No draft question is too tough for Justin “The Commish” Pawlowski, of WDAE-AM 620. Joe’s resident draft guru will be here to field anything you throw at him.
Don’t be late!

[Joe was tipped off that Bucs second-year offensive guard Brandon Carter was looking for work. Thinking this could be a story about how the lockout is affecting players, Joe called Carter and found out that was not the case; Carter has plenty of cash stashed. But Carter chatted with Joe about playing for the Bucs, living in the Tampa Bay area and how he’s spending his lockout time at home.]

If it was up to Brandon Carter, the Bucs second-year offensive guard would be at One Buc Palace, working out like a maniac — twice daily — and in the down time between workouts, breaking down tape.

“Man, I love it,” Carter said about being part of the Bucs. The former Texas Tech guard (who never gave up a sack to either manbeast Ndamukong Suh or Gerald McCoy while playing against the two in the Big XII) was on the Bucs practice squad last year until the final five weeks of last season.

“Tampa Bay is awesome. I love the young atmosphere on the team. I love the direction Raheem Morris is taking the team. I am excited. I think the next few years the team will be really good. I haven’t had one negative experience in Tampa. I enjoy Tampa. I’m excited about this year.

But “this year” has hit the pause button. Rather than spending time on the west coast of the east coast, Carter is back at his home in Lubbock, Tex. He works out twice a day. In the mornings Carter hits the weights. Hard. In the evenings, he works with a specialist to better his agility and speed.

“I’m signed for next year,” Carter said of his job status with the Bucs. “I’ll be back next year… whenever that is.”

Like the rest of his NFL brethren, Carter is sort of in a holding pattern. He has no idea when this labor mess with end and when he’ll move back to the Bay area and resume his football career.

With time on his hands, Carter is getting antsy. So much so he’s looking for work. But it may not be for the reasons one can decipher on face value.

“I’m not out there spending money and wasting time,” Carter said. “Sure, I’d like to have some extra money.”

It’s not his makeup to sit around and veg. Carter is a self-admitted workaholic. He has to be doing something all the time. Not too long ago, Carter delivered pizzas, which might have created some anxious moments for customers, seeing a 6-6, 310-pound delivery man in the dark of the night at the front door. Joe suspects tips came easy for Carter.

In recent months, Carter was a maintenance man at an apartment complex, though he doesn’t have much of a background as a Mr. FixIt.

“I learned to become a handyman,” Carter bragged. Some of his recent duties before the job came to an end included painting a pool and fixing a sprinkler system.

With a degree in exercise core sciences, a degree Carter said a lot of people who someday want to coach have, he is naturally hoping to put it to use in some way. Monday, just before speaking with Joe, Carter was offered a job at a neighborhood gym in Lubbock.

“That would be cool,” Carter said. “It would keep me in the gym all day and maybe do even more of a workout. If I can make some money at the same time, that’s a sweet deal.

“I never had a problem with being in a gym. I always loved it. I love the atmosphere, I feed off the people I am surrounded with. The guys and the girls who want to work hard, I feed off of them. I’m high intensity and when I get my work done, I just walk around and listen to the music.”

If nothing else, having a job between his twice-daily workouts keeps his mind off of the wrangling between NFL owners and the NFLPA.

“Honestly, I have been a workaholic all my life,” Carter said. “I’ve worked since I was 12. When I got back to Lubbock [from Tampa in January], I was bored.”

While Carter’s voice drops when he talks about the stalemate of the lockout, his excitement about playing for the Bucs and being part of the Tampa Bay community just jumps off the cell phone.

“The coaching staff is great,” Carter said. “I loved every coach. I can honestly say I never had any issue with any coach. The team was great. It’s cool to be on a younger team. In a sense, it felt like I was on another college team and going through the growing pains just like everyone else.

“The people [in Tampa Bay] are awesome. I never had a negative experience all the while I was in Tampa. I couldn’t imagine myself being anywhere else. I really enjoy it there. Florida is beautiful.”

Again, Carter sees big things coming from the Bucs in the near future.

“I always loved being the underdog,” Carter said. “Most didn’t give the team and the players the respect they deserved and we went out there and did things no one imagined. I’m really proud of that, and the team, and the coaching staff.

