This morning, BSPN NFL insider Chris Mortenson reports this morning that Josh Freeman has not sparked trade talks but has got teams investigating a potential trade with the Bucs.

Apparently, Mortenson heard the rumors of Freeman’s off-the-field troubles and explained that NFL teams are digging.

“Under the CBA, it is an inquiring team’s right to know of any player’s otherwise confidential status in the substance abuse program, whether or not Freeman is one strike away from a suspension,” Mortenson said. “Thus, his performance, his remaining salary of more than $6 million, his pending free agency, and off field concerns need to be clarified for Freeman to emerge as an attractive trade option who would bring value to the Bucs before the trade deadline.”

The anxiously awaited Josh Freeman BSPN interview didn’t air yet this morning, but the network did just play a new snippet to tease readers.

It’s a cut of Freeman saying, “Physically, I’m playing the best football I’ve ever played.”

It’s an interesting comment by Freeman. Did anyone ever question his physical gifts? He looked — “physically” — pretty darn good four years ago shaking off pass rushers and using his legs.

The Bucs want to trade Josh Freeman. But as Joe’s stated previously, the Bucs can afford to be patient before the Week 8 trading deadline.

There’s no reason to give Freeman away for the first seventh-round pick that comes Tampa Bay’s way. And there’s little reason to worry that Freeman will become some sort of locker room cancer. That’s not in his personality, and even if it were, Freeman knows that would hurt is trade prospects.

So the Bucs are very much on an injury watch. If Alex Smith gets roughed up in Kansas City, if Andy Dalton blows a knee, if Jake Locker separates a shoulder, then Freeman could suddenly become a hot commodity. There are many other potential teams that would be willing to gamble on Freeman saving a potential playoff season if their current starter was lost.

Joe’s not about to root for another player’s injury, but it’s something to watch closely. Quarterbacks go down every year, and there are few, if any, backups better than Freeman.

Mike Glennon will have his share of surprises today in the Arizona Cardinals’ defense. With a injury-devastated linebackers corps, talk all this week from Cardinals coaches was about how the team will move away from its 3-4 defense and use a lot more 4-3 looks because they’re shorthanded at linebacker.

Simply stated, the Cardinals will be mixing it up not just to confuse Glennon but to cover holes in their front-7.

Also, John Abraham, officially a linebacker in the Cards defense, is healthy. And he’s expected to move into a full-time role versus the pass-rush specialist situation he was in.

Consensus out of Arizona is that the Cardinals will make Glennon beat them, loading the box against the run and blitzing him relentlessly. Arizona has playmakers in the secondary, so it’s hardly a bad strategy.

It looks like a beautiful day today in Tampa Bay, but as we all know, the weather locally can change in a snap. WTSP-TV Channel 10 meteorologist Kate Wentzel brings news of what Bucs fans can expect.

Greg Schiano told everyone that would listen prior to Wednesday that Josh Freeman was just a small piece of the Bucs’ offensive troubles in 2013. Schiano even defended Freeman on Monday. But then Freeman got the axe, without any other apparent changes to the offense.

Joe wondered whether Freeman taking the fall would mean other players felt guilty about letting their signal caller down. Wide receiver Kevin Ogletree acknowledged his slippery-fingers role and reminded Joe of the cutthroat business of the NFL.

JoeBucsFan.com: From Doug Martin to yourself and other receivers, there have been a lot of dropped passes this season. Is there any kind of feeling in the locker room of, ‘hey, we let Josh down.’

Kevin Ogletree: Yeah. You know, of course. But at the same time we’re all working our hardest. Collectively we haven’t gotten it done. So we’re just going to go about it with a workers mentality committing to getting better every day and finding out how we can improve.  That’ll be taken on by the receivers and the running backs. Obviously, things haven’t gone like we wanted them. There have been too many plays that we want to have back. I’m sure Josh understands, just like any other big time quarterback in the NFL. You know, it is a business. That’s all.

Joe’s glad Ogletree mentioned the “business” side of the Freeman move. It’s often forgotten.

Joe was told by someone of extreme importance this week that it is accurate to equate the Freeman defrocking with the trade of Aqib Talib last season. Talib, per Bucs officials at the time, became expendable because the team had decided he would not return under any circumstances in 2013. So while Freeman’s performance was at the core of the change to Mike Glennon, his contract status played a role.

