Joe’s not big on small-time Bucs transactions, but this one is intriguing given the below average play (for a starter) of right tackle Demar Dotson last year and the fact that the Bucs didn’t draft an offensive lineman.

Per a small Michigan newspaper called The Mining Journal, the Bucs have signed tackle Jace Daniels out of this past weekend’s rookie minicamp.

The Buccaneers have not officially announced the signing of Daniels yet. With 90 players currently on the roster, the team will have to release someone to make room for Daniels.

The NMU senior 6-foot-4, 300-pound left tackle started all 11 games for NMU during his junior and senior years, earning All-GLIAC second-team honors in 2011 and first-team accolades in 2012.

If the Buccaneers decided not to keep Daniels after this weekend’s rookie camp, the 2009 Escanaba graduate also had an invite to the New York Giants’ rookie camp this week.

For those unfamiliar with Northern Michigan University, that’s Division II football in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

Obviously, Daniels is a long shot for the Bucs roster, but perhaps the Bucs are confident stud offensive line coach Bob Bostad sees an opportunity to develop Daniels quickly. Per Daniels, the Bucs were communicating with him for weeks.

Interestingly, and likely relevant, Daniels’ college head coach, Chris Ostrowsky, was the 1998 high school coach of the year out of Newark, New Jersey, aka Greg Schiano country.

Lost a bit in the Darrelle Revis/NFL Draft madness was Gerald McCoy being named by NFL Network, per the vote of NFL players, as the 92nd best football player in the league.

Now Joe knows that despite McCoy making a Pro Bowl last season without winning the fan vote, and staying healthy, and helping to anchor the NFL’s best run defense, McCoy still has his share of doubters.

This Top-100 designation should beat them back at least a little bit more. Below is McCoy chatting on NFL Network about what the honor means to him and about his personal goals. And he’s seated on the set next to new Bucs safety Dashon Goldson, who was No. 96 on the list for his play with the Niners last year.

The famous $9.95 roundtrip chauffeured luxury bus to Tropicana Field is back for its third season!

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Former Bucs QB Shaun King weighs in on how the Bucs’ 2013 draft should be graded today.

One way to grab Shaun King’s attention is to start heavily praising the Buccaneers’ 2013 draft class.

King’s not feeling it right now. One of three QBs to lead the Bucs to the NFC Championship game, King told WDAE-AM 620 host J.P. Peterson how and why he gives the Bucs average marks and why he’s eyeing the Panthers for future grades of this Bucs draft class.

“I hear people say this draft was a “B.” I’m like, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,” King said. “I give them a “C” because they didn’t really draft a starter. Akeem Spence is probably going to get a chance to compete with [Derek] Landi. but he’s not the starter. [Johnthan] Banks is going to get a chance to compete with Eric Wright, but he’s probably going to start off as the nickel.

“Really, to me, this draft grade comes down to what kind of an impact [defensive tackle] Star Lotulelei has in Carolina versus Darrelle Revis in Tampa. Because what people are overlooking is at No. 13 they would have had their choice between star, Sheldon Richardson and Sharrif Floyd. All three of those tackles were there. So you just think about having one of those guys under contract for the next five years next to Gerald McCoy.”

King went on to express his concern about Revis’ health as it relates to his position. “Show me the defensive player that’s bounced back from the ACL,” King said, referencing offensive players known for successful recovery. King says it’s a different animal on offense, where “you know where you’re going and you know where you’re cutting.”

That’s an intriguing point by King, and it puts another Buccaneer being heavily counted on into the spotlight: Adrian Clayborn. (You can catch the entire interview below.)

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Is Jonathan Casillas truly the answer at outside linebacker for the Bucs?

In the past couple of months, Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik has done a wonderful job upgrading what was a historically rotten NFL secondary.

Adding guys like Darrelle Revis and Dashon Goldson and drafting a rookie like Johnthan Banks makes the Bucs look like they’ve gone from the outhouse to the penthouse of defensive backfields.

Bucs fans were focused on upgrading the secondary, rightly so. But what about outside linebacker, where there is a hole left by the injury to Quincy Black? This subject came up in a recent BSPN NFL South chat.

STeve (DC)

WHy does everybody have Casillas signed in as our OLB opposite of Lavonte? Hayward and Watson have been big time contributors when they have had the chance…i see Hawyard starting on opening day

Pat Yasinskas

Could be. Casillas isn’t anything special.

