“SalPal,” Sal Paolantonio of ESPN, one of the few credible journalists Joe respects from the four-letter outfit, has an update on the results of Darelle Revis’ MRI this morning.

Earlier, SalPal noted the Jets have hit the “pause button” on trade talks with the Bucs, which sort of reinforces what Bucs general manager Mark Dominik told Pat Kirwan and Tim Ryan of SiriusXM NFL Radio last month, and what Woody Cummings of The Tampa Tribune reported last night on WFLA-TV — that the Bucs really don’t know if Revis is on the trading block.

Greg Schiano is a detail guy whose core beliefs are “trust, belief and accountability.” Therefore, it was awfully strange to Joe to hear Schiano say the following about Eric Wright today, “He just had some bad luck last year.”

Was Schiano talking about Wright’s recurring Achilles injury or occasionally shaky cornerback play? Or was there a truly unique situation surrounding Wright getting suspended for four games after violating the Bucs’ substance abuse policy? Or was Schiano joking and referring to Wright flushing millions down the toilet?

It was a an odd way for a tough-guy coach to talk about his letdown cornerback, one who (for now) the Bucs are counting on heavily.

Sporting a blue dress  shirt and a mellow demeanor, the leader of the New Schiano Order took to the podium at One Buc Palace today and answered various questions on all things Bucs.

Here are Joe’s highlights from Schiano’s comments.

*All Buccaneers reported back for opening day of spring workouts today except for Eric Wright, whose wife gave birth yesterday.

*Asked to update Ronde Barber’s status, Schiano smiled and said there were “no developments, which is fine.” He said the Bucs and Barber are just in “the process of figuring it out” and the Bucs are nowhere near any deadline for Barber’s decision.

*Adrian Clayborn looks good and feels good.

*Schiano said he’s so happy to be in Year 2 of his regime and it’s great and beneficial to be in meetings today with players studying their own video, versus Rutgers video or that of other NFL teams.

*Schiano called Orlovsky “an excellent backup.” And Schiano said “I’m good with that,” referring to a scenario that would include no additional competition for Josh Freeman. He said Freeman has remained in great physical condition.

*A rookie cornerback should have no major issues becoming a starter in his defense, “I think that guy would be capable, whoever that guy is,” Schiano said.

*Schiano gave no real update on Darrelle Revis and apologized for being evasive.

Woody Cummings of The Tampa Tribune believes Notre Dame tight end Tyler Eifert is on the Bucs’ radar at No. 13.

Bucs beat writer Woody Cummings of The Tampa Tribune had a sit down last night with WFLA-TV’s Dan Lucas to discuss the prospects of the Darrelle Revis trade and the upcoming NFL draft.

Cummings dropped all sorts of good nuggets and this is the second exerpt of the sitdown.

Cummings, per his research, believes the Bucs may have narrowed their choice of a No. 13 pick, if the Bucs still have that pick, down to three possible players. That would be Utah defensive tackle Star Lotulelei, Missouri defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson and Notre Dame tight end Tyler Eifert.

Cummings noted that unless the Bucs trade up, there is little to no chance Alabama cornerback Dee Milliner or Florida State cornerback Xavier Rhodes will be available, so a cornerback pick at No. 13 is out because other corners would be too much of a reach.

Cummings noted that Eifert at No. 13 “may be a bit rich, he’s more of a No. 18, 19, 20 pick. But the Bucs have shown if they like a guy they will go get him and right now the Bucs’ strongest asset is the offense and what a dynamic addition he would make for the Bucs at tight end.”

Let’s just say Joe would not be sickened by either of these moves, Lotulelei, Richardson or Eifert.

Jimminy Christmas! The Bucs don’t need to invest heavily in another wide receiver, especially when one studies the numerous, high-priority holes on the roster.

But those details won’t stop the buzz around West Virginia wide receiver Tavon Austin wearing pewter and red.

Olive oil-lapping, popcorn-munching, coffee-slurping, homeless-mistaken, fried-chicken-eating, oatmeal-loving, circle-jerking, beer-chugging, cricket-watching, scone-loathing, college football-naïve, baseball-box-score-reading Peter King, of Sports Illustrated and NBC Sports told the world today that the Bucs are smitten with Austin.

At 13, Tampa Bay is growing impatient with the Jets on this Darrelle Revis trade. What I’m hearing is the current discussion is first-, third- and fifth-round picks for Revis, though I don’t know which picks are this year and which next. If the Bucs stay put, they love Tavon Austin

Now Joe’s already explained that Austin makes little, if any, sense for the New Schiano Order. There’s only one football to go around, and Josh Freeman has plenty of weapons. And Joe knows Greg Schiano yearns to run the ball more often than he did last season.

