For those who have written off Barrett Ruud from the 2011 Buccaneers, Raheem Morris says not so fast.

The defensive coordinator/head coach said the following this evening on The Steve Duemig Show on WDAE-AM 620.

Steve Duemig: It’s looking more and more like your going to lose Ruud. …Is it unfair to compare these new linebackers to Barrett Ruud?

Raheem Morris: “I don’t know if I want to agree with your statement that we’re going to lose [Ruud] yet,” Morris said. “You never know. It’s still out there. Free agency was really late this year. It actually started, what, yesterday? (Laughs) two days ago. So hopefully something happens there. It’s definitely unfair to compare a man who started for us the last three years and the [Tyrone McKenzie and Mason Foster] who are trying to fight for playing time. …”

All through the offseason, Raheem has praised Ruud and said he wanted him back. So this is nothing new, but the timing is so interesting, as is the contrast to the vibe Mark Dominik put out to the media on Tuesday — that Ruud was old news.

Will the rightful Coach of the Year get his man?

Joe now bumps the chance of a Ruud return to 38 percent.

Joe’s broiling at Bucs training camp and now chatting with players as practice has broken, but not before a chilling hush came over all here at opening day.

Mike Williams was carted off the field.

Of course, there’s not hitting going on at all, so the hope is Williams has a cramp or something minor like that.

Maybe training too much in the cool confines of his hometown in Buffalo didn’t prepare him for the swelter. … Joe can only hope.

Much more from tonight’s first public practice later.

Update 7:41: The Bucs have informed the media Williams merely cramped up. Whew!

This one’s a very tough call on context, so Joe will let his readers decide via this TampaBay.com video.

During a brief news conference today at One Buc Palace, Raheem Morris was asked if he has “closed the door on bringing back Barrett Ruud.” Midway through his answer, Raheem said “I’m optimistic.” Check it out below.

Joe’s not ruling out Ruud’s return and will stick to his initial odds of a 10 percent chance of Ruud coming back following Mark Dominik throwing cold water on Ruud’s prospects on Tuesday. But those those odds have to increase as time goes on and the market value of Ruud seemingly plummets.

If you’re in pain, don’t wait to call or e-mail Dr. Long. You owe it to yourself to stop the suffering. Dr. Long and her staff are fabulous and professional. You can enjoy all that summer has to offer.

Click below for more information.

OK, it’s the 21st century. You are already online so why not utilize the quickest, best news service there is, Twitter?

In Joe’s eyes, there have been few inventions in recent years better than Twitter. Joe can honestly say he’s never been more informed about the game he loves, football, than he has since he started using Twitter.

Not only are you constantly fed information at all hours of the day (and night), but you have direct access to some of the top movers and shakers of the game at your fingertips, from Roger Goodell to Jim Irsay to Peter King to Ahmad Black.

(Sadly, very few coaches Twitter — none in the NFL that Joe is aware of — but in college football, JayPa is probably the biggest name who does and he sometimes will respond to your missive).

For those who are just joining Twitter or looking for people to follow, here are some of the best Bucs Twitters:

@HolderStephen The St. Petersburg Times Bucs beat writer in recent months has turned hostile to Joe, but that doesn’t mean Joe doesn’t admire his Twitterings. Holder really does some inventive things with Twitter like once holding a Live Twitter chat. Holder often is interactive and he Twitters about the Bucs year-round.

@LedgeronBucs Rick Brown of the Lakeland Ledger, during the season, gives Holder a run for his money as far as being the best Bucs Twitterer. Sadly Rick, during the offseason, goes into hibernation. During the season his Twitterings are at the top of the game.

@sgw94 Former Bucs defensive end Steve White is a Twittering machine and he may very well have the most insightful, intelligent posts about the game of anyone Joe knows on Twitter, and Steve will respond to just about anyone so long as they are not trying to be an arse. The only downfall Steve may have — it’s not really a downfall — is that Steve spends so many hours on Twitter daily, football, specifically the Bucs, may make up 20 percent of this Twitterings. So if you follow Steve, you probably will get the best Bucs musings on Twitter, but you’ll get a lot of other opinions as well.

