the Bucs didn’t think so.

Consider also that the Bucs have admitted in no uncertain terms the main goal currently is to develop Freeman.

If Bryant’s less than accurate routes did indeed result in a number of interceptions, perhaps the Bucs feared this would lead to Freeman’s confidence being crushed and therefore, his development would be stunted if not destroyed.

Think this is trivial? Look at Freeman’s salary figures compared to Bryant’s.

Pat “Vacation Man” Yasinskas, of BSPN.com, did some chillin’ at Disney World with Josh Freeman on Friday.

And Raheem The Dream’s bride revealed that he’s been watching film of college receivers with Greg Olson and Alex Van Pelt, who are interested in his opinion as they consider who the Bucs might draft to fill their many holes at wide receiver.

Now Joe doesn’t believe for a minute that the Bucs’ brass give a crap about Freeman’s opinion — he says he likes Jordan Shipley out of Texas — but Joe thinks it’s nice to make the kid feel wanted. However, Joe would prefer Freeman spend all his film watching legendary NFL quarterbacks.

Despite all that receiver study, Freeman told Vacation Man he would have the Bucs select manbeast Ndamukong Suh with their No. 3 pick.

“I would love to see Suh here,’’ Freeman said.

The Bucs would be wise to listen to Freeman’s thoughts on Suh because their quarterback knows the defensive tackle very well. They first became friends as teammates in a high-school all-star game, saw each other frequently as college foes and were hanging out together at the Super Bowl in Miami a few weeks ago.

“He basically lived in my backfield every time I played against Nebraska,’’ said Freeman, who played at Kansas State. “The drive that that guy has is unbelievable. He’s going to be a great teammate for whoever he goes to. The guy makes plays. He gets in the backfield and nobody can block him. They’re trying to figure out what’s going to help our team the most. If it’s a receiver, it’s a receiver. If it’s get Suh, it’s getting Suh. Anyway you look at it, I’m excited.’’ 

Joe’s not going to moan if the Bucs draft Suh, although there’s no way to know at this point what the team is thinking.

Joe suspects that the Bucs might tip their hand if pricey, almost-32-year-old Chris Hovan is cut in the coming days.

Yesterday, Joe ran a story from Yahoo! Sports’ Jason Cole that detailed a horribly obnoxious, if not grossly misinformed line of questioning a member of the Bucs staff lodged at Rhodes Scholar Myron Rolle.

Rolle, a former Florida State safety, left FSU — with the school’s, team’s and coaching staff’s blessing — to take advantage of a rare opportunity to study at Oxford, an opportunity afforded only a fraction of the world’s populous.

In short, Rolle pulled an academic version of declaring for the draft after his junior year.

Per the Yahoo story, a Bucs staffer suggested to Rolle at the Senior Bowl he was a deserter during a Bucs interview with Rolle.

The story would have gone viral had Joe not run the story on a Friday afternoon. But it got enough eyeballs that Bucs general manager Mark Dominik — who Joe personally likes a great deal and respects — felt compelled to address the issue while attending the NFL combine in Indianapolis.

Speaking to Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune, Dominik said the line of questioning was not the way it was reported by Cole.

According to Bucs General Manager Mark Dominik, who was in on the interview along with Bucs coach Raheem Morris, the question that was actually asked of Rolle was “Did you feel like you deserted your team’’ by going to Oxford.
The difference isn’t all that subtle. One suggests the Bucs accused Rolle of abandoning his team while the other suggests the Bucs simply had an interest in learning how Rolle felt about leaving his team.

One thing that can’t be debated is Rolle’s feelings about the question. The safety, who is projected to be a late-round selection at best, was clearly taken aback by the query.

Cummings is correct. The wording of the question Dominik cites is far different than the wording that Cole quoted. The inference is far, far different, and quite appropriate.

If Dominik’s version is accurate, Joe hereby apologizes for being so harsh on the staffer in question. (Of course, if Cole’s version is accurate, Joe takes nothing back.)

However, Joe was not in the room when Rolle was questioned. Now, it’s a he-said, he-said issue, provided Cole was quoting Rolle accurately.

It seems though that the way Rolle interpreted the question, he believed it to be below the belt.

