Safety Mark Barron started his pro career coming off double hernia surgery last season. He got off to a strong start, but clearly hit a rookie wall and finished up as an every-game starter for arguably the worst secondary in NFL history.

Barron is one of the great X-factors of this Bucs season.

When you’re the seventh overall NFL Draft pick, as Barron was in 2012, you absolutely must become an impact player. The Bucs drafted Barron to be just that, and the guy’s been gifted two excellent mentors in Ronde Barber and Dashon Goldson. Plus, rockstar general manager Mark Dominik made a very bold statement drafting Barron ahead of Carolina linebacker Luke Kuechly, an absolute stud who led the NFL in tackles and won the Defensive Rookie of the Year award last season. Joe can only imagine what the Bucs defense would look like with Kuechly at middle linebacker.

Barron is a quiet yet intense, football-crazed guy, almost the prototype “Buccaneer Man” under the New Schiano Order. 

Everything is set up for Barron to take a giant step this season. He’s healthy, in year 2 of the Schiano defense, and the presence of Goldson frees the Bucs to use Barron in ways more suited to his strengths.

One reason Barron was drafted was to cover the athletic basketball tight ends in the modern NFL. On Sunday, he’ll get DJ Toes On The Line Kellen Winslow, followed by Jimmy Graham and Rob Gronkowski. Joe wants to see Barron win a couple of those matchups.

If one is to believe the words from Jets coach Capt. Lou Albano, he still doesn’t know who will start for his team at quarterback when the Jets host the Bucs in the New Jersey Swamplands Sunday.

This is simply absurd to Joe. Just how exactly can the Jets build their offensive game plans without knowing who will be taking snaps? It’s Tuesday for goodness sakes. This is patently preposterous.

The SNY crew discusses the topic in this video.

It’s Jets Week at One Buc Palace. Yes, the regular season is here. The Bucs are preparing to face the Jets in the New Jersey Swamplands in just five days — five days! — which could be the start of a magical season, or the beginning of a nightmare.

Such is the NFL, trying to figure out what rollercoaster to ride.

Woody Cummings was hanging out at One Buc Palace on an otherwise national holiday and the Tampa Tribune scribe noticed a much different vibe in the Bucs locker room and from Bucs commander Greg Schiano, than in recent weeks.

In short, said Schiano, “It is time to make the doughnuts.”

“There’s definitely a renewed energy now,’’ Schiano said. “I mean, you go through training camp and it’s bang, bang, bang and there’s a kind of ‘Time to make the doughnuts’ mentality. But now, all of a sudden, we have a game — and soon.

“So now you get to where you’re spending a lot of hours game-planning, and that’s the fun part of coaching, where you actually take that scheme and mesh it into another team’s offense, defense and special teams.

“Now you’re fitting this coverage to their route or fitting this protection to their blitz. It’s very specific: ‘When you set here on so and so, be ready.’ Or, ‘This is how he’s going to run this route.’ ’’

The time for evaluation is over. If Schiano and his crew haven’t yet figured out who the best 53 men are, then there’s not much Joe can say. Instead of evaluating talent, Schiano and his staff are now poring over tape trying to find edges with the Jets.

This is the fun part of football, both for coaches but players and, yes, even fans.

Joe can just smell the sweat of players the season is so close.

Johnthan Banks knows what’s coming

Today’s quote of the day out at One Buc Palace goes to rookie Bucs cornerback Johnthan Banks.

Banks was asked about how the Jets and other teams are expected to target him as long as Darrelle Revis is on the opposite side of the field.

“Who wouldn’t?” Banks replied.  (You can hear the full audio below via 620WDAE.com.)

The Bucs’ cornerback depth again will be a huge storyline and key to the 2013 season. Have the Bucs found a starting caliber corner in Banks, this year’s second-round pick?

Let’s hope so. Danny Gorrer, Leonard Johnson and Michael Adams are not starter material in the NFL, and undrafted rookie Rashaan Melvin is obviously a question mark. The Bucs absolutely need Banks to succeed. Banking on a rookie is dangerous business, but Banks does have the pedigree.

It looks like it will be like old times in practice Sunday for Darrelle Revis and Santonio Holmes. Both are expected to play in the opener.

The Bucs kick off 2013 in six days against the New York Jets — six days! The Jets are a miserable bunch, so the Bucs are probably catching them at the worst time, before all hope is lost in Gotham and the inevitable meltdown occurs.

