Shaun King wasn’t impressed watching Dezmon Briscoe at practice recently, but Raheem Morris has raved about the young receiver and Mark Dominik has expressed his excitement.

You can judge for yourself at practice today or tomorrow night at The C.I.T.S.

Briscoe caught six balls in the Bucs’ final two games last year, including a sick touchdown grab against New Orleans, but he’s probably best known for being at the center of a Marvin Lewis meltdown.

Throw receivers coach Eric Yarber into the mix of those raving about Briscoe, so documented Rick Brown of the Lakeland Ledger, aka Backwards Hat, 

“For such a young guy, he has such great route discipline,” said Tampa Bay receivers coach Eric Yarber. “In order to be a great receiver in my eyes, you have to have great patience in your routes and that’s what Briscoe has. He has patience, he knows how to set up defenders and he was taught very well in college. He caught over 200 balls in college. He’s pretty polished.”

Joe suggests you click through above and read the entire piece. Interesting stuff.

Not in the story is the fact that 21-year-old Briscoe was a teammate of Aqib Talib at the University of Kansas in 2007, when Briscoe won all kinds of freshman honors. Going against a cover guy like Talib in practice surely couldn’t have hurt his development.

Joe’s glad the Bucs found a talent, but Joe needs to see a lot more from the guy to be convinced. He’s not the next Mike Williams.

Yes, Joe last year coined Bucs general manager Mark Dominik the “rock star” because, all of a sudden, when the Bucs started winning games, he was popping up on virtually every national sports talk radio show and making a solid name for himself with swift, easy-to-understand analysis in a concise yet eloquent manner.

If this football thing doesn’t work out for Dominik, Joe is convinced he’ll be hired by the four-letter or FOX or CBS to provide NFL front office insight.

So often Dominik was on Sirius NFL Radio at one point, Joe tabbed him “rock star” as if he was David Lee Roth pimping the Van Halen reunion tour, sans a troupe of roadies of course.

It didn’t hurt that Dominik was nailing draft pick after draft pick as well.

But not all players may agree with this assessment of Joe’s. To many, Dominik is the NFL grim reaper. Think about it: How many players has Dominik deemed not worthy or over the hill and not invited to a training camp? Many of those same players had limited NFL careers after Dominik waved goodbye.

The list is impressive if not depressing. Anwar Richardson of the Tampa Tribune, Twittering on the TBO Bucs Twitter feed, mentioned a few.

@TBO_Buccaneers: When #Bucs GM Mark Dominik tells a player he’s lost his value, Dominik is usually right (Brooks, Dunn, Cadillac, Ruud, Stylez).

Joe sees what Richardson is implying and he’s dead-on. To be fair, we do not know if Ruud’s career is shot. Over 100 tackles last season does not suggest Ruud is washed up.

To Joe’s knowledge, Stylez White is still unemployed and he’s been very quiet on Twitter of late.

Cadillac, as much as Joe loves the guy, proved last year he was no longer an effective NFL starter.

In other words, if Dominik doesn’t want you, it’s a good bet your NFL days are numbered.

Joe made the case yesterday that Aqib Talib is a not a player hatchetman commissioner Roger Goodell cares much about because Talib is little known on the national stage, therefore his transgressions, and alleged trangressions, are not a priority.

Some think the hatchetman will suspend Talib this season before his trial in Texas. Joe would be stunned if that happened.

Today, Mike Florio, creator, curator and overall guru at ProFootballTalk.com, launched a similar take saying Goodell’s discipline is subjective public relations more than anything else.

How else can anyone reconcile the fact that Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was suspended six games despite never been arrested or charged for sexual assault, and yet Broncos cornerback Perrish Cox continues to practice and play despite facing two years to life based on specific, detailed, and troubling allegations that he raped and impregnated a woman who had passed out at his apartment?

If Roethlisberger had allegedly done what Cox had allegedly done, the lockout wouldn’t have ended.  For Roethlisberger.