Former Jets quarterback Ray Lucas and popular sports radio personality Adam Schein discuss the latest in the Darrelle Revis saga in this SNY video.

A mock draft from a pair of respected NFL minds has the Bucs trading their second round pick for Jaguars quarterback Blaine Gabbert.

Friday afternoon, Pat Kirwan and Tim Ryan, co-hosts of “Movin’ the Chains,” heard exclusively on SiriusXM NFL Radio, had their second mock draft. The full two rounds of their mock can be found here.

The duo has Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik awfully busy a week from Thursday night. They forecasted Dominik trading the Nos. 13 and 73 picks to Cleveland for its No. 9 pick where the Bucs land Florida State cornerback Xavier Rhodes.

But Dominik won’t be done with that, Kirwan and Ryan say. They predict Dominik will then trade their second round pick to Jacksonville for the No. 64 pick in the draft and quarterback Blaine Gabbert.

Now Joe has to admit this is creative thinking here, but Joe can’t see it. If Dominik were to pull off such a move, it would scream “panic” all over the place.

Joe knows Greg Schiano wanted competition for quarterback Josh Freeman, but Gabbert is miserable and in no way is he worth a high second round pick.

Second, such a move would signal to Joe that Freeman’s days with the Bucs are all but numbered if the Bucs are willing to spend a second round pick on a quarterback. You just don’t do that for a backup.

Today could be a big day for both the Bucs and the Jets. The star corner of the Jets, Darrelle Revis, long rumored to be the center of trade talks between the Jets and the Bucs, is to arrive  in Gotham from hiding and will undergo a medical exam including an MRI.

Revis, who required ACL reconstructive surgery after blowing out a knee last season, would pretty much need to given a medical green light for trade talks to continue. Tampa Tribune scribe Woody Cummings, appearing with WFLA-TV’s Dan Lucas in a sitdown to discuss Revis and the NFL draft, said the trade talks could be killed depending on Revis’ medical exam today.

Monday “is a pretty big day. [Revis is] supposed to go for an MRI and that is a pretty interesting development because that MRI would tell us a whole lot whether this trade, if there is a trade, is going to move forward,” Cummings said. “If something, anything negative comes up in that MRI, if that knee is not healing properly the way everybody thinks it should be at this point, that’s going to kill this trade right away. So [Monday] is going to be an important day.

“If we get anything out in the next 48 hours I would say, maybe 72 hours, about the results of that MRI are negative, you are probably going to see the hopes of the this or the chance of this trade going down significantly. But if it comes clean, well, it remains on the table as much as it has been on the table.”

Bucs fans shouldn’t go running to the Sunshine Skyway Bridge if the MRI comes back bad. It just means the Bucs, in Joe’s eyes, will draft at least one and maybe two corners in the first two days of the draft and your starting corners might be Eric Wright and a rookie, perhaps Xavier Rhodes.

Veteran NFL scout Chris Landry, who also works for various media outlets including Yahoo! Sports, joined The Steve Duemig Show on Friday and spent a good chunk of his time passionately criticizing the way the Bucs have handled their offseason and a potential Darrelle Revis trade.

Landy said “there’s never been a better year to fill needs” and the Bucs haven’t gotten the job done in “a buyers’ market.”

Multiple times Landry referred to rockstar general manager Mark Dominik as a “cap” guy (versus a “football guy.”)

Landry said the Bucs should have added all kinds of quality and inexpensive depth, pointing to the limited amount of guaranteed money paid to free agent cornerbacks Antoine Cason, Captain Munnerlyn and Brent Grimes; Landry would have signed all of them, as well as defensive ends Robert Geathers of the Bengals and Michael Bennett. Plus, Landry would have signed Roy Miller — “$650,000 guaranteed [with the Jaguars], are you kidding me?”– and Kevin Vickerson and Sen’Derrick Marks at defensive tackle, as well as new Bucs DT Derek Landri.

The Bucs had plenty of cap room for these “bargains” and their low guaranteed money would have given the Bucs competition at key positions, the freedom to still trade for Revis, and not force their hand in the draft. Landry emphasized many times that cutting any of the aforementioned free agents would have had negligible impact because of their limited guaranteed money.

On the offensive side of the ball, Landry was calling for signing tight end Dustin Keller ($2.25 million guaranteed).

Chris Landry

Regarding Revis, Landry is fundamentally opposed to a Bucs-Jets deal now and blamed its genesis on Team Glazer and Dominik looking to make a splash.