@royecummings The primary Bucs beat writer for the Tampa Tribune, Roy Cummings recently branched out from under the TBO Bucs Twitter feed to launch his own handle. As a result, he’s Twittering a lot more.

@TBO_Buccaneers This is the official Twitter handle of TBO, which includes the Tampa Tribune and WFLA-TV. Since Cummings branched out on his own, this is usually now handled by Anwar Richardson, with some input from eye-RAH! Kaufman. Sadly, like Brown, Richardson tends to go into Twitter hibernation once the season is over when Kaufman does the brunt of the Twittering.

@Commish620wdae Joe’s good friend Justin Pawlowski Twitters year-round about the Bucs and other sports as well as FGU musings (Fat Guys Unite). He also sprinkles in some USF football too, but mainly the Bucs.

@JennaLaineBucs The NFL.com blogger is a good source of Bucs information when she’s not behind a mic on the radio. Caution: she’s a baseball hound too so you may just get as many Rays musings as you will Bucs.

The guy that Joe is really trying to join the Twitterverse is Tom Balog of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Balog is a way cool guy who is very outspoken in his views. Twitter in general, and Bucs fans in particular, are losing out with Balog staying on the Twitter sidelines. Com’ on Tom, get with the program!

Oh, just in case, Joe’s Twitter handle is @JoeBucsFan.

As for general NFL Twitterers, here are a few Joe recommends:

@McClain_on_NFL Perhaps the most underrated NFL Twitterer outside of media circles. McClain is a long-time NFL writer for the Houston Chronicle dating back to the early days of the Houston Oilers. McClain is as plugged in as they get and he gives a refreshing take on the NFL, not just the cookie cutter northeastern view of things. McClain was one of the very few who was an intimate of the original draftnik, the late Joel Buchsbaum.

@PriscoCBS CBSSports.com columnist Pete Prisco often has insightful and strong takes on the NFL. Rarely a day goes by that he doesn’t offer up some views, largely at night.

@JasonLaCanfora The NFL Network insider is one of the coolest guys around and his Twitter avatar says it all.

@SI_PeterKing The preminent NFL columnist of our time is a Twitterholic who, when the mood strikes, will spend hours at wierd times of the day and night answering NFL questions from the masses.

@ClaytonESPN The Professor has only been on Twitter for a few days but the long-time ESPN NFL analyst has simply been killing it on Twitter.

@ProFootballTalk Mike Florio is the ultimate source for NFL news. An NFL fan who does not follow Florio is an NFL fan who enjoys wallowing in ignorance.

As Joe wonders whether the Bucs plan to take Cadillac Williams out to dinner, the market for the blocking icon seemed to take a nose dive yesterday.

Speedy free agent returner/third-down back Darren Sproles, also known for his blocking and receiving, signed with the Saints yesterday for what NOLA.com reported as only a four-year, $14 million deal with just $6 million guaranteed.

If that’s what 28-year-old Sproles snagged, then what’s Caddy worth?

Joe suspects the Bucs will let Cadillac test the market (if there is one) before buying him a plate of appetizers.

Joe would like to see Cadillac return, but with a veteran offensive line in place and Earnest Graham on the roster, the Bucs can’t be feeling any pressure.

And the winner is Da'Quan Bowers

The bell has rung on one of the great training camp battles of 2011, and Joe’s excited that on the surface it seems like a fair fight, not a political fix job by coaches like so many of these can be. Just ask whiney Sabby The Goat how that works.

It’s at right tackle with emerging manbeast James Lee, with his new lucrative restricted free agent tender, against Jeremy Trueblood, and the ink drying on his new two-year contract signed yesterday. 

Lee started nine games after relieving injured Trueblood in 2010, and then kept the job when Trueblood returned healthy.

With a new offensive line coach and seemingly comparable love for both guys in the organization, this battle should be damn fun to watch in training camp.