Following Florio’s logic, a strong season by Talib this year certainly enhances Talib’s chances of garnering a stiff punishment from the justice-be-damned commissioner. If the Bucs make the playoffs and Talib picks Peyton Manning twice on Monday Night Football, all of a sudden Goodell probably will feel like he must flash his testicles and crack down on Talib regardless of what the Texas courts say next year.

What a way to run a league.

Much has been written and said about Donald Penn battling Adrian Clayborn in training camp. It’s fun to watch, and it’s fun to hope that Penn is helping the kid mature and make up ground lost thanks to the asinine lockout.

Penn delivered some of the more interesting commentary on the topic, courtesy of Craig Smith of ESPN1040.com. It seems Penn is getting his own education.

Speaking of rookies, DE Adrian Clayborn has had a fast start to camp, much like WR Mike Williams did a season ago, and has already earned the praise of his practice counterpart, Pro Bowl LT Donald Penn.

“He really holds his ground good,” Penn said. “It helps us, as a defense, set that edge.  It’s really hard to get him off the box, off the block, on the run plays.  He has so many counter moves.  I tell people all the time, I think a lot of his plays are going to be made off of effort and off of counter plays, because he counters so quick.  It’s something I haven’t seen, so it’s something I’m trying to get used to that will help me in the long run, too.”

Joe loves hearing all this stuff, but Clayborn is still a rookie. Joe will be very pleased if he performs better than Stylez White did last year.

Joe knows the players at One Bucs Palace crave national attention for the emerging Bucs. They want the buzz and hype that comes with your team playing on a national stage — and the gear and ticket sales, marketing deals and overall popularity that typically follows.

The Bucs have Monday night and Saturday night games this year, but the first national show is a week from tonight.

Hardly sexy, but the Bucs are nationally televised in Kansas City on FOX for their preseason opener. There’s no other national game up against them, and the biggest markets in the country don’t have a home team playing at the same time.

Hoping to catch a glimpse of naughty Margaret Hoover, Joe watched a bit of The O’Reilly Factor last night on FOX News. The show went to a commercial break and up popped a sizzling promo for the Bucs-Chiefs game. Josh Freeman was getting talked up and LeGarrette Blount was airborne.

Hopefully, that helps. The Bucs desperately need to score the bandwagon types that typically jump on a 10-6 young team with dudes like Blount and Freeman — in what’s supposed to be a football town.

With single game tickets going on sale today at 10 a.m., Joe wonders what the response will be.

In sort of a farewell address to the Tampa Bay area, former Bucs leading tackler and middle linebacker Barrett Ruud appeared on The Fabulous Sports Babe Show Thursday afternoon heard on WHBO-AM 1040.

During the long interview which touched upon a variety of subjects from his new coaches to his alma mater being rated the best team in the Big Ten, Ruud was asked both about his harsh critics locally and his relationship with the Bucs.

Ruud all but dismissed his critics as not being knowledgeable football people and professed his affection for Bucs coach Raheem Morris.

Fabulous Sports Babe: When was the moment you knew you were not coming back here?

Barrett Ruud: You know what? It’s tough to say. I really thought I’d be coming back. I guess once free agency started and I didn’t hear a whole lot from [the Bucs], I guess I figured then. I really did think I would be back this year after the [2010] season was done. It just so happened it didn’t work out. But I guess I sort of figured through free agency I wasn’t going to be back.

Sports Babe: I said for the last month or so now — it was just my own personal opinion — that if I were Barrett Ruud I would not stay here because I felt that no matter what you did, it wouldn’t be enough for the people who were going to constantly complain about Barrett Ruud.

Ruud: (chuckles) Yeah, you know what? One thing you can’t control is criticism. The one thing I have a lot of comfort in is I find most of my critics are not involved in the game. It seems like the people that are involved in the game don’t criticize me that much. So, that’s one thing you are going to deal with. It’s part of the league and that’s why it is so popular is that everybody’s into it. My niece does fantasy football and she thinks she knows more than me. But that’s the reason why football is one of the — it is the premiere sport in the world, probably. You are going to have criticisms but you can’t look that much into it.