“You don’t make a trade for a player that’s coming off an injury until you see him play,” Landry said on WDAE-AM 620.

“This is coming from upper management. This is coming from ownership. And this is part of the problems, when ownership becomes involved to the point where, and you got a cap guy running the franchise that kind of is like, “Ok, we gotta make a splash.” In other words, you failed if you don’t get this trade done. It’s not your job to do a trade or to make things splashy. It’s your job to do the best job for your team. So whatever it is they need to do to make their team better, that’s what [Dominik] and them need to do.

“I think kind of creating an atmosphere if they don’t get this trade done, by God, they’ve screwed this up. That’s where to me they have screwed it up. Because they’re bidding against themselves.”

There’s plenty more. You can catch the entire interview below.

Saturday morning during the “Weekend Kickoff,” co-hosted by Howard David and Amani Toomer, heard exclusively on SiriusXM NFL Radio, a Bucs fan called to ask whether Eric Wright and Darrelle Revis in the Bucs secondary would become the top pair of corners in the NFL.

Toomer wasn’t sure how to answer that, but he did note Bucs fans will find out soon enough just how good of a corner Wright is if Revis comes to Tampa Bay.

“I don’t know how great Eric Wright has been throughout his career but he is a corner they have wanted for some time down there. And if they get Darrelle Revis, we will get to see how good Eric Wright is, I’ll tell you that. Because [opponents] will not be throwing the ball at Revis. They will be throwing the ball at Wright. He’s going to get a lot of opportunities to show how really good he is.”

That’s a helluva point by Toomer. If Revis is fully recovered from his ACL surgery, quarterbacks are going to test Wright play after play after play, assuming Wright makes the team and is a starter.

How w0uld the Bucs combat this? Well, with Revis and safeties Dashon Goldson and Mark Barron, Joe’s going to guess that Bill Sheridan, the Bucs defensive coordinator, would roll some coverage over toward Wright’s side of the field.

New York/New Jersey takes on the Darrelle Revis trade aren’t exactly what you hear around the Tampa Bay area.

In this new SNY video, ex-Jet and former Rutgers star Ray Lucas strongly disagrees with colleague Adam Schein. An interesting point is made about new Jets GM John Idzik not caving to pressure to make a deal with the Bucs.

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NFL Draft smokescreens are everywhere, and today some puffs bellowed across the 98.7 FM local airwaves, as Ohio State safety Orhian Johnson talked about his recent invitation-only workout and grilling at One Buc Palace late last week.

Johnson, once a quarterback at Boca Ciega High School in Gulfport, told host Drew Felios that he believes he’s a great fit for the Bucs and could be a key contributor at nickel cornerback.

Johnson is a unique prospect. He was only a backup safety last season at OSU but has superior measurables. He’s 6-3, 215, and runs a 4.5, 40-yard dash with great leaping ability. He totaled six interceptions during his Buckeyes career.

Johnson said today that he’s been advised he could go as high as the fourth round.

It’s interesting that the Bucs would even invest so much pre-draft energy into a safety prospect with Mark Barron and Dashon Goldson locked up for years, and Ahmad Black and last year’s sixth-round pick, Keith Tandy, on the roster.

 Perhaps it was the Bucs that put the nickel-cornerback bug in Johnson’s head?

An unknown reporter for TBO.com claims the way Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik structures contracts could be a hazard for bringing Darrelle Revis to Tampa Bay.

To many, it seems that Darrelle Revis to the Bucs is a lock, just a matter of time before a press conference is held with Revis holding up a Bucs jersey at One Buc Palace (just what number would he wear?).

But hold up, says an unknown reporter for TBO.com. The way Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik structures contracts could very well turn off Revis.

Unlike many general managers, Dominik piles all of the guaranteed payouts into the first two years of his contracts because it alleviates long-term salary cap issues and allows the Bucs to quickly get out from under a deal gone bad.

Therein lies the rub for the player.

Though he’ll receive a relatively fat payout up front, any player looking for long-term financial stability and job security isn’t likely to get it from the Bucs. Eventually, that could hinder Tampa Bay’s ability to complete a trade for New York Jets CB Darrelle Revis.

Now to be fair, as the unknown reporter typed, Revis is represented by the same agent who represents Vincent Jackson. So clearly this guy knows how Dominik works.

Also, Joe has learned doing some digging that all the sudden leaks various reporters were getting last Monday about Revis and the Bucs? Those were plants from Revis’ people, who Joe is also told, are hyperventilating night and day for the Jets to trade Revis to the Bucs.