For Joe, the best part about it is Da’Quan Bowers gets to line up opposite these hungry-from-Day-1 veterans every day. That’ll only make him better … unless he eats them alive.

For those new to JoeBucsFan.com, Joe runs a 24/7 operation on these here pages, which means Joe will be hammering out updates  and photos from training camp all through this glorious football weekend.

So don’t forget to stick Joe in your favorites and stay connected.

Also, Joe wants to thank those of you who delivered a whopping 17,000 actual visits to JoeBucsFan.com yesterday. Joe is humbled and energized by the support, and damn thankful his crack tech manager (aka Joe) had prepared for that kind of action. Plus Joe is happy to be delivering such astounding value for his advertisers. No wonder they stick around for years!

And don’t forget, the only place to stay up to date on the Rays’ moves at Sunday’s MLB trading deadline is the wildly popular JoeRaysFan.com.

When Joe read the news that the Bucs were a player for free agent cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha, Joe immediately smelled an agent using the Bucs as leverage against Captain Lou Albano and the Jets.

It seems SI.com NFL columnist Peter King was more direct and less polite than Joe.

The coffee-slurping, popcorn-shoveling, fried chicken-eating, oatmeal-loving King mocked the rumors last night on his Twitter feed.

@djreese5: Does Tampa sneak away w/Asomugha while everyone else watches Jets?

@SI_PeterKing: Bucs will sign Nnamdi the day I succeed Belichick.

It’s not just King; others who shook their heads at the news as well. Former Bucs great Warren Sapp, who still has many contacts with the Bucs, took to Twitter as well and flat out said the Bucs are not chasing Asomugha.

It’s not the big kick in free agency Bucs fans were looking for, but an upgrade nonetheless.

Per BSPN NFL guru Adam Schefter’s Twitter feed, the Bucs have signed the high-brow, big-money punter on the market, six-year veteran Michael Koenan, who once was Atlanta’s franchise player. No joke. (Plus a source told Joe Chucky “loves that guy.”)

Koenan is a kickoff specialist — no longer as important with the rule moving kicks to the 35 yard line — and he’s a damn good punter. Don’t look for the Bucs to have a kickoff return against them for a touchdown anytime soon.

Hmm, if the Bucs had Koenan last year, Eric Weems probably doesn’t have the devastating 102-yard TD return against them in Tampa. Maurice Stovall doesn’t grab Sabby honors, and the Bucs make the playoffs.

Interesting play by Mark Dominik, as Koenan, Joe’s guessing, is probably earning in the $3 million range.

Despite a few outlets jumping the gun a bit — not that the outcome was unreasonable — this time it’s real:

Davin Joseph and the Bucs have agreed on a new contract.

Per Joe’s good friend, “The Big Dog,” Steve Duemig’s Twitter timeline, Joseph and the Bucs have a handshake deal that Joseph will sign Friday.

And what is the widely popular WDAE-AM 620 personality’s source you ask? Why Joseph himself.

The agreed upon deal, per Duemig (via Joseph) is seven years for a cool $53 million.

So much for the haters who claim Dominik blew off all winter in not preparing his team of accountants to meet a salary floor.

Com’on, people.

UPDATE: How quick was Duemig’s reporting? He made it public before Joseph himself had a chance to Twitter it.

UPDATE II: Jeremy Trueblood agreed to a two-year deal.

Joe’s done his share of freelance work for the Newark Star-Ledger. The pay’s always top notch.

The point is Joe knows they’re a legitimate outfit with high standards. So Joe will consider their latest, that the Bucs are knee deep in the Nnamdi Asomugha sweepstakes, as a very solid rumor. Here it is:

The Jets initially contacted Asomugha Tuesday. The 49ers and the Texans were also in hot pursuit, but now the Joseph deal presumably eliminates Houston from the race. But Tampa Bay — which has been relatively quiet in free agency thus far — has also been in the mix, per a person with knowledge of the teams competing for Asomugha’s services.

What’s next? Early this evening, the Jets were asking Asomugha for a decision, per a person informed of the communication between the sides.

