Forget the order, the Bucs’ depth chart at running back includes Mossis Madu, LeGarrette Blount and rookies Doug Martin and Michael Smith, plus some guys that are apparent camp bodies.

That’s not a lot of experience, especially for a team that seems to want to pound the ball like it was 1972, and for a team that has little experience at fullback. Joe can’t remember the last time the Bucs had such young blood in the backfield.

Should they go get a veteran to compete and study up close?

ESPN NFC South blogger Pat Yasinskas says it’s not happening, so he wrote in a live chat in response to a reader longing for Cedric Benson yesterday.

Sajid [via mobile]: Why dont the bucs sign cedric benson one year contract great fit with big O line teach blunt something could be a steal just like thomas jones back with the gruden era

Pat Yasinskas: They just invested two draft picks on RBs. Don’t think they’re looking for more right now.

Joe’s written many times that Ryan Grant would be a sweet insurance policy, if he were to be on the roster when training camp opened. He finished on a high note last season and certainly the Bucs have the cap room to afford such a luxury — even if they have to cut him.

Joe’s as excited as the next guy about what speedster seventh-rounder Michael Smith might bring to the table, but he’s still a longshot to become a solid player in the NFL.

NFL Network recently reported that 10 of 32 starting running backs were lost for the season in 2011. Joe doesn’t like those odds without a veteran back in the stable. Hopefully, the Bucs won’t need one.

Leave it to the long NFL tentacles of the creator, curator and overall guru of ProFootballTalk.com, Mike Florio, to learn of Bucs first round draft pick Mark Barron agreeing to terms with the Bucs.

NFL Network also is confirming Florio’s report.

Per a league source with knowledge of the situation, the Buccaneers and Barron have agreed to terms.

The fully-guaranteed, four-year contract includes a signing bonus of $8.961 million and base salaries of $390,000 in 2012, $1.047 million in 2013, $1.705 million in 2014, and $2.362 million in 2014.

Obviously this is good news for Bucs fans and first-year coach Greg Schiano that everyone is in the fold and everyone shy of Da’Quan Bowers will be at training camp.

Now Mark, stay away from the long Popeye arms of Brian Price and all should be good!

It’s no surprise that predictions for the 2012 Bucs are all over the map. That’s what happens when you have a talented roster that still has holes, combined with no firm read on the quality of coaching and playcalling.

NFL Network guru Mike Mayock fiercely defended his prediction of the Bucs making the playoffs. Warren Sapp says the Bucs won’t “contend.” Mercurial mouthpiece Adam Schein, of NFL Radio, says the Bucs will win nine or 10 games.

And now longtime CBS Sports NFL analyst Pete Prisco says the Bucs will finish 3-13.

Jimminy Christmas! That’s worse than last season’s 4-12 debacle. What man of sound mind could make such a prognostication? Perhaps Prisco thinks the Bucs should have stayed Yungry and retained Raheem Morris?

This reminds Joe of Peter King’s infamous 2-14 season prediction for the 2010 season, when the Bucs won 10 games.

Joe’s not ready to call the 2012 season record, but rest assured it will have the Bucs winning more than three games. If the Bucs actually win only three games, then Joe would have no problem with Team Glazer starting over again.

Perhaps preparing for the tough conditioning tests coming next week under the New Schiano Order, or perhaps still working out anger over the Bucs’ heinous 10-game losing streak, Mike Williams, Josh Freeman, Dallas Clark, Vincent Jackson, Sammie Stroughter and other Bucs have been training hard over at Plant High School.

How does Joe know they’re putting in hard work? Well, in very amateur vidoes posted yesterday on Williams’ Facebook page (written, directed and shot by Williams), the Bucs’ wide receiver seems to like to pick up the camera when he’s gasping for breath.

“We’re out here getting ready baby. Super Bowl.” Williams said covered in sweat in one take. One can also see Sammie Stroughter clearly recovering from something grueling in another video.

Joe’s pleased to see the dedication, especially Jackson and Freeman getting as much on-field time together as possible. 

Since the moment Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik traded up at the end of Day 1 of the draft to snooker Tom Coughlin and the Giants and acquire Boise State running back Doug Martin, many Bucs fans have tried to create a “battle” between the two.

As Martin told Joe earlier this year, that simply isn’t the case.

So on Thursday, when Bucs rookies were made available to the local pen and mic club, Smith again had to explain there is no fight on the field between him and Blount. Rather, there is a battle with all the running backs.