Sports Babe: You think your relationship with the coach , the head coach and the front office was fractured?

Ruud: Definitely not the coach. Me and Raheem are very close. I always plan to make return trips down to Tampa. I have friends down there. When you spend six years there, I’ve met too many good people just to shut it all out. My coach is one of them. We are very close and we will always hang out, so that is not an issue. Definitely when you are not wanted by people it is frustrating when it’s your job.

It sounds like Ruud won’t be exchanging Christmas cards with Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik as Ruud went out of his way to dodge the question about his relationship with the Bucs front office.

Just goes to show what a class guy Ruud is in the midst of a difficult, humbling if not embarrassing time for the guy.

Finally. Finally! Joe has figured out who defensive line coach Keith Millard reminds him of. It’s Jesse “The Body” Ventura.

The man’s coachspeak sounds like Ventura talking to Mean Gene Okerlund circa 1985 on WOR-TV. Ahhh, Joe longs for his teen years. The invigorating, inspiring voice resurrecting the Bucs’ D-line sat down for an interview Thursday with the Ron and Ian Show on WDAE-AM 620 and rapid-fired takes on his students.

So what does Millard, a former All-Pro manbeast of defensive tackle himself, think of Da’Quan Bowers?

“Oh, man. He’s a brute. You remember Reggie [White]. That’s what I think of when I think of him. Big strong 285-pound guy, 16 [percent] body fat. Unbelievable explosion out of his stance,” Millard said. “When he gets in his stance we call him hidden dragon crouching tiger. I mean he is down there low. Just got to clean up his technique and his lines a little bit, how he’s gettin’ off and staying on his lines. You know, getting him to use a little more footwork.

“He likes to go right down the middle of people. He likes to blow people up. You gotta have a little bit of changeup in there. You know what I’m talking about Ian. But he’s coming along great. We’re trying to get him healthy at the same time, you know, so we’re a little bit slower on bringing him along as far as the technique and things of that nature.

“We’re making sure he’s assignment sound. But we don’t want to push hin too much and not be able to have him for the season. We want him for the season.”

Reggie White? That’s the highest of high comparisons. Of course, Joe knows Bowers has yet to play a down, but Joe got fired up hearing Millard spit that out as only he can.

A little scary that Millard doesn’t consider Bowers healthy, but we’ll all know the truth soon enough. Nonetheless, Joe’s excited to see the guy who is a massive X factor for the Bucs this season.

For those unfamiliar with Jesse Ventura, also a former Bucs radio man, here’s a clip below:

What mentors does Raheem Morris credit for his success? (yes, Joe realizes haters will be quick to say Raheem has a losing record.)

Surely there’s a long list from Raheem’s 10 years coaching in the league. But somewhat surprisingly, it appears the Bucs head coach puts Derrick Brooks atop the list, so he told the dean of Tampa Bay sports radio, Steve Duemig, on WDAE-AM 620 yesterday.

“Everybody knows he’s the Don. And that’s how we refer to him,” Raheem said of Brooks. “I guarantee you. Half the stuff I say, I got from him, that he probably got from Dungy or some of the great coaches he worked for, Coach Bowden.

“I’ll never forget, it’s like clockwork for me right now, about him explaining to me one day about falling back in Cover 2. He talked about letting the 3-technique win. And he talked about ‘taking two steps, three steps, if you go any farther you’re going to go too far you won’t be able to fall back. You won’t to make the play.’ To this day it’s a coaching point.

“It is absolutely from the Don. That is not in any playbook.”

Brooks was at Bucs practice yesterday, and Raheem acknowledged that Brooks still has a heavy influence.

Hopefully, Brooks has all the young linebackers on speed dial.

The Bucs won’t be cutting massive checks to their big free agent signings until next month. But it’s coming, so ESPN blogger Pat Yasinskas detailed today.