Good grief, does this “STeve” character watch Bucs games, or does he just wear cheerleader skirts on Sunday afternoons?

For years Bucs fans wanted to run Black out of town for horrid play perhaps more than any other player. But last year, however, Joe will be the first to say Black was playing good football.

Imagine what happens when a player gets coached up?

So if, for three or four years Black was among the worst starters on the Bucs, doesn’t that say something about Adam Hayward and Dekoda Watson that they couldn’t unseat Black?

Look, Joe thinks the world of Watson, but the man is a one-trick pony. He’s a fantastic special teams player.

As far as Hayward goes, the only thing Joe can think of where Hayward made a name for himself was for going MMA on his position coach on the sidelines last year.

Time will tell about Jonathan Casillas, though it does speak volumes that Casillas couldn’t start for the Saints, which had the NFL’s worst defense last season.

Does Josh Freeman need a “nudge,” as is suggested in this NFL Network roundtable analysis of the Freeman-Mike Glennon dynamic?

Joe’s never bought the value of the “nudge” factor. But Freeman does need some kind of tweak to right himself back to 2010.

As former longtime NFL general manager Charley Casserly says in the video, Freeman’s play “inexplicably tailed off” late in the 2012 season. And it’s that unsolved mystery when the pressure was greatest that must be unraveled in Freeman’s head.

Interestingly, during a chat with Justin Pawlowski on 98.7 FM last week, Bucs rockstar general manager Mark Dominik talked about Freeman needing to manage the very fine line of “maintaining his competitive edge” by making all the throws his talented arm can execute while not forcing.

John McNulty, you’ve got a challenge on your hands, one that likely holds the playoff hopes of the Bucs.

Just like in business, it’s good to network in football.

Former South Florida tight end Evan Landi and Bucs coach Greg Schiano go back a ways. Landi attended Schiano’s summer camps when Schiano ran the Scarlet Knights program at Rutgers.

Then, Schiano’s squads would have to face the Bulls and Landi annually. So when the Bucs began signing undrafted free agents last week, Landi was already on Schiano’s radar.

“I go way back with Evan,” Schiano said. “I was always a fan of his. He kind of does everything. I think he’s got potential.”

Landi does pretty much do everything. He was offered a professional hockey contract coming out of high school but decided to stay with football. A quarterback at Coral Gables High School, Landi was converted to a tight end at South Florida. In his final game with the Bulls against Pittsburgh, Landi ran the ball, caught a pass and threw a completion.

Now Joe doesn’t expect Landi to see a whole lot of playing time if he makes the final 53-man roster, an uphill battle for any undrafted free agent.

If somehow Landi does make the final cut, Joe sees Landi as being a special teams handyman, being able to do all sorts of things given his athletic versatility.

The most important bad knee in Tampa since Cadillac Williams’ hasn’t left local soil.

That surgically repaired knee, of course, belongs to Bucs savior Darrelle Revis.

In this NFL Network video, Rich Hollenberg reports from Bucs rookie minicamp and says a Bucs honcho made it clear that Revis has stayed in town since signing his giant new Bucs contract two weeks ago. Revis has the full attention of the Bucs’ training and medical staff but there is no update on his health.

Joe wouldn’t care if Revis rehabbed in Toronto, if that’s was what got him most ready for opening day against the Jets.

However, Joe realizes the Bucs also need Revis for his leadership, and for that he needs to be here steadily. He’s off to a great start.

When Bucs veteran defensive end Eric Curry, who Warren Sapp was not fond of, griped about doing pass rush drills on the third day of training camp in Father Dungy’s first year, Sapp knew the Bucs were headed in the right direction.

Throughout the weekend, Joe will bring snippets of the many, many, many stories Bucs great Warren Sapp shared Thursday with the Bucs pen and mic club about his career.

Soon-to-be Hall of Fame defensive tackle Warren Sapp makes no bones about the fact he thought he was much better than most Buccaneers when he arrived in Tampa Bay in 1995, even though Sapp was a rookie. And he was right.

Sapp still talks with disdain about Sam Wyche’s “Three ring circus,” as Sapp calls it, and last week he remembered what he thought was the turning point where the Bucs left their losing ways behind.

