Chess or checkers?

Joe remembers when he was a hardcore baseball fan and being a National League guy, Joe didn’t sweat what the Yankees or Red Sox did or didn’t do.

(Very few things get Joe to change the channel on his TV quicker than any reference to the Yankees or Red Sox. Joe. Just. Doesn’t. Care!)

Still, Joe admired George Steinbrenner. He was beyond aggressive. Had very high standards. All owners should have been like Steinbrenner and demand excellence — or else!.

One thing Steinbrenner was notorious for was he would acquire players not so much because he could use them, Steinbrenner just didn’t want them picked up by the Red Sox. The classic case of that was Jose Canseco. New York had no use or need for him, other than to keep him out of Boston.

Mark Sessler, formerly of NFL.com who now co-hosts an NFL podcast, Heed the Call, with his (former) NFL.com colleague Dan Hanzus, said recently, without mentioning Steinbrenner, that the Bucs in this week’s draft should pull a Steinbrenner.

That is, draft player(s) who the Stinking Panthers might draft. You kill two birds with one stone, Sessler believed. You build up your own roster by keeping dudes away from Carolina.

In particular, Sessler thinks Carolina is going to target a receiver at No. 19. Sessler, who is not enamored with the Bucs receivers post-Mike Evans era, thinks that is how Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht should play chess Thursday night.

“I watched this offense fall apart [last year],” Sessler said. “The whole team fell apart down the stretch. Like, you can’t have it happening on the Todd Bowles defense as well.

“That said, like they’re a little light at wide receiver, and I think it’s going to be really interesting to see … what happens with this wideout class, and also look at Kenyon Sadiq, who’s sitting here at 15 because you don’t [want them] to go to the Panthers.

“You want to steal that guy away from them. But also fortify a wideout group that does not look the same right now.”

Sessler brought up a couple of interesting points. Emeka Egbuka went invisible the second half of the season. There had to be a reason. What was it? Can it or has it been resolved?

Sessler also did not like how Chris Godwin had so many drops last year and he fears Godwin is on the downside of his career. Can he rebound?

No, Sessler did not mention Jalen McMillan.

Joe isn’t sure receiver is the way to go, not in the first round. Maybe later with Denzel Boston, OK. Joe can just imagine how both Bucs fans and national talking heads would howl like a lost coyote if the Bucs drafted a receiver at No. 15. LOL

But yeah, Joe is already on record he is very much on board with drafting Sadiq.

But pulling a Steinbrenner and drafting a guy at No. 15 just so he can’t be used against you by the Stinking Panthers, this ain’t baseball. Joe’s not sure that’s very smart.