Right now, though, Jets fans are hopeful. One big reason is Darrelle Revis’ old practice rival, wide receiver Santonio Holmes. Reports out of New York have Holmes practicing today and primed to come out firing Sunday after foot surgery in the offseason.

Brian Bassett at TheJetsBlog.com likes what Holmes’ return might mean for matchups in the Bucs’ secondary.

As we expected, Santonio has been readying for regular season football and we expect he’ll be playing against the Bucs next weekend, potentially matched up on Revis.  That is fine, because that leaves Stephen Hill and/or Jeremy Kerley against some sort of Leonard Johnson/Dashon Goldson matchup.  Johnson ranked out as the 120th best cornerback in the 2013 preseason and while he’ll benefit from Revis, there’s room for the Jets to take advantage.

Of course, the Bucs should be able to rattle whatever quarterback lines up for the Jets, hopefully rookie Geno Smith.

But if the Bucs can’t generate much pass rush or can’t contain Smith’s scrambling early, what should be a sure victory against a bad team could turn into a very difficult road game. And in case you were wondering, DJ Toes On The Line is supposed to start at tight end for New York.

Former Bucs quarterback Shaun King

Happy Labor Day, Bucs fans! Joe thought he would bring his readers a treat. Last week NBC Sports NFL analyst Shaun King joined former Bucs guard Ian Beckles on WDAE-AM 620 for a full three hours of Bucs talk.

King, one of only three quarterbacks to lead the Bucs to an NFC title game, and Beckles are very worried about how the Bucs will pressure opposing quarterbacks. To be honest, Joe really can’t argue much with anything Beckles and King have to say about the subject. Click on the arrow below to hear their takes.

The Bucs’ pass rush last year was pretty much dismal. Sure, it hurt that right defensive end Adrian Clayborn was lost early to an ugly knee injury.

In Joe’s eyes, the Bucs, for the short-term, didn’t do much to help their pass rush. They let sack leader Michael Bennett walk for little and all but handed his duties to highly-touted Da’Quan Bowers, who has all but taken his gift and thrown it away in the Bay.

Bucs fans are on edge about the pass rush, or lack thereof and Clayborn doesn’t blame them, so he told Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune via Twitter.

@RCummingsTBO: Bucs DE Adrian Clayborn on doubters of Bucs pass rush. “We haven’t rushed that good in the past year so they have good reason to (doubt).”

Clayborn is right. It’s time to put up numbers, i.e. sacks. Why should Bucs fans feel comfortable about a non-existent pass rush when it appears on face value the defensive line has receded, not improved?

Sure, Akeem Spence appears to be a player on the rise. He has more skills than his predecessor, but as Bucs commander Greg Schiano said himself, he’s a rookie prone to rookie mistakes.

Joe thinks it is very telling that all three of the Bucs’ Day 3 defensive line draft picks made the final 53-man roster. That is almost unheard of and speaks to how thin if not weak the defensive line is, sans stud Gerald McCoy.

The Bucs pulled a surprise move yesterday signing the pride of Bowling Green and the MAC Defensive Player of the Year, DT Chris Jones, a rookie sixth-round pick of the Texans. Jones was waived by the Texans and gobbled up by the Bucs.

Joe knows many fans mock the MAC, but it’s produced several stud pros, and Jones racked up 12 1/2 sacks last year. That’s pretty darn rare for a tackle.

In this pre-draft interview below, Jones references a formal scouting combine interview with the Bucs, and talks about how he advised teams and scouts to watch his performance against the Gators to open the 2012 college football season. Joe also read a Toledo Blade story in which Jones said he thought the Bucs were going to draft him.

Joe suspects the Bucs wanted Jones, if they couldn’t get Akeem Spence, who they obviously snagged by trading up in the fourth round. Joe also suspects rookie William Gholston, the Bucs’ other rookie fourth-rounder, might be on thin ice with the presence of Jones.

Joe was very pleased yesterday to learn that Carl Nicks wasn’t designated to open the 2013 season on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list. That would have meant the All-Pro guard would have been shelved until Week 7, missing six games.

That gave Joe a lot of hope that Nicks would be recovered sooner rather than later from the MRSA infection in his foot and ready to roll after rehabilitating as best he can from his offseason toe/foot surgery.

If Nicks was in bad shape, then the Bucs surely would have preferred having the roster spot placing him on the PUP list would have opened, versus letting Nicks be an oversized cheerleader for a month or so.