Exciting? Yes.

A good idea? Sorry. Joe’s confident the Bucs don’t need a cornerback. Aqib Talib’s coming back. Ronde Barber is still here and strong. The Bucs drafted Myron Lewis in the third round and like him. E.J. Biggers is solid.

Nnamdi ain’t worth it. Not in this defense.

But, of course, Joe would cheer for him like hell.

Update 10:27 p.m.: Unintentionally urinating the face of the legions of Nnamdi lovers, Warren Sapp just Twittered the following:

@QBKILLA Tampa Bay Is Not In Nnamdi Asomugha Sweepstakes!!!

In recent days, Joe has been totally bombed with questions about Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik spending money.

Why?

People are totally obsessed with this topic and Joe is at a loss to figure out why.

As Joe has often answered, Joe does not care about the salary cap. Joe thinks about the salary cap about as much as he thinks about a nude Rosie O’Donnell, which is to say unless someone asks Joe about the salary cap, it never crosses Joe’s mind.

Joe is not an accountant. He’s a football guy, not a numbers guy. Dollars do not equate to wins in the NFL. They just don’t. If anything, fans would want Dominik to pay less. The Bucs got 10 wins and lost a playoff tiebreaker and had one of the lower payrolls in the NFL.

If Joe was so worried about dollars, he’d watch Jim Cramer.

Apparently Joe’s good friend Justin Pawlowski of WDAE-AM 620 is getting hounded by people who can’t sleep wondering if Dominik will make it rain. Pawlowski lashed out at Dominik’s critics on his Twitter account.

@Commish620wdae Does everyone think that Mark Dominik is dumb and won’t spend enough to get to the floor which would end with fines and loss of draft picks? … Hmmm, would a team and GM that prides itself in building through the draft risk losing draft picks? I think not. … Everyone bitched about Bruce allen lying, but when Mark Dominik tells truth that #Bucs are building through the draft, people get mad too. … There’s much more to building a team than “just spend the money” … I think the #Bucs already have the big names people want to see, but they won’t become big names until we get into this season!

Joe couldn’t have written it better himself. Sans possibly having a rookie linebacker playing out of position calling defensive plays, has Dominik done anything the past 18 months that would suggest he doesn’t know what he is doing?

If fans are bent because Dominik isn’t playing fantasy football, may Joe suggest following the Redskins or perhaps the Cowboys? Danny Snyder and Jerry Jones never met a big-name splash they didn’t like. How’s that worked out for them the past 15 years or so?

And no, once again, Joe doesn’t care about the salary cap. Joe’s the last guy to ask about it because he doesn’t give a damn.

Those that thought that a high salary floor meant Dominik would run wild in free agency clearly haven’t been following the man in recent months. Dominik doesn’t roll like that.

During the 2010 offseason, Drew Brees spent time tutoring Josh Freeman as a favor to his old college coach: Greg Olson.

Joe respected Brees for that, but it sure seemed bizarre for a competitive guy to invest serious time propping up a division opponent’s quarterback.

But this year Brees took it all to a new level. The guy mentored Gerald McCoy.

In fact, McCoy credited Brees for being his No. 2 offseason advisor behind Pro Bowl defensive tackle and Pro Bowler Tommie Harris, during an interview this morning on the Ron and Ian Show on WDAE-AM 620.

“Suprisingly enough, who’s going to kind of make people say, ‘What?’ A person I talked to this offseason that helped me with my recovery and how I can make a comeback is Drew Brees,” McCoy said. “We trained at the same gym. … I just had a chance to sit down and talk to him. And it wasn’t about football. It was just like, ‘Mentally, how do you come back from an injury?  What did you do?’ Thinks like that. ‘How do you lead the way you do? What makes you who you are?’ And he gave me some great advice.”

Does Brees realize McCoy’s mission is to break him in half? Brees either has to be a top shelf Mr. Nice Guy, harbors a death wish, or he thinks McCoy isn’t good enough to threaten him. Interesting, regardless.