“It’s not just LeGarrette,” Martin said. “We’ve got like five running backs in the room and there’s competition between everybody and all that’s going to do is make us better.”

Joe just thinks this is beyond refreshing. Does Martin want the job? Of course. But Martin seems to relish a team-first mentality and above all else, winning. What a novel concept.

While many have tried their best to make Blount and Martin some sort of football enemies, Martin seems to be more concerned about extracurricular elements of training camp than any friction fiction people try to apply to him and Blount.

“I’m curious to see if there’s any hazing going on,” Martin said. “I’m not sure if there is or not so I’m going to be watching my back, definitely.

Being a rookie and being a freshman in college is “definitely different. I feel I have a chance to go here whereas in college I redshirted and had to wait for two guys to get out of there and eventually got the chance to compete for that top spot, so it’s definitely different.”

There will be no long leashes for the Bucs held over from the Raheem The Dream regime, so says Pat Kirwan.

The former Jets front office executive, Jets linebackers coach, Bucs scout and current analyst for CBS and NFL Radio wagged a written-word finger of warning to the big-name youngsters on the Bucs defensive line in a recent take for CBSSports.com. Kirwan believes the New Schiano Order will not tolerate anything but heady and hustling play.

The Bucs’ defense will be a 4-3 scheme and it is time for the front four with all those high draft picks to come through. A word of caution to the players, Schiano didn’t draft you and if you don’t play hard and smart every play you will not be in Tampa long. The Bucs have 10 games against top-10 offenses from last year and there is no margin for error.

There could be as many as three rookies starting on defense and that usually means problems with formation recognition, mental errors and just the challenges division quarterbacks Drew Brees, Matt Ryan and Cam Newton present. One very interesting defensive draft pick this past spring was linebacker Lavonte David. He has safety skills as well as linebacker skills and he should give the Bucs a hybrid player who can stay on the field when teams go to three-wide sets or use a flex tight end.

Clearly, Kirwan is not confident in the Bucs’ defense. And it’s hard to blame anyone for that. They’ve got question marks everywhere.

As for Kirwan’s edict to the Bucs’ “big four” linemen, well, that heads-up was fired directly at Gerald McCoy.

New Bucs coach Greg Schiano made it clear from the first day he stepped on the practice fields this spring at One Buc Palace that the Bucs were horribly undisciplined last year and the basics were to be stressed.

Whether it was biting the football or toes on the line, fundamentals were to be stressed, demanded.

After the second day of rookie training camp Thursday afternoon, Bucs linebacker Lavonte David noted that core belief of Schiano has not wavered.

“We’re just going over the basic things, Day 1 fundamentals,” David said.

If Schiano is going over the basics as training camp starts for rookies, Joe wonders if the veterans can expect the same when they start practicing a week from tomorrow, July 27.

Chatting with media amid the summer swelter on the fields of One Buc Palace today, Greg Schiano said he expects every Buccaneer outside of Da’Quan Bowers to be present and ready for training camp when the full team reports next week.

Immediately, Joe thought this was a great sign for Brian Price and Amobi Okoye.

Of course, Price’s health has been under a cloud of uncertainty for years, and his state of mind became an issue this year when he was excused from mandatory minicamp after struggling following his sister’s accidental death, landed in the hospital and later had an altercation with Mark Barron. Okoye had a some sort of knee procedure and missed mandatory minicamp.

These two guys coming in healthy is a huge deal. The Bucs can’t afford to enter another season paper thin at defensive tackle.

You’ll be impressed if you take advantage of the amazing service specials at Ed Morse Cadillac Tampa, and check out their new and pre-owned inventory. It’s a great time to experience a Cadillac, and Ed Morse Cadillac Tampa is the only place you’ll need to go. Joe can’t say enough good things about them.

There is always a player or two that Bucs fans latch onto in training camp and preseason and hope makes the squad. Last year it was wide receiver Ed Gant, who racked up a bunch of yards against guys who are currently driving beer trucks, teaching high school and bouncing drunks out of bars.

If Joe is rooting for any rookie to make the team, it would be Leonard Johnson, for purely selfish reasons.

Joe got to know Johnson when he was the starting quarterback at Largo High School as a freshman. So Joe thinks it would be cool that a local guy who grew up with the Bucs, a guy Joe knew before Johnson could legally drive, could make the squad.