“I don’t think we got the credit we deserved but not one person on the team listened to or cared what anyone’s opinion was. We just worked hard every single day and became the team that we did. In the years to come, I think we will be a great team.”

Local sports fans have heard all the reasons/excuses from Tampa Bay Rays and Tampa Bay Buccaneers management that allegedly explain why those teams can’t sell more tickets.

The list is easy for any local to rattle off. Frankly, they’ve never sat well with Joe.

Joe thinks those organizations are far too focused on external factors affecting them versus internal systems and philosphies that drive the business success. As Joe wrote last week after word broke of the Bucs game in England, it didn’t feel right to Joe that the Bucs already seemed resigned to blackouts in 2011 — in April. 

Through most of 2007-2010, Joe worked in sales for a national company whose business was directly tied to — and negatively affected by — the plummeting real estate market nationwide. However, the company philosophy in its high-pressure sales environment was simple; massive sales growth would be achieved because the alternative was not an option.

The goals were reached, while competitors crumbled and the real estate market further tanked to record levels. 

In the face of a challenging business environment, there are always winners, just fewer of them. Why can’t the Bucs or Rays overcome, or at least perform much better?

Last night, former Seattle Seahawks and current Tampa Bay Lightning CEO Todd Leiweke took to the airwaves for an interview with JP Peterson on 1010 AM.

Leiweke painted a picture of Tampa Bay currently being an excellent market for professional sports and entertainment. He referenced sellouts at the St. Pete Times Forum on Saturday, Sunday and Monday for Lady Gaga, Iron Maiden and the Lightning, respectively. “We’re the fifth or sixth busiest arena [in the country],” he said.

Peterson pushed Leiweke to talk about the Tampa Bay market for sports teams and contrast it with his tenure in Seattle.

Leiweke said blaming fans and market conditions is “the first exit on the highway of excuses.”

He went on to talk about a season ticket base of “about 33,000” when he joined the Seahawks in 2003, during far better economic times. When Leiweke left Seattle in 2010 to join the Lightning, the Seahawks (fresh off two losing seasons) were raising ticket prices, had sold their maximum of 61,000 allocated season tickets, and had a waiting list of 10,000, per The Seattle Times.

Leiweke went on to say he expects the Lightning, whose attendance is up about 12 percent from last season, to enjoy sellouts throughout next season.

Interesting.

Joe thinks it’s time the Rays and Bucs change their public attitude on attendance and crank up the heat and scrutiny inside their organizations. It sure couldn’t hurt.

A rough local economy can do a lot of things, but it can’t stifle marketing creativity, first-rate customer service, a healthy attitude and good old fashioned hustle, especially from wildly profitible enterprises like the Bucs and Rays.

As the great Mike Florio, the creator, curator and overall guru of ProFootballTalk.com correctly connected the dots over the weekend, the NFL will release it’s 2011* regular season schedule Tuesday live on the NFL Network beginning at 7 p.m.

When (if?) will the Bucs play the Bears in London? When will the Bucs travel to New Orleans to beat the Saints for the third year in a row? When will the Bucs get their first crack at the Dixie Chicks to enact revenge on two close losses in 2010?

We should all know Tuesday night. Just tune to NFL Network, just like proud, loyal Bucs fans always do.

* — If there is a 2011 season.

For Bucs fans who crumble their empty beer cans in their fists, angry at the Bucs got perhaps playing in London (again) this season, you can point the finger at national TV network producers.

Bucs fans just want to throw their remotes at their HDTV screens because of the perceived lack of respect shown to their 10-win season despite a myriad of obstacles including suspensions, injuries and youth.

Gerald McCoy is getting sick of this as well. The Bucs second-year defensive tackle and third overall pick in last year’s draft put fingers to keyboard on Twitter to silence those who scoff at the Bucs.

@GK_McCoy: I was told that Tampa has no big play ability today. Lol so I guess the names #Freeman, #Williams x2, #Blount, #Winslow, #Benn mean nothing!

Bingo! There were games last year — the Arizona game springs to Joe’s mind — that Joe couldn’t believe the offense he was watching. Perhaps at no other time did Joe notice as many lethal weapons on the field at the same time since the Bucs won the Super Bowl.