One thing McCoy said in the interview that alarmed Joe was that he felt his healing triceps had recovered about 85 percent of the strength it had last year. Considering a guy as young as McCoy should be getting stronger in the offseason, that was somewhat troubling.

Hopefuly, McCoy can pull that up to 100 percent by opening day. 

Now in the near-three years Joe has been banging out Bucs copy and content since launching this site — not one day missed; not one! — Joe has made it abundantly clear how he feels about the satanic cable syndicate known as Out House Networks.

Let Joe be even more clear: it is the suits that Joe hates there, not the people. Some of the folks who work for Out House Networks are some of the coolest in the business, whether it be Rock Riley or Victoria Lim or J.B. Long, to name a few. Nicer people one would be hard pressed to find.

This beef is not about the people that work there, but the corporate suits. It is the suits who brazenly have decided to deny innocent area citizens the want, desire and the need to enjoy the NFL Network, yet it is these same scoundrels who have decided to ram every friggin’ vapid shopping channel in the free world down the throats of the littles along with other schlap, including a “news” channel that features such internationally-compelling stories such as a new swing set in the Brandon city park, a new culvert being installed along Starkey Road in Largo and the temperature every 10 minutes just in case you forgot how hot it was 10 minutes ago.

It is simply an outrageous practice and some right-thinking politician would be warranted to launching a congressional investigation into this shady if not elicit unethical practice.

Tomorrow, Joe will feature some of the best Twitterers to follow for Bucs news and there are few local guys better at bringing you tidbits of sports information than Long. Today, he had an interesting nuggett as the Bucs reported for training camp.

It seems the absense of starting middle linebacker Barrett Ruud has created a degree of unrest among his former (?) teammates and in fact soft-spoken tight end Kellen Winslow spoke up in defense of Ruud.

@JB_Long: Bucs Winslow says it would be very disappointing to see Ruud leave. Team leader. Guys in locker room want him back.

Look, Joe thinks the world of rock star general manager Mark Dominik. But starting a third round college outside linebacker in the middle and calling defensive plays, a young man who has had a grand total of zero reps with the Bucs defense and the opening regular season game a scant five weeks away, well, this shakes Joe to his very core with fright and dread.

Joe has learned to trust Dominik. But this move is really testing Joe’s allegiance.

Josh Freeman towers over a rabid gum chewer and the rest of the Bucs beat throng in this YouTube.com video from One Buc Palace today. Freeman fields questions, including one from a special guest.

Woe is Stylez White. The Bucs’ sack leader over the past four seasons now has a rookie wearing his number. There’s a bad sign, or a good sign, depending on your perspective.

The guy now with No. 91 is manbeast-in-waiting Da’Quan Bowers, who passed his physical days ago, in case you were wondering.

Joe’s not bashing Stylez here. The guy was a top-flight backup with a great personal story. He just didn’t deliver like he needed to in 2010.

Amazing when you think about the razor thin success-failure game in the NFL. Stylez had 4 1/2 sacks last year. If luck/fate breaks a little more his way and he had, say, seven sacks, he likely would be entertaining plenty of offers right now. But it seems the opposite is true, so Joe documented earlier today.

Regardless, there’s a new No. 91 to cheer, and he’s probably the biggest X factor in the Bucs’ lineup.

Joe’s been whacked with the question in the headline so many times and so many ways the past few days. It’s getting annoying.

First, Joe doesn’t necessarily trust the varying figures reported as to how much the Bucs have to spend to get this new real-cash floor. Are the intracacies of every existing contract out there for all to see? Absolutely not. Sure, the Bucs will have to spend a lot more than they have in past years, but exactly how much is a mystery.

Second, how the Bucs might be able to renegotiate existing deals and configure new contracts — essentially the fine print of the cap in this new labor agreement — isn’t common knowledge.

Maybe there’s more room than in past years to frontload contracts and not have a “cap hit” spread out across years. Joe has no clue. For example, Quincy Black’s sweetheart deal might count $8 million against the 2011 cap. Again, nobody knows.