Always a studious guy, Johnson admitted he didn’t have much of a summer vacation. The downtime between the last OTA and today Johnson spent hitting the books, specifically defensive playbooks and when possible, video.

“I did a lot of studying over the break to prepare myself so I can compete with all of the guys,” Johnson said.

It wasn’t just terminology and assignments that Johnson has learned in his short few months with the Bucs, but he has also learned how to be a Bucs player Johnson said.

“The most important thing is to be a professional, both on and off the field, most definetly off the field,” Johnson said. “Just to be professional every where you go. Carry yourself like everyone knows you around town.

“It is good to come back out here and get acclimated to the heat, start learning terminology all over again and to be out there running around with the guys.”

Bucs coach Greg Schiano meets the press after this morning’s rookie training camp practice at One Buc Palace.

Bucs coach Greg Schiano doesn’t mess with the Benjamins that dictate much of what goes on in the NFL. When players are supposed to be at practice, Schiano wants those guys on the field, so long as they are healthy.

First round Bucs pick Mark Barron has yet to ink a contract, thus, was absent this morning when the Bucs held the second day of rookie training camp at One Buc Palace.

While Schiano isn’t mad at Barron, it was clear the first-year Bucs coach sure would like to have Barron practicing with his fellow rookies.

“He is missing repetitions and a rookie, especially a rookie who we are counting on… ” Schiano paused to choose his next words carefully and added. “I am hopeful he will be here soon.”

Schiano just before being asked about Barron explained how repititions are so important for rookies, thus why this rookie head start for training camp is important.

“You get some individual attention where maybe a week from now they won’t get that individual attention,” Schiano said. “We will make sure as an organization they to get repetitions [when the veterans arrive] because that is on the only way to get better. [But] when there is more people here, there are less reps.”

In many circumstances, free agents are players that their previous team had no interest re-signing. Geno “Taze” Hayes would be an example in the case of the Buccanners.

But rockstar general manager Mark Dominik can be pleased to say that his big free agent pickups this offseason, Carl Nicks, Eric Wright and Vincent Jackson, were all desired by the former employers.

Per NFL.com today, Chargers QB Philip Rivers is still feeling the loss of Jackson.

“These questions are always hard to answer. You miss Vincent Jackson, I wish we never had to lose any of the big free agents that we lost,” said Rivers, set to begin his seventh season as starter. “But at the same time, I’m excited about who we gained in return. And getting Eddie Royal, getting Robert Meachem, those are guys that can make plays and do some different things.”

It will be fascinating to see how the chemistry builds between Josh Freeman and Jackson. There’s no question that Jackson was used to catching balls from a truly elite quarterback. Joe hopes the switch to Freeman doesn’t equate to a dropoff in Jackson’s impact.

Barring something unforeseen, Joe believes Lavonte David will start this season at weakside linebacker.

Last season the linebacker play for the Bucs was miserable beyond words. It didn’t help that powers that be at One Buc Palace came up with the wild idea of having a rookie play out of position with no offseason to speak of and place him in the starting lineup no less!

If the Bucs didn’t have the worst linebacker play in the NFL last year, Joe is open to suggestions as to what team was worse. Bulls would scoff at calling the second level “matador.”

The drafting of linebacker stud Lavonte David of Nebraska should help. On Buccaneers.com (intrepid Scott Smith?) breaks down one of the top battles of training camp: weakside linebacker.

Adding to the field of linebacker candidates was obviously important to the Buccaneers this spring, as they traded up to grab David in the second round of the 2012 NFL Draft. David is clearly seen as a potential starter, given both his draft position and the fact that he spent the team’s final mini-camp running with the first team defense. Schiano has made it clear, however, that he will continue to try different combinations with that three-man group, and David knows nothing will be handed to him.

The former Nebraska star is an intriguing candidate, though. He was a tackling machine for the Cornhuskers and the Buccaneers were deficient in that department in 2011, ranking last in the NFL against the run. David also has outstanding speed, which could help him develop into the kind of sideline-to-sideline playmaker that has driven Buccaneer defenses of the past (think Derrick Brooks and Hardy Nickerson).

Najee Goode and Rennie Curran — who Joe saw practice quite a bit with the starting linebacker unit this spring — were also mentioned as contenders for the void left by Geno Hayes.

In Joe’s mind, it is Lavonte David’s position to lose. The team has a lot invested in him. If, for some reason, David is slow to learn or has an injury, Joe’s money is on Curran starting at weakside linebacker.