Today at One Buc Palace, Greg Schiano didn’t rule out Nicks playing Sunday against the Jets in the season opener.

Joe would be stunned if that happened, but the mere fact that it’s possible if very encouraging.

Nicks and Davin Joseph on the field together would be a beautiful site for Bucs fans.

Since the Bucs placed kicker Lawrence Tynes on non-football injury list due to his battle with MRSA, he has been outspoken about how he believes he has been mistreated by the Bucs; his wife, Amanda, has been even more so.

Tynes has been so angry, he implied he contracted MRSA from a Bucs employee. No one will ever know for sure where and/or how he and guard Carl Nicks got infected, but Joe has learned, via Olive oil-lapping, popcorn-munching, coffee-slurping, fried-chicken-eating, oatmeal-loving, circle-jerking, beer-chugging, cricket-watching, scone-loathing, college football-naïve, baseball box score-reading Peter King on his new website, theMMQB.com, that Tynes is PO’ed because, all together now, it’s all about the money.

The Bucs signed Lawrence Tynes to be their kicker, but he came down with a serious infection, MRSA, that is resistant to antibiotics. So Rian Lindell won the kicking job, and Tynes, trying to get healthy, is bitter the team put him on the non-football injury list rather than injured reserve. The non-football injury status means Tynes won’t have this year count toward his NFL pension. His wife, Amanda, tweeted that the Bucs informed Tynes of the designation via email. That didn’t go over well in the Tynes household.

Joe should have known better. Tynes is getting roughly $900,000 this year. Not bad for not playing, though Joe is very sympathetic to his condition. MRSA is nothing to play around with.

If Tynes lives a long life, that $900,000 may not cover what he may lose in an NFL pension. Joe wouldn’t be surprised if Tynes tries some legal wrangling to try to recover that missed year of pension eligibility.

Gates open at 11:30 a.m. for another fantastic day of live greyhound racing. Derby Lane, on Gandy Boulevard in St. Pete, is a Tampa Bay institution. More important, Joe always has a blast out there playing poker, wagering and dining.

Bucs fans who want to be filled with a massive dose of hope and re-ignite their wildest dreams about the 2013 season really need to read this Darrelle Revis feature story in the New York Times.

Writer Ben Shpigel was in Tampa a couple of weeks ago for a couple of days spending all kinds of time with Revis. Joe had talked to Shpigel and hoped the feature would have been longer, but it is fantastic. Here’s an excerpt:

“Our goal was never to bring him back to where he was,” said Brett Fischer, the owner and founder of the Fischer Institute. “It was to bring him back even better.”

Early on, Fischer explained that objective to Revis, not to pump him up, but because he believed it would happen. Revis, Fischer said, approached his rehabilitation with a ferocity that bordered on obsessive. He began his upper-body weight lifting months earlier than usual. He demanded the training staff correct every mistake until his form was pristine. He adhered to a strict diet, eating three organic meals daily from a catering service.

Revis still abides by that dietary change. One afternoon, the rookie cornerback Johnthan Banks hollered, “KFC? Taco Bell?” to him from across the locker room. Revis laughed and said, “You know I don’t eat that stuff no more.”

Later, Banks said: “I knew the answer before I asked him. I was just doing my rookie duties.”

Another rookie duty for Banks is following around Revis, whom Dominik has taken to describing as the E. F. Hutton of cornerbacks. “When Darrelle talks,” Dominik said, “people listen.” Banks credits Revis with pointing out flaws in his technique. Leonard Johnson, a second-year cornerback, said Revis helped him to recognize hash-split alignments and better read receivers’ hips.

Joe wrote recently about how Revis inspires confidence and looks ready for opening day. He’s going to be an electric presence once game-week practice starts this afternoon.

Peter King of Sports Illustrated talks all things Darrelle Revis in this theMMQB.com video. Also, King has a hunch that will make the Mike Glennon Mob really, really, really happy.

The Bucs have been busy establishing their practice squad, and it’s got familiar names on it: tight end Danny Noble and wide receiver Chris Owusu.

Both spent significant time on the main roster last season.

Cornerback Deveron Carr, offensive lineman Jace Daniels, linebacker Ka’lial Glaud, defensive tackle Matthew Masifilo, and offensive tackle Mike Remmers are also in the mix, per CBS Sports.