As always, if Joe wrongs an individual, Joe offers an unedited, open forum for the party in question to respond to any charges or accusations.

For weeks, various Bucs beat writers have claimed the Bucs likely would be parting ways with Byron Leftwich next week because he was due a $3.5 million roster bonus.

It turns out that was baloney.

Lefwich didn’t play enough games to hit the bonus, so Mark Dominik told the Tampa Tribune on Friday.

The Bucs have decided to keep quarterback Byron Leftwich, at least for now, and could carry as many as four quarterbacks into their offseason program. It was expected the Bucs would release Leftwich before a $3.5 million roster bonus was due, but the bonus did not kick in because he didn’t play in enough games, Dominik said.

So now Lefwich will have to make the Bucs roster in order to earn his $2 million 2010 salary. Or, of course, the Bucs could play wait-and-see and try to trade him for the pittance he might return. 

Joe’s curious to see if Leftwich will try and force the Bucs hand by not showing up for voluntary offseason training activities.

Joe isn’t sure a day goes by that some commenter on this very site cites that the Bucs are cheap.

Tom Edrington of the Bleacher Report doesn’t appear to be much of a fan of Bucs general manager Mark Dominik. Edrington, paging his best Dan Ruth prose, roasts Dominik for many wasted millions.

The biggest failure was shown the door this week.

Mark Dominik, the Wizard of Waste, has sent Antonio Bryant packing. Yes, No. 89, he of the franchise tag, he of the $9.88 million salary last season.

For close to $10 million, Dominik, the Dumper of Dollars, paid AB a tad more than $256,000 per catch. Nice work if you can get it.

But there are more.

Joe isn’t sure this can all be pinned on Dominik. Joe learned through a trusted source last week that Dominik was, well, less than pleased that Ward was seldom used through most of the season. Notice Dominik doesn’t decide who plays.

Joe would suggest Domink’s biggest mistake in wasteful spending was not Antonio Bryant. Rather, it was (and is) another receiver: Michael Clayton. 

You know, the guy that can block?

A Bucs fan called “The Blitz” Friday morning — not to be confused with Joe’s good friend Justin Pawlowski’s “The Blitz” — heard exclusively on Sirius NFL Radio, asking co-hosts “The Godfather” Gil Brandt and Alex Marvez of FoxSports.com about the Bucs’ plans for the draft.

The caller asked about two specific players the Bucs may pick at No. 3, South Florida defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul and Tennessee safety Eric Berry.

Brandt isn’t overly enamoured with Pierre-Paul and thinks the Bucs can get better value at safety with another SEC star.

“You talk about Pierre-Paul from South Florida, he only has nine games of major college football,” Brandt said. “He has long arms and everything you look for, but that scares you with a guy with that limited amount of experience.”

Marvez began to laud Berry when Brandt came up with an interesting plan.

“Eric Berry, there has not been a safety to come out this talented since Rod Woodson,” Marvez said.

Brandt, the former architect of the famed Cowboys dynasty of the 1970s,  agreed but suggested the Bucs should not draft him at No. 3.

“Berry is a quality player and may be a top-five talent but I would not draft him in the top five,” Brandt said. “Historically, safeties are not drafted that high. Maybe Berry can play corner? You can get a guy like [Chad] Jones from LSU who may not be quite as good but you can get him in the second round.

“Do you want to pick someone a little too high or wait until the second round?”

Time to play Guess the 2009 Buccaneer.

• * Bothered by a knee injury.

• * Missed two games.

• * Produced well below expectations.

• * Earned a fat paycheck.

• * Unhappy about not getting the ball.

• * Far too old to be part of “the plan.”

So who is he?

That sure sounds like Antonio Bryant, who the Bucs waved good-bye to this week. But the answer is Derrick Ward. The only difference is Bryant missed three games and Ward missed two. Ward’s also a year older.

With the Bucs offering restricted free agent Cadillac Williams a one-year tender on Friday, Joe would be stunned if Ward plays for the Bucs in 2010, assuming Cadillac takes the $2.2 million deal, which was reported by Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune.

When Raheem the Dream told the media Bryant wasn’t in the plans, he said, “We’re going in a young direction.”

Joe’s expecting to hear the same song when the Bucs find a way to dump Ward.