“Olie, man, that didn’t even work on the chalkboard.”

You all remember the heinous, mind-numbing, bang-your-head-against-a-wall Benn’d around play, an obsession of Greg Olson that clearly was designed to pad the wallets of cardiologists across Tampa Bay.

If you blocked it out, here’s the 2011 compilation on YouTube. However, one of the runs, the successful one, is not a Benn’d around but a straight handoff in front of Josh Freeman. But it seems the stat geeks at Football Outsiders studied this play for a fancy 2011 season almanac and mistakenly included the nine yard run referenced above as a Benn’d around.

 Their bad numbers tricked Pat Yasinskas, who wrote up the data on ESPN.com.

Benn carried the ball six times on reverses last year. Only three of them went for positive yardage. The longest gain was nine yards. The other two gains went for three and two yards. Benn also carried for losses of four, five and 12 yards. 

I’ll total it up here. Benn carried six times on reverses for a grand total of minus seven yards.

Joe will not stand for the Benn’d around getting so much credit. In fact, it was executed five times for -16 yards.

Joe’s personal favorite was the last time the Benn’d around was seen — 3rd-and-2 in the red zone. Olson should have been relieved of his headset at that moment.

So far this season, about the only news that Bucs first round draft pick, safety Mark Barron of Alabama, made was being on the wrong end of a Brian Price right hook.

It appears Barron may be making some news in the near future, and it has nothing to do with getting blasted in the grill in a meeting room at One Buc Palace.

Joe often gets Twitter messages and e-mails asking why he doesn’t write about so-and-so signing a Bucs contract. In Joe’s eyes, only if a draft pick doesn’t sign is it news.

So far, Barron has not signed, but Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune believes both sides are nearing ink on paper.

Safety Mark Barron, the No. 7 overall pick and the first of the Bucs’ two first-round selections, remains the team’s only unsigned draftee, and there’s a chance he won’t report until his contract is finalized. That could happen as soon as today or take until just before the start of camp workouts.

Given the way rookie contracts are now structured, however, a holdout seems unlikely.

Barron’s agent, Jimmy Sexton, knows Barron eventually will sign a four-year contract with a club option for a fifth year that includes a base salary for 2012 of $390,000. He also knows that Barron will receive a signing bonus of approximately $9 million, because last year’s seventh overall pick, 49ers linebacker Aldon Smith, received an $8.96 million signing bonus.

Now that RGIII has signed with the Redskins, Joe believes the dominoes will quickly fall, and that Barron will be in a Bucs uniform within a few days.

Barron’s fellow Buccaneer rookies are getting drilled and grilled at One Buc Palace — rookies reported today — while Barron waits for his lawyers to slug it out with rockstar general manager Mark Dominik and put his signature on a deal.

It’s easy to say Barron’s absence before full squad training camp starts next week is rather meaningless. But if you go there, then you can’t buy in to the theory floated last year by Raheem Morris and others that claimed any and all offseason time with coaches is critical to a player’s development.

Joe is of the mind that the Bucs, potentially, could have a damned impressive run-blocking offensive line. But when it comes to pass blocking, the statistical geeks at ProFootballFocus believe the Bucs need to do some brushing up.

The spreadsheeters pored over tape of all games last season, and for pass blocking, the Bucs did not grade out so well.

Khaled Elsayed, who did the research, showed that Bucs tackles Jeremy Trueblood and Donald Penn were in the top three of tackles giving up the most quarterback pressures per snap. Levi Brown of Arizona was the worst culprit, per Elsayed.

Jeremy Trueblood take a bow, as even after earning a benching in 2010 you still snared second spot, with three total pressures more than Buccaneers teammate Donald Penn and the Vikings’ former left tackle (now left guard) Charlie Johnson.

Now Joe knows Trueblood has struggled with pass protection, but he was a whole lot better last year than in 2010. The listing of Penn stunned Joe. Penn has been able to lock up some of the best defensive ends in the game.

Now Joe knows Penn slipped a little bit towards the end of last year, but Joe attributes that more to the Bucs’ season blowing up amid a grotesque 10-game losing streak than any of Penn’s talents diminishing.

Joe’s intrigued by a cornerback concerned about passing running tests

One thing the leader of the New Schiano Order mentioned after one late spring OTA session was that players would return and have to pass a “fair” fitness test. But Davin Joseph talked about how the Bucs’ new strength and conditioning standards have been ramped up considerably and that left Joe wondering just how challenging Schiano’s fitnesss demands would be.