This took place on the third day of training camp under Father Dungy while Sapp and other defensive linemen were working on pass rush drills, a tactic most of the veterans loathed. Sapp, proving to be astute even at a young age, thought the Bucs needed such work.

“Eric Curry playing outside… there was some bad football being played. I go back to those days with Rod [Marinelli] and doing pass rush drills. On the third day, Curry looked at us, ‘We’re going to do this everyday?’ I was like, ‘Yes! I won’t have to look at his [arse] any more. He’s out of here.’ If you don’t want to do this? I mean, this is regular work in the summer.

“‘We’re going to pass rush everyday?’ Really? Last time I remember I ran one game and got a sack and you played 15 before you got a sack. Really? What the hell makes you so good that you don’t want to do this every day? So I couldn’t understand it.

“So we slowly understood the process of Tony [Dungy] and his coaching staff building something special.”

Carr scored a rare undrafted free agent signing bonus from the Bucs.

The underwear Olympics NFL Combine is not an all-inclusive event. To participate in the combine, one must be invited by the NFL.

Playing cornerback at Arizona State, Deveron Carr thought being an All PAC-12 honorable mention cornerback (who logged a 4.0 in the fall of 2012 as a grad student), would get him invited to the NFL Combine to show off his wares for NFL scouts and coaches.

When that didn’t happen, Carr was one PO’ed person. Smart guy that he is, he turned all of that negative energy into his workouts rather than sulk.

He posted times of 4.36 and 4.38 in the 40-yard dash at the Sun Devils’ pro day and when he fell through the cracks of the draft, Bucs rock star general manger Mark Dominik offered him a signing bonus of $15,000 to sign with the Bucs as an undrafted free agent; an unheard of sum.

Carr spoke about the emotional rollercoaster he has ridden the past few months.

“I can run fast, a lot of guys out west can run fast, speedy guys,” Carr said.”

When he wasn’t selected to work out at the combine, “I was pissed off for greatness,” Carr said. “I did not take it negative at all. Every day in training I took it out, I put all that [anger] into training. If I let that take me down, I wouldn’t be able to perform.”

Carr could have signed with any team — teams, unlike the Bucs, who are desperate for corners. Instead, he selected the Bucs because of the top-heavy roster highlighted by one Darrelle Revis.

“With Darrelle Revis on the roster, he is the best at man-press and that’s what I am good at,” Carr said. “To come in and have a great opportunity to learn from a vet like him” is a tremendous advantage.

Carr noted that he struggled with a few techniques the Bucs had him use, struggled because he was foreign to these concepts.

“Yeah, I was struggling with technique a little bit but I thought positive about it,” Carr said. “Hey, I have to get this technique and I think I am getting closer to perfecting it each day. It’s a little different. I am just used to backpedaling.

“I’m not looking for any handouts. I am just looking to play hard.”

Carr, at one point during this weekend’s rookie minicamp, was singled out by coaches to join a handful of other cornerbacks, including second-round pick Johnthan Banks, for specific instructions. This is a good sign. Typically, only those expected to survive the weekend are pulled aside for individual coaching. This is how Leonard Johnson, also an undrafted free agent corner, made his bones last spring.

Today’s practice was somewhat nondescript for people just watching the drills. There was little if any scrimmaging, short of pass-rushing drills (where William Gholston announced his arrival in a physical way).

It is very difficult to judge players when most drills amount to footwork, and engaging tackling dummies and blocking pads.

Roughly about halfway through practice, Joe heard the famliar cry, “Toes on the line!” when the players were involved in running. Overall, Schiano has been eager but not hyper, not much hollering. That could be a good sign.

Yesterday, Schiano was briskly jogging from practice field to practice field and occasionally offered input. Today, Schiano seemed a bit more relaxed, walking between practice fields and doing more observing than barking any orders.

The one highlight that jumped out at Joe was defensive end Steven Means. Means ran at a blocker who held a dummy. Means absolutely blew past the blocker, using a quick and smooth swim move so well-executed that Joe isn’t sure the blocker touched Means with the dummy. (This was a different drill from the one that saw William Gholston sack a coach.)

One order from assistants Joe often heard was the phrase, “follow through,” meaning keep playing. In offensive drills, this means if a running back got past the defense, he was to keep sprinting to score, say, an 80-yard touchdown.