And it’s this very reason that GMC points out is why the Bucs are playing in London: To make sure the NFL community and blinders-wearing TV executives get to know the Bucs young studs.

Much was made last week of the announcement, which came by way of WMVP-AM 1000 in Chicago (props to Joe’s longtime friend, former co-worker and current Chicago multimedia star Dave Owen for helping filter through the BS), that the Bucs would move their home game with the Bears to London.

Many Bucs fans, many season ticket holders, were enraged at the thought of having a second home game in three years ripped from their clutches.

But this may not be a done deal.

In a sentence buried in a story on NFL.com about the 2011 NFL schedule being released tomorrow night live on the NFL Network (for the non-males in Joe’s readership who don’t have the NFL Network, will you just take off your panties and get the network and be a man for a change, huh?), if the current labor impasse lasts past Aug. 1, the game will be moved back to The CITS from Wembley Stadium.

Should the current labor situation be unresolved by August 1, the game will be played at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. Buccaneers season ticket holders will receive detailed ticket information from the club in the near future regarding team ticketing policy for this game.

Now Bucs fans are torn. Like all NFL fans, Bucs fans want this damned lockout to end, like yesterday. But if the lockout stretches into August, the Bucs will again play the Bears at home, in the stifling heat and sweaty humidity of The CITS.

What is a Bucs fan to do?

If the Legend of Sam Fuld continues to play like he is of late and the Rays are still within reach of a wild card race in August, it will help local sports fans wade through a non-NFL summer.

Of course, this is an NFL imposed deadline, likely a pawn in the CBA labor negotiations. Who is to say the NFL can’t move this deadline back a month?

(Hat tip Anwar Richardson)

Periodically while Joe is at one of his favorite watering holes nursing a cold beer and taking ample time to gawk at Courtney the Bartender, Joe wonders why Bucs fans always have a knee-jerk reaction to Team Glazer’s English kickball team.

Bucs fans often wake up their significant other in the wee hours of the morning, screaming in the middle of the night at Team Glazer and their kickball team. It seems that whenever anything wrong happens to the Bucs, somehow, someway, angry Bucs fans begin cursing about the Team Glazer’s interest in a team that participates in a glorified Easter egg hunt.

Too predictably, when word leaked via Chicago radio that the Bucs would host the Bears in London this season (if there is a season), Bucs fans not only pointed the finger at the kickball team in question, but Bucs fans began surmising that the Bucs soon would call London home, and not One Buc Palace off of MLK Blvd. in Tampa.

Joe often wonders — when not distracted by Courtney the Bartender’s, um, features — why these same standards are not applied to Stan Kroenke?

The Rams owner, like Team Glazer, also owns an English kickball team. And Kroenke  owns the Colorado Avalanche along with several minor league teams of insignificance. Joe has yet to read or hear one word that Kroenke is siphoning off funds or lacking attention to detail on the Rams because of his many other interests.

For reasons unknown, many Bucs fans believe an owner should never have any other outside business interests which is preposterous. When has a Redskins fan ever whined about Danny Snyder’s other business interests like Six Flags, which interestingly was run into the ground and into a bankruptcy court by the same derelict who ruined ESPN, Mark Shapiro.

Well, it seems not everyone is missing the boat on the unfair barbs thrown at Team Glazer. Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, who has been friends with Joe for some 25 years, brought up this very subject recently.

The central question seems to be this: Will he spend money to acquire the elite pieces deemed necessary to put Arsenal back atop of the EPL table?

It’s roughly the same question Rams fans have about Kroenke as he begins his second season as the team’s majority owner.

With the NFL’s free-agent market shut down because of the labor dispute between the owners and players, it’s impossible to get an answer. But in a recent interview with Jim Thomas of the Post-Dispatch, Kroenke didn’t eliminate free-agent signings as a way to improve the roster but strongly reaffirmed his belief in the philosophy of building through the draft.

Well, well, well. Where have we heard this before?

Further, if there is any NFL team that would move to London, the Rams would be far, far more likely to move than the Bucs. Joe has yet to hear of or read a legitimate reason why Team Glazer would move the Bucs to London.