Yasinskas says he’s looked at the contracts of Davin Joseph and hopefully-not-overpaid Quincy Black, and they’ll get big first-year paydays before their annual salaries slowly drop.

The Bucs didn’t give Joseph a signing bonus on his seven-year, $52 million contract. Instead, they put a ton of money right up at the front of Joseph’s contract. They gave him a $9.5 million base salary for this year and the same for next year. Both years are fully guaranteed.

After that, Joseph’s base salary drops to $6 million in 2013 and stays the same in 2014. It rises to $7 million in 2015 and stays the same in 2016. In 2017, Joseph’s schedule salary is $7.5 million.

The Bucs took a similar tact when they brought back linebacker Quincy Black. He didn’t get a signing bonus either, but he got a big first-year salary. Black will earn $6 million this year and his salary drops to $5.5 million for each of the following four years.

Looking at the massive payday for Quincy Black — Quincy Black! — Joe wonders how incredibly motivated Geno Hayes must be. Hayes will be a free agent in 2012.

One could make an argument that Hayes, who turns just 24 next week, is more valuable right now.

Joe’s great partners at Ed Morse Cadillac Tampa, Brandon Auto Mall by Ed Morse and Ed Morse Auto Plaza Buick/GMC Mazda and Suzuki in Port Richey are tremendous givers in the community year-round.

Now through August 14, you can head out to any Bay area Ed Morse dealer and donate school supplies to score a free ticket to Lowry Park Zoo. The supplies will help students in Pasco County. And the zoo animals will enjoy your visit. It’s that simple.

The Aqib Talib saga has now taken what possibly could be a sad turn for Bucs fans. Power-hungry commisioner Roger Goodell has retained judge, jury and executioner rights to player disciplne as it relates to the league conduct policy.

ProFootballTalk.com delivers the news this morning, via Adam Schefter of BSPN. The issue was a negotiating point in the new labor agreement, and it seems Goodell won out in the 11th hour.

So what does this mean? Well, in Joe’s mind, Goodell is not going to take any kind of swift action to suspend Talib for being arrested for felony assault with a deadly weapon in Texas during the offseason. Talib’s trial is scheduled for March 2012.

Joe’s of the mind that Talib is nowhere near a priority for Goodell because Talib is not a big-name player. He may be around here. But nationally? Hardly. And Goodell has no pressure on him to do anything.

If you think who the player is doesn’t make a difference, then Joe has swamp land to sell you.

Plus, considering there is no hard evidence available to Goodell that reveals Talib used a gun at his sister’s house, if Goodell is a remotely reasonable person, he’ll have to let the courts play out the case before issuing any judgement against Talib — much like was done when Talib slugged a defenseless cab driver in 2009, as the guy drove down the highway. Goodell waited to see how the case played out, and Talib was suspended for opening day of 2010.

Then there’s that sticky potential complication of Goodell’s right to suspend a player when he wasn’t under contract during the asinine lockout.

Of course, there’s always a slim chance Talib goes to talk to Goodell and cuts a deal with the hatchetman.

Click below to learn about Dorman & Gutman and the experience and accolades of its attorneys.

As can be expected, Derek “Old School” Fournier of WhatTheBuc.net gives his detailed breakdown of what went down yesterday at a padded Bucs training camp practice.

The wild and wacky 2011 season continues to be unique. Signed free agents still haven’t practiced (hopefully today), and now the Bucs won’t prepare in a traditional way for Game 1 of the preseason, Friday Aug. 12 in Kansas City.

Speaking to the dean of Tampa Bay sports radio, Steve Duemig, Wednesday afternoon on WDAE-AM 620, Raheem Morris explained his club will care little about their opponent until the day before the game.

We “might go into [the preseason opener] with two days of preparation, one day, whatever the case may be, because I think it’s more important for us to get our brand of football in place and then go excecute … rather than a normal game plan,” Raheem said.

