Welcome to the hot seat, Coach.

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NFL Network and the NFL.com team are busy talking quarterbacks with scouts and movers and shakers at the Senior Bowl. [read more]

Nobody thrives in the draft like Packers GM Ted Thompson, but even he nailed two expensive free agency signings last year.

As Joe wrote earlier this week, Jason Licht sounds like a guy ready to dive into the deep end of the free agency pool on March 10. That wasn’t the first time Licht talked about a Year 2 shopping outing with Team Glazer’s checkbook.

While Tampa Tribune voice Woody Cummings thinks otherwise, a former Buccaneer believes Lovie Smith and Licht have no choice. [read more]

A national NFL voice offers his two cents on Dirk Koetter.

The past few months have been such an awful trainwreck for the Bucs; Joe doesn’t know where to begin. The end of the season was probably a late Christmas present.

About the only thing that has gone right for the team, aside from the season coming to an end and winning the Chase for Jameis, was the hire of Dirk Koetter as offensive coordinator. [read more]

Some regular readers of JoeBucsFan.com are troubled by a black box that sometimes appears on their screen when viewing stories and comments here. Take a deep breath. It’s supposed to be there. (Gasp!)

For most people, the box fills in immediately with a cute video ad from Rich Eisen of NFL Network. It’s not seen on every page, and it’s a Super Bowl campaign that won’t last long. Isn’t it wonderful that businesses see the value in helping Joe cover the Bucs 24/7 and avoid eating dog food?

Of course, readers are welcome to click the X and not watch the whole video. Yes, Joe realizes that’s a big chore.

Word seeping out of One Buc Palace suggests Lovie Smith has had his fill of big-name hunting in free agency.

Last March, Bucs fans were absolutely giddy when Lovie Smith broke out Team Glazer’s checkbook and went drunken sailor in an attempt to restock the team’s roster.

Anthony Collins, Alterraun Verner, Michael Johnson, Clinton McDonald, Evan Dietrich-Smith, Brandon Myers and Josh McCown all quickly came in weighted down with Team Glazer cash ready to march the Bucs back to both respectability and the playoffs. [read more]

Crab-legs-stealing, BB-gun-shooting, obscenity-hollering, Heisman-Trophy-winning, former national champion Jameis Winston, the pride of Florida State University, continues to look like a much better quarterback prospect than Mike Glennon and Josh McCown.

It’s Joe’s daily nugget on the Jameis Watch, celebrating the best quarterback to wear No. 5 ever in the state of Florida. [read more]

New Bucs offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter

Former Bucs offensive coordinator Jeff Tedford told Joe he thought Lovie Smith and friends were concerned about his health in 2015 and beyond, so they wouldn’t commit to bringing him back, despite being healthy and ready to coach in November. [read more]

Brand new head coaches often are busy establishing their programs and doing extensive scouting of their new team’s existing roster.

They’re way to busy to scout college talent. It’s a different story for Lovie Smith. [read more]

Former Bucs QB Josh Freeman is trying to revive his dormant career.

One of the biggest mysteries in the Tampa Bay area this side of the secretive Bucs cheerleader selection process is what has happened to former franchise quarterback, leaky, sleepy Josh Freeman.

Rumors surfaced in 2014, claiming Freeman was working out with Chucky to refine his quarterback skills. Apparently, Freeman has moved on. [read more]

Crab-legs-stealing, BB-gun-shooting, obscenity-hollering, Heisman-Trophy-winning, former national champion Jameis Winston, the pride of Florida State University, continues to look like a much better quarterback prospect than Mike Glennon and Josh McCown.

It’s Joe’s daily nugget on the Jameis Watch, celebrating the best quarterback to wear No. 5 ever in the state of Florida. [read more]

NBC Sports Network analyst and SiriusXM NFL Radio’s Ross Tucker is no fan of Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston.

The debate is all the rage and will unlikely die until after April’s NFL draft, and likely carry on for years to come. For Joe, it’s fun.

Yesterday, good guy Ross Tucker of SiriusXM NFL Radio and NBC Sports did a cannonball off the top diving board into the deep end of the pool of who the Bucs should draft with the No. 1 pick, Jameis Winston or Marcus Mariota. [read more]

Seattle guard James Carpenter

Bucs general manager Jason Licht didn’t hide from his rough 2014 dive into free agency. But Licht also was very clear on who he thought was his big score of the year.

That has Joe wondering whether the Bucs’ brass will head back to where they were most successful in free agency. [read more]

Hard to imagine Bucs OT Anthony Collins “falling” because he has just about hit rock bottom.

Joe gets a chuckle out of the mockers who breathlessly claim a player is “rising” or “falling” because of one game or two. NFL general managers do, too.

Players don’t skyrocket or plummet based on one game or even one interview. It is all a piece of a big, big puzzle. [read more]

If Eagles strongman Chip Kelly has no use for Nick Foles, why should the Bucs?

With apologies up front, Joe doesn’t get it. Joe just doesn’t understand how too many (and one is too many, frankly) Bucs fans are pitching a tent over the (planted?) Philly media story that Chip Kelly is willing to trade half of his team to move up in the first round to snatch his former pupil, Marcus Mariota.

This ought to scare the hell out of Bucs fans. [read more]

Bucs GM Jason Licht details why the Bucs are not coaching in the Senior Bowl.

One benefit (?) of a team finishing with the worst record in the NFL is that said coaching staff gets to coach a team in the Senior Bowl, and allegedly get inside information on prospective draftees unavailable to other teams.

So when the Bucs declined to coach the Senior Bowl, many Bucs fans got agitated thinking the Bucs passed up a rare opportunity to get an edge in the draft. [read more]

It was time again for the weekly JoeBucsFan Hour, when Joe sits down every Tuesday at 5 p.m. with the dean of Tampa Bay sports radio, Steve Duemig of WDAE-AM 620.

There was plenty of debate, agreement and disagreement on various fronts. [read more]

So the Eagles ran off their general manager and handed the checkbook at the keys to the cupboard to Chip Kelly a few weeks ago. Ever since, legitimate rumblings out of Philadelphia peg the Eagles as yearning to trade up with the Bucs.

Today, things got hotter. [read more]

The NFL did its best to force parity throughout the league 20 years ago by instituting a salary cap.

But look at the Patriots — and the Bucs — and one could conclude the NFL did not succeed. [read more]

New Bucs OC Dirk Koetter seems to have an open mind.

It doesn’t matter what scheme a coach believes in, the absolute biggest pet peeve Joe has about coaches is when they ram players to fit “their system.” It drives Joe bananas.

This type of tunnel vision often blows up organizations. [read more]

Dahson Hawk Goldson offers his take on the Jameis-Marcus debate.

For the second time in a week, Fox Sports Live had a Bucs player/former Bucs player on to discuss Tampa Bay and the NFL. Last night, it was safety Hawk Goldson’s turn.

In a sitdown with leggy Charissa Thompson, Hawk was pinned down when asked what quarterback he would prefer, Jameis Winston or Marcus Mariota. [read more]