Also a funny thing is, along with Joe Robbie Stadium in south Florida and the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, whatever-the-hell the dome in St. Louis is called isn’t that much older than The CITS. The dome in St. Louis opened in 1995. The CITS opened in 1998.

The lease for the Rams in the dome expires in 2015 and it opens the door for the Rams to leave, per a 2008 Associated Press article.

To lure the Rams, civic leaders agreed to a deal requiring that the dome remains among the top quarter of all NFL stadiums. The next measuring date is 2015.

Starting in 2012, both the Rams and the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission can begin exchanging proposals on getting the dome to that elite status. If no deal is reached by 2015, the Rams have the option of ending the lease — and potentially moving.

Many observers believe the St. Louis dome ranks closer to the bottom of NFL stadiums. It has no expansive outdoor parking lot for tailgating, lacks a retractable roof and has been criticized for its sound system, lighting and for what some perceive as a sterile atmosphere.

Some have even written that the dome in St. Louis is already outdated.

So when people mock Joe for suggesting that, given the state of stadiums not much older than The CITS including Joe Robbie, the Georgia Dome and the dome in St. Louis which cannot get Super Bowls  (the St. Louis dome is just three years older than The CITS), Joe is confident that sooner rather than later, NFL warden commissioner Roger Goodell will start squeezing the Tampa Sports Authority for an upgrade to The CITS or no more Super Bowls in Tampa.

In the meantime, when Joe hears about some Bucs fans screaming at Team Glazer for owning a kickball team, he wonders why Team Glazer is being singled out?

"Man, I love these kids, but I'm not running fuc*n Romper Room. If you think I'm fuc*n going to try to win a football game again with some green dude, you've lost your mind. Just get me Griese, Muir, Bisaccia and some talent on that O-line and I'll win you 9 games every damn year."

When Chucky’s now famous BSPN special with soon-to-be-drafted NFL quaterbacks returns for its second season Thursday night, one former Jon Gruden quarterback won’t be watching. That would be Shaun King. 

Speaking as co-host of The King David Show on WQYK-AM 1010 today, King said Chucky is excellent at breaking down film and has been a successful head coach but the entire premise of the ESPN QB special is garbage.

“I won’t watch it. I disagree with the premise of the show. The premise is that Gruden is some kind of quarterbacks guru and that having him as a destination for a rookie QB is the ideal situation for a rookie and that just hasn’t proven to the case,” said King, who played two seasons under the Chucky regime in Tampa. 

King’s point can’t be argued. Chucky has no success record with young quarterbacks, though that surely doesn’t take away from the entertaininment value of the special. Great Xs and Os and squirming draft hopefuls is a stellar mix.

Joe wonders whether Marques Tuiasosopo, Bruce Gradkowski, Josh Johnson, Luke McCown and Chris Simms will grab a bag of popcorn and tune in.

In a public service to Bucs fans, draft guru Justin “The Commish” Pawlowski summed up what draft hopefuls the Bucs have worked out and what it might all mean.   

It’s on The Commish’s must-read draft page on 620wdae.com. Click the link and scroll down.

Here’s his snippet on linebackers officially on the Bucs radar: 

Fresno State – Chris Carter
North Carolina – Quan Sturdivant
Georgia – Akeem Dent
*Miami – Colin McCarthy
UCLA – Akeem Ayers

There’s not one doubt in my mind that the Bucs are focussed on drafting at least one linebacker in this year’s draft. Like Justin Houston, I think Akeem Ayers is a backup plan if the top DEs are off the board. The Bucs could either draft them at 20 or trade back and possibly still get one of the 2. The other linebackers here just show that the Bucs are indeed spending time and money scouting linebackers this year. Chris Carter would be good value in the 3rd round, but it wouldn’t shock me if the Bucs grabbed him in the 2nd round if they really like him.

*private workout not at Bucs facility

Ahh, just 10 days until Day 1 of the draft. Joe is salivating. Surely the Bucs will take a linebacker early with the uncertainty of four unrestricted free agent linebackers currently on their roster.

Hopefully a small miracle will resolve the labor mess so these new Bucs will be sweating their butts off shorts at One Buc Palace in early May.