This is out of the norm, even for a preseason game, but almost necessary for all teams, courtesy of the asinine lockout. Joe can only imagine the craziness on a club with a new coach and/or a new quarterback.

Joe’s putting even less stock in any preseason result this season.

Well, it now it’s official; Cadillac is gone.

There are few better sources out of St. Louis than veteran sports guy Howard Balzer, who has covered the NFL all kinds of ways over the years. And Balzer Twittered moments ago that Cadillac has joined the Rams.

@HBalzer721 Cadillac Williams has agreed to terms with the Rams

Joe wrote about this earlier a couple of ways (scroll down) but Joe’s going to take this space to wave goodbye to Caddy, who was a model of determination and character, and delivered a lot of great moments for Bucs fans. Anyone who’s been to training camp the last couple of years knows that Cadillac was hands down the fan favorite.

Joe remembers talking to Davin Joseph during the 2009 preseason about Caddy. Joseph basically told Joe that Cadillac was an extraordinary inspiration for the entire team. Essentially saying there’s guys with work ethic, and then there’s Cadillac in another league.

Joe hopes to be proven wrong, but Joe thinks the Bucs made a mistake by basically choosing unproven Kregg Lumpkin over durable Cadillac, who didn’t miss a game in 2009 and 2010, and was a realiable third-down option.

Rockstar general manager Mark Dominik talked this week about how he wanted to get back to fans knowing numbers of players and bonding with homegrown Bucs talent.

Everybody knew and loved No. 24.

Count former Bucs quarterback Shaun King among those not crying over the apparent departure of Cadillac Williams.

Speaking as co-host on The King David Show today on 1010 AM, King said Earnest Graham can do everything Cadillac can at the running back position.

“I think they’re the same guy. I dont feel like there’s a lot of separation between Earnest and Cadillac,” King said. “Earnest is almost a clone. Both understand the offense, both are serviceable. If you need one to start at tailback for a couple of games you’re going to be fine. They both understand the pass protections.”

But King is nervous about LeGarrette Blount and Kregg Lumpkin trying to fill that role, especially in big games.

“When you get in that huddle on third down, it’s loud, it’s wordy,” King said before barking a 3rd-down call that made Joe’s head spin and stop transcribing.

“The running back has to read mike to sam, then the play is changed. That stuff is confusing. The ability to process that is difficult for guys who don’t even understand the fundamentals of what’s going on.”

With Blount and Lumpkin not on the team for the 2010 offseason and at home during the asinine lockout, King says neither has had sufficient time with his position coach to be reliable under pressure. And it’s safe to say Allen Bradford is in the same boat.

Joe has no doubt Graham can fill Cadillac’s role as well, or better, than Cadillac. However, for Joe, that’s not the point when measuring the loss of Caddy.

The point is the Bucs potentially are asking a lot of 27-year-old Lumpkin, who has no track record, and running a huge risk if Graham gets hurt, which he often does.

Joe’s not going to run play-by-play of Barrett Ruud’s every move in Tennessee. But when it ties to the Bucs, yes, Joe will dabble.

In a story yesterday in The Tennessean, former Bucs defensive tackle Jovan Haye, a man front and center during the great December collapse of 2008, offered overwhelming praise for Ruud.

“Come on, the man got cheated out of Pro Bowls in ’07 and ’08,” Haye said. “Sometimes you read stuff like, ‘Oh, he’s not physical,’ but at the end of the day he had like 200 tackles one year and 160 another year. At the end of day, as long as man gets on the ground, that’s all that matters.”

Joe suggests you read the whole story linked above, there’s interesting stuff from Ruud and more from Haye on Ruud positioning a defense.

As for Ruud, getting hosed for Pro Bowls? Please.

This morning, Tennessee Titans coach Mike Munchak appeared on “The Blitz,” hosted today by popular sports radio personality Adam Schein, heard exclusively on SiriusXM NFL Radio.

Munchak began talking about signing former Bucs leading tackler and middle linebacker Barrett Ruud. Not until last Friday did Munchak have any inkling Ruud would be available. He told Shein he was convinced Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik wouldn’t let Ruud slip away.