Joe got a good laugh Friday when he learned the hot rumor out there had the Bucs and Jets talking about sending butt-fumbling quarterback Mark Sanchez to the Bucs in a package deal with cornerback Darrelle Revis.

Well, not even the thick-skinned Gotham media can swallow this, though Joe got a phone call from an NBC employee very late Friday night swearing that the great Mike Florio, the messenger of the rumor, was talking to a very credible source.

It seems Brian Costello of the New York Post is aghast anyone would suggest this move.

It is hard to imagine any scenario where the Buccaneers would want Sanchez because of his price tag ($8.25 million base salary). Tampa also has leverage because they are the only team seriously interested in trading for Revis. If they are willing to put the right draft pick combination together, it seems like this deal will get done. They would not have to sweeten the deal by taking Sanchez off the Jets’ hands.

No, Joe doesn’t believe Sanchez is coming to the Bucs, for all the reaons Costello pointed out, and more.

Yes, Joe knows Bucs coach Greg Schiano wanted competition for quarterback Josh Freeman. Joe isn’t sure Sanchez is the competition Schiano had in mind.

Joe knows many Bucs fans are jumping up and down at home wanting Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis so badly the neighbors are calling in the guys in a van with white gloves to control things.

Now Joe read an item in a recent BSPN NFC South blog that makes a helluva lot of sense to Joe: Wait until the trading deadline.

stone (tampa): why not hold off on revis and trade up for milliner this year, then attempt a trade for revis later in the season for next years pics after we have seen revis in action still knowing the jets dont want to resign him, that is if we would even need revis at that point?

Pat Yasinskas: That’s something I think Bucs should at least consider. No guarantee Milliner is going to be anywhere near as good as a healthy Revis. But Revis may not be the same guy he was before. Cost of getting Milliner also would be less — both in draft picks and salary.

Joe can’t believe he didn’t think of that before. The risk to trading for Revis now is that there isn’t one person walking the face of the earth that can state if Revis can cut, backpedal, stop-and-start on a dime like he used to. Doctors can tell if he knee is structurally sound, but now how it will react on an NFL field?

Look, as Joe has written before, the Bucs are not going to hoist a Vince Lombardi Trophy just because Revis is on the roster. Wait to make sure he is still the Revis of old.

Of course, if he is, the price likely jumps up. And of course, the Jets are salivating over the Bucs’ No. 13 pick this month.

With all the draft chatter and Darrelle Revis buzz flying around, it’s easy to forget the Bucs have other important things going on, such as reporting back to work Monday.

Yes, the 2013 offseason training and conditioning program launches in two days. And the anniversary of the Toes On The Line legend is near.

Greg Schiano has implied that he will slightly loosen the tight leash he has on all aspects of Buccaneer life — in select areas. However, Joe’s not about to bet on that. In fact, Joe wouldn’t be shocked if Schiano, in total, kicked his controlling ways up a notch, especially early in the 2013 grind.

Schiano must find a way to raise expectation levels, and Joe suspects Schiano only trusts one way to do that.

The creator, curator and overall guru of ProFootballTalk.com, the great Mike Florio, discusses the possibility of Tim Tebow winding up on the Bucs roster in this NBCSports.com video.

Breaking sports news video. MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL highlights and more.

The only reason Joe is posting this is Joe knows it will make many of his readers’ Saturday, despite the fact Joe thinks the following is absurd and the source of the information is, well, dubious.

ESPN draftnik Todd McShay claims if he were Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik, he would pick West Virginia wide receiver Tavon Austin at No. 13.

That is, if the Jets don’t procure the No. 13 pick.

“I’m told they love Rhodes and they love [West Virginia receiver] Tavon Austin,’’ McShay said. “If both of those guys are on the board and they don’t get Revis, I don’t know which they’d go with.’’

So, which way would McShay go?

“I would take Tavon,’’ McShay said. “I have Rhodes in the second round, so I’m the wrong guy to ask. I’d much rather get Tavon, who is a playmaker. This draft is deep in cornerbacks. They can come back in the second round and get a good starting cornerback.’’

This is why Joe doesn’t respect mock drafts from McShay and others. This tells Joe that McShay hasn’t studied the Bucs roster nor their offense or hole-filled defense.

So the Bucs are going to draft (and pay) for a No. 13 pick and have him sit on the bench? That’s what would happen. The Bucs don’t employ a three-wide set most of the time. So to justify drafting Austin, he would have to play before Vincent Jackson and/or Mike Williams.

Yeah, right.

Sure, Sullivan could go three wides, but that means the Bucs would abandon being a run-first offense. This just in: the Bucs have a pretty talented running back in Doug Martin, who they are paying first round cash.