One of the more entertaining off-field moments of the 2010 Bucs season was Raheem Morris telling St. Pete Times columnist Gary Shelton that “stats are for losers” and then immediately following up telling Shelton he can worry about stats while the head coach worried about winning.

It was a great slap back at Shelton and the other scribes in the press room. But then Raheem proceeded to overuse the “stats are for losers” line in a big way.

History shows other coaches have used the phrase “stats are for losers,” including Bill Belicheat, so Raheem’s hardly alone.

And now CBS analyst Phil Simms has taken it all to a new level, per Peter King’s popular Monday column on SI.com. King quotes Simms recent comments to TheBigLead.com.

Simms was asked about a stat I had in this column recently, quoting Mel Kiper saying Blaine Gabbert had completed 44 percent of his throws on third down at Missouri last fall, while Andrew Luck was 71 percent on third down at Stanford. The inference being, of course, that not only was Luck a better prospect but also, seemingly, better on the most important down, which some might take to mean he’s a better clutch player. If you’re 27 percentage points better on third down, it’s a brick in the wall (to me, anyway) that you’re a better quarterback than the much-lesser guy on third down. A brick in the wall, I might add — not incontrovertible proof.

This, apparently, made Simms go volcanic for some reason. I’ll leave the emphasis the way The Big Lead wrote it for the rest of Simms’ quote about third-down efficiency for quarterbacks: “That means nothing. I could not care less. My face gets red thinking about that stat. WHO CARES! Well get him out of there on third down! Keep him in on first and second down! You’re not drafting his college coach or his college team. You’re drafting Blaine Gabbert. These numbers … why do I need numbers? … Believe what your eye tells you. I have never looked at one quarterback ever on tape through all the years and then when it’s done, I have never even thought, ‘What were his numbers?’ I never have. It has never even crossed my mind.”

Wow. The anger. What makes a man go off on statistics?

Joe applauds Simms, and him going off the deep end is well understood by Joe. Nice to a see a big shot fired at the stats crowd.

All the endless stats jammed down fans’ throats by TV executives, computer geeks and talking heads trying to fill time and impress people has gone off the deep end in professional baseball and in the NFL.

Enough already. Sure many stats are relevant and interesting. Yeah, Joe gets that lots of people love fantasy football and its interest has exploded league popularity, but the whole numbers jibberish has gotten out of hand.

Former Bucs Super Bowl winning coach Chucky grills quarterback and likely first round draftee Cam Newton in this BSPN video.

Last night, Joe was humbled to be a guest on the weekly RaysRev.com podcast hosted by the WTSP duo of Mike Weber and Matt Sinn, who for Rays fans are must-follows. During the podcast, Joe was hit with a probing question that took Joe aback a little.

Sinn asked Joe, after we discussed the Rays, if Josh Freeman is the best offensive player in Bucs history.

Joe’s initial, impulsive reaction was, of course not. Then quickly Joe scanned through his beer-soaked brain of offensive stars of the past, and couldn’t think of many at all.

Lots of old Bucs fans would say Doug Williams but his stats weren’t all that good. Kevin House was a dangerous receiver but not dominant.

Joe likely thinks one could make a good argument that Warrick Dunn was the best Bucs offensive player. James Wilder certainly made an impact. Perhaps Meshaun Johnson but Meshaun was around really for three years before his days with the Bucs flamed out.

Weber has a good point. If Freeman stays healthy, he very well could be the best Bucs player in franchise history. It’s an interesting argument.

When the Bucs drafted defensive end Kyle Moore two years ago, a lot was expected of him. Instead he was largely injured and had little impact on the defense.

In writing about each team’s needs in the draft, Gregg Rosenthal of ProFootballTalk.com explains just how badly the Bucs need to beef up their defensive ends, and how important it is for Kyle Moore to make some sort of impact.

G.M. Mark Dominik drafted a pair of inside guys last year. He could stand to draft a pair of pass rushers on the outside this time. Stylez White should be making Teen Wolf 3 in another city. Tim Crowder is also a free agent, which means Kyle Moore is probably their best returning guy. Yikes.