When Ruud was still dangling come Sunday, Munchak, after speaking with Ruud, made sure the Titans jumped on him.

Later, a Bucs fan called Schein and asked exactly how the Bucs could replace Ruud with what the Bucs currently have on the roster.

Schein, who has made no bones over the fact he is a Ruud fan, then launched into a defense of Ruud and mocked the Bucs for letting him walk.

“I still cannot believe Barrett Ruud is not playing linebacker in Tampa Bay,” Schein said. “That is their leader, their energizer bunny, their rock. I am in disbelief. I am in denial.

“If I was a Bucs fan, I would be distraught.”

Joe isn’t quite distraught only because of his trust in Dominik, but Joe has to confess he is shaking his damned head over how a rookie who was an outside linebacker is going to learn the nuances of both the Bucs defense and opposing NFL offenses in a grand total of five weeks and duplicate Ruud’s play.

Joe, and he assumes many Bucs fans, will be distraught if the not-so-stout Bucs run game last year turns into a Jim Bates Experience-like sieve this year in Ruud’s absence.

Bucs fans were crossing their fingers that fan-favorite running back Cadillac Williams would return to the Bucs.

But apparently in a move that proves Bucs rock star general manger Mark Dominik is not afraid to turn a page, Rick Stroud of the St. Petersburg Times has Twittered that Chris Mortensen has word that Williams is finalizing a deal with St. Louis.

@NFLSTROUD Cadillac Williams finalizing deal with RAMS today, per Chris Mortensen, ESPN.

And so, if it happens, the Cadillac Williams era is over in Tampa Bay.

Joe hopes the much-heralded (by Dominik) Kregg Lumpkin, who Ted Thompson and the running back-poor Green Bay Packers let walk — is up to the task of replacing Cadillac.

By now most fans have learned there’s no salary cap floor in 2011. So the Bucs don’t have to spend another nickel in free agency this year. But with hundreds of players unsigned and hopefully Tim Crowder and Cadillac Williams still on their radar, Joe hopes they will.

So how far under the cap are the Bucs? Mike Florio, creator and curator of ProFootballTalk.com, says the Bucs join 10 other teams that are $20 million or more under the new cap.

Leading the way are the Bengals, with more than $41 million in cap room.  The Jaguars have more than $34 million.

And the bronze goes, surprisingly, to the Browns, with more than $30.4 million.

The others are:  the Buccaneers (more than $30.2 million); the 49ers (more than $30.0 million); the Chiefs (more than $28.7 million); the Broncos (more than $26.7 million); the Bills (more than $26.5 million); the Bears (more than $24 million); the Cardinals (more than $23.6 million); and the Seahawks (more than $21.2 million).

Joe reached out to Florio, who said the data is good through Monday night. The likely $1 million and change the Bucs are paying Adam Hayward in 2011, may or may not be included. Hayward signed Monday.

Joe knows some fans are surprised because they expected the Bucs to be sitting at rock bottom of this list. And Joe knows some fans are enraged that the Bucs are even on this list. Though calling the Seahawks a playoff team still sickens Joe, 25 percent of the NFL playoff teams are listed, which is worth noting.

Joe’s not an accountant, and Joe’s not excited by salary cap data, especially if there’s no floor and Rachel Watson isn’t sharing a spreadsheet with Joe in a hot tub. If there were a floor, then it would at least be somewhat interesting calculating how the Bucs would be forced to add to the roster or restructure contracts.

Winning in the NFL isn’t tied to payroll.

So what happens when a media member or outlet writes something preposterous about the Bucs? Are they punished or called out?

Sometimes yes. Sometimes no. And, of course, a response from the Bucs can take many forms. This is hardly unique to the Bucs. That kind of interaction runs throughout the sports world.