On a couple of plays, Joe noticed wide receivers/running backs pulling up before they got to the goal line and jogging back to join their teammates.

Joe is sure this will be pointed out by Schiano after he looks at tape of the practice. Such moves are not what makes a Buccaneer Man.

William Gholston sacked a coach in quarterback pressure drills this afternoon at the Bucs’ second day of rookie minicamp.

Just talking to new Bucs defensive end William Gholston, the Michigan State product was just chomping at the proverbial bit in order to prove himself worthy of a fourth-round pick and a spot on the Bucs’ 53-man roster come September.

During a quarterback rushing drill today, a staffer on the Bucs’ football operations staff, Dan Shamash, played quarterback. Once a defensive lineman got past the offensive linemen (no pads, just helmets) a whistle was blown and the play stopped.

That wasn’t enough for Gholston. In a scene that could have been pulled from “The Replacements,” Gholston beat his man, and played through the whistle, sacking Shamash.

Joe can honestly say he had never seen a player bury a coach on a practice field.

Asked about Gholston getting physical with a member of his staff after practice, Bucs coach Greg Schiano smiled and said he liked the effort but, “I’m not sure the quarterback liked it.”

After his sack, on a subsequent play, Gholston again beat his man again and instead of dropping Shamash to the dirt, he just grabbed his shoulders.

It seems there never was a doubt in rockstar general manager Mark Dominik’s mind during the final days leading up to the NFL Draft that the Bucs were going to draft a cornerback ASAP.

In chatting with Justin “The Commish” Pawlowski on 98.7 FM yesterday, Dominik made it clear that the Bucs strongly considered trading up for CB Johnthan Banks, nabbed in the second round, and after acknowledging that Danny Gorrer and Leonard Johnson showed well toward the end of 2012, Dominik said of cornerbacks, “You gotta have at least three guys you have confidence in.”

It was a nice way of saying the Bucs were desperate for a talent to blend with Eric Wright and Darrelle Revis.

And that brings Joe to Wright. Are Bucs fans, let alone Dominik and Greg Schiano, really ready to push their chips all-in on Wright staying out of trouble, staying off the training table, and performing well consistently?

Joe’s sure not prepared to gamble big-time on that. Joe sees flimsy evidence to believe in Wright.

Let’s pretend for a moment: If Wright had a head-to-head competition at cornerback with Ronde Barber through this offseason, Joe’s not sure Wright would win. This is why Joe continues to hope for Barber’s return, as well as the Bucs staying vigilant on monitoring other rosters for potential cornerback help.

During a recent interview, Father Dungy summed up the modern-day need for quality cornerbacks quite simply. You need to beat three great passing attacks to win a Super Bowl, Dungy said.

Could the Bucs be looking to add depth to the offensive line, in addition to Jamon Meredith?

Joe knows there are some Bucs fans concerned about the offensive line. Not Joe. If healthy, there are few better offensive lines in the NFL.

That’s not to say the Bucs offensive line is the same as the Packers’ of the 1960s, the Raiders’ of the 1970s or the Hogs of the 1990s. Demar Dotson is a borderline NFL starter — a pretty good pass blocker but not the best run blocker, for example.

This led a Bucs fan to inquire of Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune what the Bucs plan to do about the offensive line in a recent TBO Bucs Q&A.

Q. One thing that concerns me is the offensive line, particularly depth. Who are the best options on the market in that area, and do you see Tampa signing one of those guys?

– Mike, Fitchburg

A. There are several good options. G Brandon Moore is still available. So are OTs Eric Winston and Jammal Brown. The Bucs will probably wait to see how the undrafted free agents they signed look, but there’s a chance they’ll dip back in to the market for someone.

– Woody Cummings

Joe has a hunch the reason why Winston and Brown are still out there is their asking price. The closer it gets to training camp, their prices may lower.

But Joe doesn’t believe Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik is going to throw much money at a right tackle. A backup maybe? Perhaps.

Who knows, maybe the Bucs found a hidden gem this weekend.

Rockstar general manager Mark Dominik has made it clear a few times that rookie quarterback Mike Glennon was drafted by the Bucs because he was their highest-rated player available when Tampa Bay’s number was called in the third round.