Veteran player agent Ralph Cindrich

Joe recently chatted about the NFL combine and players’ draft strategy with former NFL linebacker and current agent Ralph Cindrich. A graduate of Pitt, Cindrich was drafted by Atlanta in the fifth round in 1972. He played five years in the NFL, also logging time for Denver, Houston and New England.

Notable former Bucs that Cindrich represented were Paul Gruber, Vinny Testaverde and Brian Griese. Cindrich also was a key behind-the-scenes figure in facilitating the infamous Herschel Walker trade between Dallas and Minnesota.

Cindrich has represented 27 Pro Bowlers over the years, but has only a handful of NFL clients today. Instead, he is a consultant for DeBartolo Sports, having sold his sports agency to that firm some five years ago.

Among other topics, Cindrich explains how Twitter, Facebook and other social media Web sites play a role in evaluating players, and Cindrich gets into the interview process, plus explains what agent-player tactic takes a hefty set of balls.

Enjoy….{+}

Not all college football players are Larry Phillips or Fred Rouse, who beat up women, steal from teammates and generally try to see how much weed they can smoke every day before getting thrown in jail or thrown out of school.

Take Tim Tebow for example. There are fewer better people walking the planet than him, much less football players of any sort.

Myron Rolle is another example. The Rhodes Scholar wants to be a doctor and already has set up a foundation to fund a health clinic in the Bahamas. One of his life’s goals is to find out why so many native Americans are afflicted with juvenile diabetes, among other illnesses.

As Mike Mayock said about Rolle, “His intangibles are off the charts.”

So Joe nearly fell out of his chair when he read Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports detail how, during interviews at the Senior Bowl last month, a member of the Bucs’ contingent that interviewed Rolle had the unmitigated gall to call out Rolle to his face as some sort of a traitor.

During a 45-minute interview before the Senior Bowl in January with seven members of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers staff, including head coach Raheem Morris and general manager Mark Dominik, one member of the staff asked Rolle what it felt like to desert his team this season.

“I hadn’t heard that one before,” said Rolle, who pauses ever so slightly before answering to consider his thoughts. “My initial reaction was a bit of confusion. It never was anger, but I was more bothered by the question because if anyone knew my involvement with my teammates, how much they care about me and how much I care about them.”

Nice research there by the Bucs, huh?

Joe doesn’t know where to begin. Joe is so stunned, he is having a hard time being outraged.

Joe knows whoever this mental midget was that asked Rolle that question was likely trying to draw a reaction out of Rolle, but really!?

Let’s see: Rolle had a once in a lifetime opportunity to further his education at the highest of the world’s higher institutes of learning; an honor very, very, very few people are afforded — all with the blessing of the school, coaching staff and team he attended and played for — and some asswipe who likely has a two-bit physical education degree from some low-rung land grant state directional school has to gall to ask that question?

So Joe guesses this asswipe employee of the Bucs also considers every junior who enters the draft a deserter as well?

No wonder the Bucs cut Warrick Dunn, why, he deserted his siblings after his mother was murdered to leave his hometown to attend college, the absolute nerve this lowlife Dunn had! The Bucs cannot have someone of such ill repute on their squad!

Derrick Brooks helps launch a school for God’s sake. Nope, can’t have his ilk sully the roster. The Bucs need more guys to slug cabbies in the grill Joe assumes?

If Bucs general manger Mark Dominik — who Joe personally likes a great deal and has a lot of respect for — has any balls he would either force this scumbag who went after Rolle to publicly apologize or he should have his ass demoted to clean out urinals at the CITS after games.

What next, the same guy is going to ask some player who grew up in a fatherless home what’s it like to have a whore for a mother?

Or maybe the same derelict is going to ask Tebow if he’s a homosexual since he hasn’t had sex with a woman yet?

This is just absolutely beyond the pale and Joe is sick right now to call himself a Bucs fan!

The word “shameful” doesn’t begin to describe what some asshole asked Rolle.

Rolle (and Tebow) are all that’s right about sports.

Whoever this jerk was who works for the Bucs who went after Rolle is such a way is all that’s terrible about sports.

There are better, more professional and dignified ways to get a rise out of an interviewee than that.