Oh, and do you really trust Josh Freeman to run a three-wide set? Joe’s not convinced Bucs coach Greg Schiano does.

Austin may very well be the next Jerry Rice for all Joe knows, but he does not fit in with the Bucs. Unless you are going to scrap the current offense or get rid of Jackson, Williams or Martin.

Troubled Bucs cornerback Eric Wright took to his blog today to explain what happened behind the scenes when the Bucs threatened to void his pact and he filed a grievance and ended up signing with the Bucs at a very reduced rate.

Wright is emphatic that all he wanted to do was stay in Tampa Bay. His mission was accomplished with, he said, a promise from Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik and coach Greg Schiano:

The Bucs won’t trade Wright.

While we were restructuring, I got a chance to talk to Coach Schiano and Mark Dominik, and I frankly asked if a restructure would mean me possibly getting traded. They told me that would not happen. They told me that they wanted me. Telling me they want me to be there and they’re not thinking about trading me, that meant a lot to me. They opened the door for the restructure to happen, so I obviously was ready to take the pay cut to stay and prove myself.

I’m glad that we are where we are now. Everything is settled, and everybody is on the same page and looking forward to this next season. The business side of it is done now, so it’s all about football. It’s all about playing. It’s all about winning.

As far as that goes, we have a great young team. We’re finally putting things together to show the rest of the league that we’re contenders. I think there’s the potential for us to take a big step this year. We’re coming back with the same core guys, and we all know what to expect and what coach expects out of us now. I think everybody is eager to get back into it, get into mini-camp, training camp and offseason workouts, and work toward a common goal.

If nothing else, this is a pretty savvy move by Wright, as he has to know the Bucs were bummed about last year in a big way, and fans even more so.

Joe knows for a fact the Bucs were disappointed with Wright when, he chose to stay in California rather than earn a $250,000 bonus to work out in the offseason in Tampa. That didn’t go over so well at One Buc Palace.

If you read Wright’s entire post, it doesn’t appear he will repeat that move.

Might the Bucs beef up their D-line artillery with Tank Carradine?

What exactly is the Bucs’ philosophy at defensive end entering the draft?

All Bucs fans know is that — for now — the New Schiano Order has cleared the way for third-year ends Adrian Clayborn and Da’Quan Bowers to prove themselves coming off injuries.

Are two rather unproven ends with tremendous potential, and unspectacular backups, enough to fix the Bucs’ pass rush?

No chance, says draft guru Justin “The Commish” Pawlowski. The Commish dives into premium pass rushers in the latest can’t-miss episode of JoeBucsFanTV.

Click below, grab a beer, and enjoy the next three minutes.

Until something happens with the Bucs and Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis, or until either team says trade talks are dead, all sorts of wild analysis and conjecture will be  thrown against a wall, often ginned up by Revis’ agents.

This next one makes very little sense, but then again, Joe is still stunned the Bucs let starting defensive tackle Roy Miller go after many Bucs suits and coaches spent months telling Joe what an important cog Miller was.

How does the thought of Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez in a Bucs uniform sit with you?

That’s the latest rumor coming from the fingers of the creator, curator and overall guru of ProFootballTalk.com, the great Mike Florio. Florio has been digging (and Joe has been the recipient of a few e-mails and phone calls) for Revis news and learned Sanchez has been part of the discussions, so his sources claim.

Yes, Sanchez. He has a guaranteed base salary of $8.25 million for 2013. If he didn’t, Sanchez would have been cut by now. If the Jets could unload that obligation, they’d surely jump at the chance.

It’s unclear whether Sanchez would compete for the starting job in Tampa. On one hand, he hasn’t done enough in recent years to justify the opportunity. On the other hand, coach Greg Schiano doesn’t seem to be sold on quarterback Josh Freeman, who was taken 12 spots behind Sanchez in the 2009 draft.

Sanchez thrived in New York during a couple of Schiano’s seasons at Rutgers. Schiano possibly thinks he could coax better performances out of the man who took the Jets to back-to-back AFC title games to start his career. In Tampa, his offensive coordinator would be Mike Sullivan, who helped Eli Manning to a couple of Super Bowl wins.

This is from way out in left field. Greg Schiano hates distractions. Could you imagine every time Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman throws a pass in the dirt two yards in front of a running back how Schiano will be asked about bringing in Sanchez?

Can you imagine Freeman looking over his shoulder after just about every pass?

Further, can you fathom the Bucs paying a guy $8 million to sit on the bench?

Tim Tebow coming to the Bucs made at least a little bit of sense. Sanchez doesn’t.

The draft can’t come soon enough for Joe.