But yesterday Dominik also talked about the potential cash value of Glennon during an interview with Justin “The Commish” Pawlowski, of 98.7 FM.

Signing and developing a talent like Glennon, Dominik says, is a reason why the Bucs will have money to pay studs like Darrelle Revis, the other seven Pro Bowl talents on the roster, retain key players.

“If you’ve watched the league, and you see the backup quarterback market and where it’s going, it used to be $1 million to $2 million, now it’s $4 million to $5 million for a really good backup,” Dominik said. “When you draft a player like Mike Glennon in the third round, and you feel like he not only has a chance to develop, but be good value for you because now he’s costing you $600,000 to $700,000 per year. That’s how you can improve the front line of your team. That’s how Darrelle Revis is on this football team. That’s how we get Dashon Goldson. That’s how we’re going to continue to keep a lot of our players going forward. It was a pick that made sense for us as far as fitting our system. It was a pick that made sense for us in terms of depth and potential. And it was a pick for us that was the highest-rated player on our board, and we stuck to our board.”

Also, in a comment that won’t make Dan Orlovsky’s agent happy, Dominik said, “We didn’t want to be in a situation where, if something happened to Freeman, that our season’s over. … If that happened, we wanted to have a young guy that’s ready to roll.”

Joe knows the pressure on Dominik and the New Schiano Order. They’re loaded with supreme talent, and it’s the second year of the regime. That means leaving the Bucs without a talented backup would be irresponsible.

The Bucs were courting Matt Cassel, per various reports, and possibly sniffing Carson Palmer, guys who could win a football game. Neither panned out, so they went the Glennon route after holding their nose and re-signing Dan Orlovsky.

It makes good football sense, though the value of Glennon is only perceived until he shows he can play. Frankly, if Glennon proves as capable as a young Chris Simms, then the Bucs did well with the draft pick. Despite all the optimism surrounding Glennon, there’s a reason he fell to the third round in a quarterback-driven league.

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OK, Joe knows the biggest question among fans since the Bucs acquired star cornerback Darrelle Revis was, “what number is he going to wear?”

Well, it seems Revis and Mark Barron, the owner of No. 24 — Revis’ number with the Jets — hatched a deal and the Bucs made it official Saturday (despite Bucs general manager Mark Dominik leaking the news Thursday).

Revis will wear No. 24.

Barron will wear No. 23.

Even Barron took to Twitter Friday night to make the annoucement.

@M_B_24: Number change was not forced organization left tht up to me and @Revis24. So I chose to let him get the number

Now this is huge for Barron. NFL protocol is that if a player wants a number already possessed by a teammate, he must cut a check to the guy who already is wearing said number.

And it seems that Barron, rather than holding Revis hostage, just gave it away. Joe is impressed. Talk about a true teammate.

Which brings Joe to No. 23. That was the number of fan favorite Myron Lewis. No word on whether Barron had to cough up cash to get that number from Lewis or not.

Lewis, by the way, is now wearing No. 31, which previously belonged to E.J. Biggers.

Got all of that?

Bucs rookie defensive tackle Akeem Spence had an idea of what to expect for his first NFL practice. It’s not much different than what a college graduate should expect on his/her first day on a job.

Be professional.

“The pace is a lot quicker,” Spence said of the difference between the NFL and Illinois practices. “You get out here and get on the field. Coaches expect you to know. In college, coaches give you a little one-on-one attention. But here, you are expected to know. You are supposed to be a professional.

“This is your job.”

The thing that struck Joe about Spence, who will be given a strong opportunity to lock up the starting role next to Gerald McCoy, is that the guy was smiling like Rachel Watson invited him to dinner.

In other words, the dude loves football.

“I learned a lot today,” Spence said. “I learned how to get lined up, how to play the tilted nose, how to get the play call. [Defensive line] “coach [Randy Melvin] walked us through real fast, bullets flying at you, making sure you are ready and getting some one-on-one work.

“It’s been a good day.”

While rookie minicamp practice is far from exciting, for Joe there’s nothing quite like breathing in the sweet smells of football on fresh cut at grass One Buc Palace — in May.

The New Schiano Order returned to the practice fields today with the Bucs’ latest draft picks, undrafted free agents and loads of tryout players.

Joe took some notes.