Practice squad guys earn at least about $5,000 per week, but can be paid much more. Joe suspects Owusu commanded significantly more cash than the minimum to re-join the Bucs after getting cut yesterday.

Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik went discount shopping this afternoon for cut players who may help out the Bucs and signed a defensive tackle and a wide receiver, but those moves were bad news for wide receiver Tiquan Underwood and linebacker Najee Goode. To make room for the new signees on the 53-man roster, the Bucs released Underwood and Goode.

Per a release from the Buccaneers:

Chris Jones (6-2, 306) comes to Tampa Bay from Houston, where he was a sixth- round selection (198th overall) in 2013. A native of Brownsburg, Indiana, Jones played collegiately at Bowling Green, where he played in 50 straight games, making 43 consecutive starts. A three-time All-Mid-American Conference selection, he earned MAC Defensive Player of the Year honors his senior season, when he recorded 12.5 sacks, the third-most in the NCAA. He was named third-team All-American by the Associated Press.

Russell Shepard (6-1, 195), joins the Buccaneers after spending this past offseason with the Eagles. He entered the league as a college free agent with Philadelphia this season. Shepard played collegiately at Louisiana State, where he saw time at quarterback, running back and wide receiver. He finished his career with 733 rushing yards, 565 receiving yards and 10 total touchdowns (five rushing, five receiving). A Houston native, Shepard came to LSU as the nation’s top-ranked dual-threat quarterback.

Joe is starting to think the Bucs are in a bad way at No. 3 receiver. Kevin Ogletree had played well in training camp, but had a nasty habit of dropping passes time after time in games. What good is a receiver who cannot catch? Joe wasn’t aware a Michael Clayton clone was so desirable.

Yes, cutting Underwood is a surprise as he is somewhat productive, when healthy. Remember, he was cut last year after a really good training camp and preseason, only to be picked back up by the Bucs.

Perhaps it was Tom Crabtree’s twisted up ankle? Perhaps not.

Regardless, rookie Tim Wright made the Bucs’ roster as a fourth tight end. An undrafted free agent out of (all together now) Rutgers, Wright played wide receiver in college and is trying to make the transition to TE. He’s listed at 6-4, 220, and he looks that skinny in person.

Wright was granted some reps with the first team in practice and he talked to Joe about it a few weeks ago.

Joe kept an eye on Wright after that but really never saw him show much.

Joe gets that a guy like Wright might be a very worthwhile conversion project, so Joe’s surely not down on Wright being a Buccaneer. But it’s an interesting move — and a nice paycheck for Mr. Wright next week.

Baggage-toting running back Peyton Hillis won the respect of the New Schiano Order, landing a final 53-man-roster spot yesterday. Now Hillis will battle to wear a helmet on Sundays as part of the 46-man, game-day roster.

(When the hell will the NFL ditch the stupid rule of not activating every player for every game?)

Injuries are playing in Hillis’ favor. Starting fullback Erik Lorig didn’t play all preseason after his calf injury this summer got better then worse then better again. Lorig only recently returned to practice. Hillis was a college fullback and has logged significant time there as a pro. Rookie Mike James is no fullback, and Brian Leonard is too small to log any significant time there.

Then there’s the mysterious question of how much faith the Bucs actually have in Hillis.

Do they believe he can be a punishing short-yardage back? Is Greg Schiano in love with his downhill, hit-the-hole ability, something LeGarrette Blount didn’t like to do? Will Mike Sullivan look to get creative with three running backs, Doug Martin, Leonard and Hillis, who can catch the ball well out of the backfield?

Joe’s not sure what the Bucs have in Hillis, but they do have fantastic depth at running back. It’s light years better than the nightmarish Kregg Lumpkin mess of 2011.

It seems Bucs kicker Lawrence Tynes, per Mike Garafolo of FoxSports.com, is troubled by how the Bucs handled his MRSA infection and stops just short of hinting a Bucs employee is the source of the MRSA.

(Look, Joe is not mocking someone with MRSA. Joe was once hospitalized with a staph infection coming from his foot and it was ugly and painful. The Tynes saga is simply interesting and growing more so by the day.)

Tynes wouldn’t reveal the full details of how he believes he contracted the infection but said, “The individuals that have tested positive for staph or MRSA, we feel very strongly about where it came from.”

Asked about a report the team’s trainer, Todd Toriscelli, is dealing with MRSA, Tynes merely replied, “I’m not a doctor. I just feel bad he’s been dealing with a serious infection of some sort for the past four months.”