But make no mistake, Joe remains sure that Freeman would still be the Bucs’ starting QB today if Tampa Bay was 1-2, versus 0-3. 

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Three-time Super Bowl winning quarterback Troy Aikman, appearing on FOX Football Daily, gives his take on the benching of Bucs franchise quarterback Josh Freeman in this video.

There is too much beer to swill to get stuck in traffic going to the Cardinals-Bucs game Sunday. So let award-winning traffic reporter Holley Sinn of WTSP-TV Channel 10 guide you through the mess. Holley even gives up her shortcut to the Stadium on Dale Mabry Highway.

Leave to the excellent Playbook crew and their NFL Network video team to document seven drops that victimized Josh Freeman in New England on Sunday.

Here’s the video. (Two drops not analyzed were ones Joe mentioned earlier by Doug Martin.) It’s former Pro Bowl center Shaun O’Hara who says he didn’t know that Josh stands for “just off somebody’s hands.

If the Bucs caught, say, four of those seven, Sunday’s scoreboard and Freeman’s stats likely look significantly different.

This could be great news for Bucs fans!

The offensive gurus of the New Schiano Order studied this film and determined Mike Glennon still gives the Bucs the best chance to win Sunday.

Supposedly, a strength of the Bucs is the offensive line. That hasn’t been the case. Had the Bucs had better blocking in the first game against the Jets, not one Bucs fan would be yelling the empty words “game-planning” or “play-calling” as crutches for why the team lost.

The plays (that franchise quarterback Josh Freeman could hear in his helemt) were just fine. The blocking wasn’t.

Part of the trouble is former Pro Bowler is and all around good guy David Joseph isn’t quite 100 percent ready after his knee surgery last year, documents Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune.

Pro Bowl RG Davin Joseph has been back in the lineup for close to a month after recovering from a 2012 knee injury. While Schiano thinks Joseph has played well, he doesn’t think Joseph has regained his Pro Bowl form.

“Is he back to his old self? I don’t think so,’’ Schiano said. “He just hasn’t had enough reps yet. But I do think he’s playing at a high level and now the job is just to shine it up.’’

Well, here’s the thing: The Bucs better get healthy and in football shape pretty damned quick. There is little to no margin for error any longer.

With Mike Glennon now the Bucs quarterback, his speed springs to mind what former Boston pitcher Bill “Spaceman” Lee once said about Detroit slugger Al Kaline. “He’s so slow he has pigeon s(p)it on his shoulders.”

Glennon is about as stationary of a target as it gets in the NFL. With Doug Martin almost assuredly going to get at least 25 carries tomorrow — and the Cardinals loading the box to stop him —  the offensive line will have to be at its best, or it will be a long, long, long day for Bucs fans and their punter.

Former Bucs secondary coach Herm Edwards offers tough love advice for Bucs franchise quarterback Josh Freeman in this BSPN video.

Let Joe offer a riddle: Say Bucs quarterback Mike Glennon gets hurt because he is such a stationary target. What then? What does Schiano do when the Bucs face the Eagles after the bye?

Yeah, it looks like the immortal Dan Orlovsky is the answer, as expected thanks to Bucs commander Greg Schiano’s non-denial yesterday that Bucs franchise quarterback Josh Freeman is the No. 3 quarterback. Unfortunately, Orlovsky is beyond abysmal.

Former Super Bowl quarterback Rich Gannon believes the Bucs cannot return to Freeman. So he told his partner of “The Blitz,” Bruce Murray, heard exclusively on SiriusXM NFL Radio.

“I was a little surprised [Freeman’s benching] happened so soon,” Gannon said. “It sounds like they have pushed the panic button. You look at how poorly he has played you get the sense he is holding back the rest of the offense. I think they are looking for a spark. Problem is when you make this change so soon, it is almost impossible to go back.”

So what if Glennon is hurt and Orlovsky is atrocious? What then?

It sure seems as if, by going against the team’s (and Schiano’s) direct orders not to go to BSPN, that Freeman has burned whatever goodwill may be left between himself and Schiano.

It sure smells like Freeman will never take another snap with the Bucs.