*Quarterback Mike Glennon, and current QB sidekick hopeful Robert Marve, got lots of Greg Schiano’s attention. The head coach did plenty of studying standing alone, as Glennon and Marve went through all kinds of drills. Glennon’s got a big league arm and surely seemed pretty darn accurate this afternoon. What that all means in shorts and a helmet tossing to receivers with little or no coverage isn’t much.

*New wide receivers coach John Garrett seems to be a pretty lively, in-your-face kind of coach. He’s not exactly wild man P.J. Fleck who Garrett replaced, but Garrett is vocal, barking today at a stable of unimpressive receivers. “Trust your feet.” … “Don’t look at the ground.” … “Eyes up.” … “Run out of it. Don’t sprint out of it.” At one point, tryout wide receiver Terriun Crump, out of Western Illinois, slipped in a route, and Garrett barked at him, “You’re getting tired.” Garrett seems to be a real big footwork guy, more so than Joe remembers out of Fleck. Of course, Joe only got a one-afternoon sample today.

*Joe felt bad for tryout wide receiver Kyle Fisher out of Bloomsburg. The kid dropped two passes and juggled another one badly.

*Secondary drills were interesting. During an interception return drill, Johnthan Banks didn’t look to have a lot of speed. Again, it’s just one catch and run, but his wheels didn’t stand out. Schiano spent a lot of time watching defensive backs, and during that same drill fourth-round pick William Gholston playfully — and intentionally — ran into Schiano in the end zone finishing the play. That drew a big smile from Schiano.

*One standout during extended defensive backs drills was Mason Robinson, a tryout player from Rutgers, who was a punt returner/cornerback in college. Clearly, Robinson knows how to practice at Schiano’s pace, but it’s also clear Robinson had a gear and a burst the other defensive backs didn’t. Whether he can flash as a punt returner is unclear. Another one to watch was big safety Nate Ness. He’s a veteran who played for the Dolphins, Seahawks, (Dolphins again) and Rams before sitting out last season. Also of note was Jerrell Gavins, a rookie cornerback out of Boise State. He’s very fluid and got a lot of praise today for his technique. There’s plenty of opportunity for an undrafted defensive back to make the Bucs squad, so Joe’s keeping an extra eye on these guys. Schiano was doing the same, taking diligent notes.

The arrival of spring in Johnthan Banks’ world means spring practice and a spring game.

Those days are over for the Bucs’ second round pick. Well, at least a spring game.

This evening, Banks came off the Bucs practice fields (he’s wearing No. 27) after breaking a sweat for the first time as a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

It was a different experience for the former Jim Thorpe Award winner.

“This is the first time I haven’t played spring football since I was in the seventh grade,” Banks said. “It’s good knocking the rust off and having fun.”

Even though it had been a long day of meetings and then hitting the field for the first time as a professional, Banks was smiling like a kid who found a sparkling new bike under the Christmas tree.

“It was good. It was everything I expected,” Banks said of his initial Bucs practice. “It felt like college again coming out hear and learning new stuff. It was fun. Good to be back on the football field again.”

Despite a new coaching staff and new teammates and high expectations, Banks was not overwhelmed.

“Most corner play is the same technique,” Banks said. “Just getting back out here to compete, just to get back out on the football field for the first time in three or four months is great.”

So too would be a chance to play with the great Ronde Barber. As Bucs fans await his decision to return for one (or two?) more years in the pewter and red, Banks hopes Barber gives it one final go with the Bucs.

“It would feel great if I get to play with Ronde and Darrelle [Revis],” Banks said. “It would “be a great learning experience for me from a guy that played 17 years in the NFL.”

Earlier today, Don Banks of SI.com reported that the Bucs and Patriots coaches were going to get together for a coaches convention of sorts only for the two staffs; the Bucs and Patriots.

Well, you can count Greg Schiano out. The Bucs’ head coach, in his post-practice presser Friday evening, stated he wasn’t going.

Schiano spoke very little of the event, sort of waving it off as little more than coaches getting together to set parameters of a controlled scrimmages this summer.

Last year the Bucs hosted the Patriots at One Buc Palace in a series of controlled scrimmages and practices prior to the two teams’ meeting in a preseason game.

In August, the two teams will meet again at New England. Again, Schiano spoke very little about this other than to downplay it as nothing more than a planning meeting.

A meeting he will not attend.