Lastly, Joe hasn’t busted out a spreadsheet, but guys like Connor Barth and James Lee catching roughly $1.5 million raises, plus other guys who re-sign (Tim Crowder, Cadillac Williams & Adam Hayward anyone?) will quietly help the Bucs climb the cash ladder.

Will the Bucs get to where they have to be moneywise without spending on a splash free agent from outside the organization? Probably. Mark Dominik left that inference out there in his news conference Tuesday.

Then there’s also that possibility of the Bucs holding back cap cash to renegotiate/extend Josh Freeman’s deal later this season with a pile of frontloaded money into 2011. Again, without knowing the legalese of the cap, there’s no way to answer the question. But that’s not a bad option, since it would provide more spending flexibility in 2012 and beyond.

A guy like Josh Johnson also is an interesting option for the Bucs to extend midseason before he becomes a free agent. Actually having a “career backup,” as Raheem Morris called Johnson, might be wise, versus just talking about it.

All Bucs fans have is Dominik’s word that he plans to build through the draft, re-sign “homegrown” free agents (minus a certain linebacker, it seems) and mimic what the Steelers and Packers do.

Thankfully, real answers are coming.

Joe reads the comments. He sees his Twitter messages.

Many Bucs fans are slamming their pints of beer on the bar in frustration because Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik (seemingly) is watching the boats float down the river as other NFL teams gobble up free agents or make trades to better themselves and, thus far, Dominik has stood pat.

Pete Prisco of CBSSports.com has noticed this as well and had something to Twitter about it. In short, he’s in Dominik’s corner.

@PriscoCBS: Bucs do it right. Ton of money, but not being crazy with it.

Joe had tried to calm his readers on Twitter earlier this week. Joe was bombed with “who are the Bucs going after in free agency” type questions on Twitter, and Joe would always respond that Dominik would likely take care of his own first and maybe dabble in second-tier free agents.

Dominik learned a lesson with the near-miss of Facestomper Haynesworth and the mess that Kardashian-chasing Derrick Ward turned out to be. Since, Dominik has treated big-named free agents as if they have cholera.

As Joe has stated many times before, dollars do not equate wins. They just don’t. And really, who can soberly argue against what Dominik has pulled off the past 18 months?

The asinine lockout has had many repercussions, among them, a wild, wild west like flurry of activity to get a 90-man roster in such a short window of time.

As a result, teams’ front offices are crammed for time, working round the clock.

This may partially explain why free agent defensive end Stylez White has not had a call from the Bucs. With the angst of not knowing where he may be playing this season, if he is playing this season, White’s patience reached its limit last night as he snapped at fans on Facebook.

SO WE KNOW, I AM A FREE AGENT. AS SOON I KNOW YOU WILL KNOW. I PROMISE… OK? SO STOP ASKING.. THANKS 🙂

Currently, Stylez is at his home in Ohio and lamented on Twitter about how there wasn’t a Popeye’s Fried Chicken within an easy driving distance.

So Stylez sits at home, waiting for the phone to ring, hoping he is still a Bucs defensive end much less an NFL defensive end.

Correction: It was Geno Hayes Twittering about a Popeye’s craving, not Stylez, who responded to Hayes and soon after Twittered he was feasting at Red Robin. … Joe now has cravings for both.

Seems Bucs free agents Davin Joseph and Jeremy Trueblood were having a power dinner last tonight, as the duo were scheduled to dine with Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik and coach Raheem Morris.

No word on where they broke bread but Joe is guessing it wasn’t the La Teresita cafeteria or the Taco Bus (though a solid choice for grub, both).

Joe also wonders how long it took for the quartet to dispel of the niceties and get down to the real talk of dollars and cents and more importantly, putting pen to paper tomorrow?

Joe’s also guessing Raheem was trying out wine suggestions he got from his pal Merlot Joe Maddon.

This meeting between the four tells Joe it’s a good bet that Joseph and Trueblood will return to the Bucs, but Joe is guessing Trueblood might have to take a discount.

What do you think the tip was at this table?

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