“Don’t let that pencil neck fool you. This Glennon kid’s got a rocket in that right arm. NASA might have to register that *&^%’n thing. You turn the damn college tape on and he’s Brett Favre with five inches and a brain the size of a basketball.”

Good Ol’ Chucky loves every football player, but Joe’s surely not going to urinate on the words of praise Jon Gruden has for rookie Bucs gunslinger Mike Glennon. Chucky said Glennon may be the smoothest

Chucky spent many hours of film preparation for his annual BSPN special on soon-to-be-drafted quarterbacks, and he recalled recently the ways in which Glennon was elite. NFC South blogger Pat Yasinskas shared yesterday.

“When I worked with Glennon, I told him there are some things he did better than anyone else in college football last year,’’ Gruden said. “Specifically, he can flat-out drive the football. The guy can absolutely hum it. Glennon can throw the ball to the wide side of the field effortlessly. In college, with the wider hashmarks, when you throw the ball to the wide side of the field, it’s a big-time throw. In fact, there are some programs that don’t even attempt it — they don’t even bother asking a QB to attempt a wide-side throw down the field. That’s not the case with Glennon.

“This guy can make some really difficult down-the-field throws. If you watch the camp session with Glennon, you’ll see we went through a “Fox Two XY Hook.” I coached that pattern for 18 years. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a QB at any level throw it with the ease Glennon can. Brett Favre threw a certain second-reaction post, by my count, about four times in his career. I saw Glennon throw it four times last season.”

Chucky picked the Bucs to win the NFC South, and given this scouting on Glennon, perhaps Bucs fans will be uplifted with renewed up of turning an 0-3 start into something special.

Joe wonders how Chucky will eventually scout Josh Freeman for BSPN in some sort of “where-can-Freeman-fit” feature? Ironically, Freeman was dominant in 2010 running Chucky’s playbook under Greg Olson. (Yes, that was Chucky’s playbook. Earnest Graham detailed that to Joe.)

Will Brinson, prickly Pete Prisco and Pat Kirwan break down the Cardinals-Bucs game in this CBS Sports video. Find out why they feel sorry for Bucs quarterback Mike Glennon.

Something to keep an eye on Sunday is Doug Martin’s ability to hold on to the football.

Yes, Martin is a true Bucs superstar and being critical of him feels like an act of treason. But the reality is Martin has dropped too many balls thrown his way in this young season.

Greg Schiano even acted like acknowledging those drops is painful to his tongue. Speaking on his radio show Monday, Schiano wouldn’t use the word drops but talked around the two balls Martin couldn’t catch in New England by calling them hot throws Martin needed to squeeze. Schiano also said the Bucs “still think” Martin is a third-down running back.

Yesterday, asked about Martin’s hands, Schiano again seemed uncomfortable admitting Martin has struggled.

“Is he having some problems holding on to the ball?” a reporter asked.

“Yeah, I don’t know. I wouldn’t go there yet. I wouldn’t say that yet,” Schiano said. “We as a team have had more drops than I would have liked. I think Doug’s going to be just fine as a receiver this year. He’s shown that he can do it in this league and I think he will.”

Yes, Martin is an amazing running back, but the jury is still out on his hands. Joe would like to see the Bucs diversify their offense and throw some balls to Brian Leonard and/or Erik Lorig out of two-back sets.

A little Arizona perspective on Sunday’s game from this AZCentral.com video. Their scribes talk about matching up with Adrian Clayborn and how the Cardinals will go after Mike Glennon but “they don’t have much to throw at him.” It’s also comical/sad to hear their take on the state of the Bucs.

Veteran sportscaster Dave Wirth, of WTSP-TV, Ch. 10, weighs in with a preview of Sunday’s Cards-Bucs game. Wirth includes a worthwhile take on Mike Glennon’s skill set versus other recent successful rookies and young QBs.

Gabe Carimi started at left guard for the Bucs in the opening two games, but he’s sort of disappeared for nearly two weeks with an undisclosed illness.

“He’s been out all this time. So it’s not something, it’s certainly something significant,” Schiano said today. “But other than that I can’t go into more.” 

Is it MRSA-related? Schiano was asked. “No,” replied the head coach.

There are rules — written and unwritten — that prevent teams from revealing non-football issues that keep players off the field.

Joe can only hope Carimi isn’t in a life-threatening physical or mental condition.