Tynes later absolved Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik of any ills, he believes Dominik is pressured by an unknown source to place him on the NFI list.

This should get interesting.

Greg Schiano loves to say the ball is “the program.” Schiano is all about the football. Ball security is everything under the New Schiano Order, and fumbles are the best way to get excommunicated. Drop passes also are standout crimes against the regime.

After all, Schiano’s core beliefs are Trust, Belief and Accountability. If he can’t trust you with “the program,” then he won’t believe you can help him and you’ll be held accountable.

Wide receiver Chris Owusu, a speedster who was on the Bucs roster late last season, was a star of training camp, a man on the rise. But Owusu dropped passes in the preseason opener and fumbled away a punt and juggled a kickoff. He injured his ankle in that game and was cut today. When you have one career regular-season catch, you don’t get any slack.

Joe wouldn’t be surprised if Owusu lands on the practice squad or returns next month, but Joe’s confident Owusu’s ball security issues led to his demise.

The depressing part of Cutdown Day to the final 53-man roster is that some really good dudes get caught in the wash. Today for the Bucs, that was safety Cody Grimm.

Grimm, a linebacker in college at Virginia Tech, was moved to safety and likely rushed into playing time too soon due to injuries in 2009. Grimm would never mistake anyone for Ronnie Lott. But he was a ballhawk in that he was always around the ball. He was pretty good against the run.

But Grimm was always hurt. Mostly leg injuries, and that is a death knell for an NFL player. With the additions of Dashon Goldson and Mark Barron in the past two years, and Ahmad Black seeing a lot of playing time, the handwriting was on the wall for Grimm. He sort of knew it when Joe spoke with him last week after the Bucs win in Miami.

“Anything can happen. One week you make it and not the next week you are not,” Grimm said. “It’s a numbers thing in the NFL. You can’t worry about it. If you put good things on tape, someone will see it.”

Of course, it didn’t help Grimm’s cause when he was pinched for two public intoxication arrests. A starter may be able to get away with not being a Buccaneer Man but not a guy on the bubble.

At any rate, Grimm has always been cool with Joe. Always willing to take time to talk about the game or practice, and even answer tough questions that many players would blow off. Joe respects that.

Akeem Spence

In either a testament to how thin/weak the defensive line was last year or to the prowess of Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik — or both — three third-day drafted rookies make the Bucs squad.

That would be defensive tackle Akeem Spence and defensive ends Steven Means and William Gholston.

That’s pretty remarkable either way you slice it, no matter how you look at it.

Of all the rookie defensive linemen, Joe thought the guy hanging by a loose string was Gholston. He really didn’t flash much in training camp or during preseason games. He is a raw talent.

Joe believes Means will be a pass-rushing specialist, at least for the time being. Spence, of course, is expected to start.

Joe just wonders how much of the Da’Quan Bowers implosion factored in to keeping three late-drafted rookies?

Rockstar general manager Mark Dominik and Greg Schiano have spoken.

Cuts were made today, and here’s your 2013 Buccaneers 53-man roster:

Defensive linemen

Gerald McCoy
Daniel Te’O-Neshiem
Adrian Clayborn
Akeem Spence
Da’Quan Bowers
Derek Landri
Trevor Scott
Steven Means
William Gholston

Linebackers

Lavonte David
Mason Foster
Adam Hayward
Jonathan Casillas
Dekoda Watson
Najee Goode

Long Snapper

Andrew Economos

Kicker/Punter

Rian Lindell
Michael Koenen

Defensive Backs

Darrelle Revis
Johnthan Banks
Michael Adams
Leonard Johnson
Danny Gorrer
Rashaan Melvin
Dashon Goldson
Ahmad Black
Keith Tandy
Mark Barron

Wide Receivers

Vincent Jackson
Mike Williams
Kevin Ogletree
Tiquan Underwood
Eric Page (PR/KR)

Tight Ends

Tom Crabtree
Luke Stocker
Nate Byham
Tim Wright

Offensive Line

Donald Penn
Gabe Carimi
Carl Nicks
Jeremy Zuttah
Davin Joseph
Tom Larsen
Demar Dotson
Jamon Meredith

Running Backs/Fullback

Doug Martin
Brian Leonard
Peyton Hillis
Mike James
Erik Lorig

Quarterbacks

Josh Freeman
Mike Glennon
Dan Orlovsky