As Joe documented yesterday, Tom Balog, of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune ripped Raheem Morris in a column, essentially saying Raheem didn’t have Barrett Ruud’s back when his friend and quarterback of the defense needed him most. And Balog said that sent an ugly message to the rest of the team.

Well, at Monday’s news conference at One Buc Palace, Balog asked a question of Raheem. The head coach didn’t answer the question, told Balog he heard about the Ruud column and, with a smile on his face, said “I don’t read that garbage,” before moving on.

This calm, measured reaction from Raheem had former Bucs quarterback Shaun King doing on-air cartwheels yesterday during The King David Show on 1010 AM.

“The thing is, head coaches should roll up the local media. I don’t get this thing where, ok, the athlete is always accountable, but any time some dimwit that follows a local team writes something that’s completely wrong, they’re never held accountable for it,” King said. “He should be able to roll him up. Raheem Morris is probably the only guy over there that wanted to keep Barrett Ruud.”

“I am so sick and tired of the media not being held to the same standard as the athlete. How many guys write just bogus stuff? How many guys write stuff that’s completely wrong? How many times have you ever seen any of these guys come out and admit that ‘I was wrong?’ How many of them are held accountable?

“There should be some kind of standards and expectations that have punishments if it’s not met when it comes to people [who cover sports]. …”That’s the one thing I love about Belichick, they’re so afraid of Belichick rolling them up, they don’t even ask Belichick any weird questions.”

There are all kinds of great arguments to have when it comes to a coach’s — and a team’s —  relationship with the media. Joe’s can’t dive into all those here.

Joe has no problem with Raheem sending a public message like he did Monday. Would Raheem call out a national figure from BSPN or NFL Network in the same way? Doubtful, but possible. Regardless, Raheem is easily one of the most media-friendly head coaches in the NFL and it ain’t always going to be smooth sailing.

Has Joe ever been confronted/punished by the Bucs regarding a post during Joe’s three seasons of covering the team? Absolutely. It’s all part of the game.

Joe’s glad, though, that he runs this site in a way so it makes no difference whether the Bucs embrace him or treat him like Jeff Jagodzinski.  

Yeah, Joe already touched on this but Joe has a different perspective on the issue.

With the departure of Bucs leading tackler and middle linebacker Barrett Ruud, Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik has all but handed the open position to rookie Mason Foster.

In answering a question from former Bucs offensive guard and current WDAE-AM 620 sports personality Ian Beckles Monday, Dominik was confident Foster — who played outside linebacker last year at Washington — could handle calling plays in an NFL defense at middle linebacker.

Joe’s a big fan of Dominik, obviously, but Joe also has to be fair and balanced and while Foster with a little grooming very well could make Bucs fans forget Ruud, to expect a rookie with zero OTAs or minicamps to learn an NFL defense and opposing offensive tendencies in five weeks simply scares the hell out of Joe, and should any sober fan.

But as the great Lee Corso would say, “Not so fast my friends.”

There’s this Bucs linebacker by the name of Tyrone McKenzie who, reading the tea leaves this summer that Ruud was done with the Bucs (or more precise, the Bucs were done with Ruud), McKenzie flew to Ruud’s native Omaha and Ruud and McKenzie pored over game tape to help get McKenzie get up to speed on the Bucs defense, so Joe’s good friend Jenna Laine of NFL.com detailed.

With no film room to work with in the off-season, McKenzie flew up to Nebraska to meet with Ruud. The two went over tape in a hotel lobby. The former New England practice squad member says he’s ready to take over the defense, if asked.

“That was huge. Getting out there really helped me out,” says McKenzie, who now calls the plays for the defense. “Barrett is just a great guy. Just to sit down there and talk football with him, after this whole off-season, not talking football with anybody but myself, it was great to out there with him and talk football.”

Go ahead and scream that Ruud couldn’t shed a block in the Lingerie League if it makes you feel more of a man. But Ruud had to know his days as a Bucs linebacker were over or damned near over. Yet he took the time to help groom a soon-to-be former teammate take over his old job.

That my friends is a class act.