Well, now it seems the Schiano conditioning edict even has svelte defensive backs worried about running up to par. 

In an extensive Yahoo.com feature on Eric Wright, the recently exonerated corner talks about adjusting his workouts and being prepared for what awaits him when the Bucs return to the practice field next week. This really stood out for Joe. Wright had 4.3 speed coming out of college and clearly doesn’t have any kind of weight issue.

And it isn’t just about moving to a different part of the gym because your new position coach has you as more of a run-fit defender this season — as Wright told me, there are purely football and purely athletic concerns to consider, and they will clash at times.

“First and foremost, the run tests are different, and that’s what you’re obligated to do when you show up to camp,” he said. “Things change a little bit, and you have to cater your workouts to that — being prepared for the football aspect, but also being prepared to take a run test. That’s something totally different than being in football shape. So, it’s sort of a task for Travelle to make sure he meshes both of those elements. You can run sprints and gassers, but you won’t be ready to play football. And vice versa — someone can do football-specific stuff, and not pass the conditioning test. it’s a juggling act for Travelle to make sure he integrates both sides.”

Hmmm, “more of a run-fit defender?” Perhaps that’s a small glimpse into the now covert Schiano defensive scheme?

Of course, Wright addresses his dropped DUI charge in the feature. Click through above to read.

Wright also is back on Twitter (@EWrighteous21) spitting out takes to his minions. He took a break after his arrest but returned last week dishing out lessons he might have learned from the dismissed DUI charge.

@EWrighteous21 – They bring you flowers when you dead but no soup when you sick … “But all who devour you will be devoured; all your enemies will go into exile. Those who plunder you will be plundered … all who make spoil of you, I will despoil.. But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds” Jer 30:16-17 ‪#ThankYouLord

Joe’s pleased that Wright is on track, and Joe’s also eager to see how the roster tackles the Schiano fitness test. #JobsOnTheLine.

A hot topic on glorious SiriusXM NFL Radio, and one on Warren Sapp’s mind, is how Cam Newton will be defended — and respond — in his sophomore season.

And a lot of that focus centers on the Bucs and Greg Schiano’s currently mysterious defense.

Last season, Newton had only five touchdown passes against seven interceptions in four total games against NFC South rivals New Orleans and Atlanta, and the Panthers lost all those games. But against the Bucs, well, Newton padded his stats, gutting and gashing the Bucs on the ground and tossing four touchdowns to zero interceptions. Of course, the Panthers seal-clubbed the Bucs in both games.

Sapp makes the common case that the Bucs and other teams facing Newton will be poring over Panthers game film all offseason and should be able to force Newton to improve or suffer a setback.

For Joe, that means the Panthers-Bucs game is arguably the second most intriguing game on the opening day slate behind the Steelers-Broncos game on Sunday Night Football. Nobody can even pretend to know what the hell the Bucs are going to look like defensively, or what they’ll throw at Newton. And Newton’s going to have a hard time matching his 2011 numbers if the Bucs aren’t pushovers like they were last season. Throw in the Bucs unveiling the run-it-down-your-throat attack, and that should be a damn interesting game.

With the first training camp practice a mere 237 hours away, Joe’s just getting fired up for real football and opening day.

Joe’s got a visual of Greg Schiano holed up today in a 67.2 degree room with a steaming plate of properly cooked pasta studying Newton and figuring out exactly when, where and how he’s going to blitz Lavonte David.

Every year Forbes magazine ranks the value of sports franchises using some sort of top secret formulas that can magically see privately held accounting books.

What a fabulous scam to drive traffic to their website!

Joe has taken their bait and is pleased to say Team Glazer’s Buccaneeers checked in as the 29th most valuable sports franchise in the world with a Forbes value of $981 million.

Joe still remembers all the howling in the local and national media when Malcolm Glazer slammed down $190 million or so in his bid for the Buccaneers and kicked aside George Steinbrenner and various other big shots in 1995.

Glazer overpaid, the pundits said. Ha!

Joe’s drooling at the thought of watching the Rays tonight while enjoying this amazing deal at Hooters on 4th St. in St. Pete, and at the Tyrone Square Hooters in St. Pete.

What a great way to feast and watch baseball! Don’t miss it! Click here to get the exact locations.