A few weeks ago Joe touched base with a trusted Bucs beat writer to ask about Moore’s job security with the Bucs. Joe was told in no uncertain terms the team is disappointed and that with new defensive line coaches, the time has come for Moore to come out of hiding or he may be looking for employment elsewhere, maybe a bit part in Teen Wolf 3?

No matter what Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik says, no matter that free agency is fool’s gold proven annually by the Steelers and the Packers and the Redskins and the Cowboys, many Bucs fans simply won’t listen or learn.

They want Dominik to sign the likes of Nnamdi Asomugha and any other big name free agent they happen to see on NFL Network. (Don’t have NFL Network? Then what OBGYN do you frequent?)

In a recent question-and-answer feature on TBO.com, Tampa Tribune Bucs beat reporter Woody Cummings once again reminds fans that Dominik simply isn’t going to sign heavy-salaried free agents.

Q: So now that the Bucs have put up 10 wins, what will they do now? Use free agency, the draft or trade? Will the Glazers put up the money finally?

DJ Halo, Pacoima, Calif.

A: Look for the Bucs to continue to operate the way they have in recent years. That means building primarily through the draft, trading to acquire more draft picks and dabbling in free agency. And why shouldn’t they continue to operate that way? It’s worked out for them, hasn’t it?

— Woody Cummings

Now while Joe believes Dominik is going about it the right way — Joe had an epiphany to this philosophy after watching the Steelers go about business the past 15 years or so and reading a feature on Packers general manager Ted Thompson on SI.com while traveling to Super Bowl media day in Dallas this February — Joe doesn’t believe when the new CBA is signed that Dominik will completely turn up his nose at free agents, he will just be cost conscious.

Take Sean Jones for example. Seeing that Sabby the Goat had more business grazing on a farm than playing NFL football, Dominik signed Jones who provided solid if not steady play at safety, which turned out to be greatly needed when Tanard Jackson got popped and Cody Grimm was injured.

It is players like Jones that Dominik would likely target. Just not the Christmas list many Bucs fans have.

Screw notebooks full of in-house mock drafts and draft-day scenarios scribbled down in the bowels of One Buc Palace. Rock star Mark Dominik doesn’t use those. He leaves those ancient methods for other teams. Dominik is more into pods.

Pods?

Yeah, “pods,” Dominik explained during an interview with Justin Pawlowski on WDAE-AM 620 yesterday.

“It’s a little different than we’ve ever done around here before. It’s worked for the last couple of years for me. It’s really breaking out players into individual traits and kind of rating them within a pod and then looking at a big picture. … I don’t look at [mock drafts]. I’m certainly focused on seeing what other people are saying, but for me we do things a little bit differently in our building, and I’m hoping that gives us a competitive advantage.”

Joe really understands this kind of intricate, personalized grading system that assesses a player’s assets as they relate to team desires. It’s very similar to how Joe grades cheerleaders.

Obviously, Dominik has cooked up great success in his first two drafts. 

If he can pull a ferocious linebacker and defensive end out of some of those 2011 pods, the Bucs will be in excellent shape.

JoeBucsFan.com NFL Draft guru Justin “The Commish” Pawlowski delivers a great interview here with former Ravens coach and current FOX Sports talking head Brian Billick.

This is really can’t-miss enjoyable stuff, especially on a football-free Saturday afternoon.

Billick shares part of a conversation he had with Sean Payton before the Bucs-Saints game in January, also Billick gives an assessment of Raheem Morris as well as real insight into the 2011 draft and drafting players in general.

Enjoy! Click the arrow below or download here.

[audio: billickpodcast.mp3]

Don’t forget to catch all kinds of draft buzz from The Commish at 620wdae.com and all the in-depth draft coverage archived on JoeBucsFan.com.

Players can send smokescreens, too. That fun isn’t only for general managers.

In what could be a smokescreen — or not as draft guru Justin “The Commish” Pawlowski intelligently wrote weeks ago — former Florida guard/center Mike Pouncey fired off a message on Twitter this week that included the Bucs among the teams apparently honing in on him.

@MikePouncey Top 6 teams… Steelers, Patriots, Giants, Cowboys, Dolphins, Bucs

With 2011 free agency a lingering mystery yet to be solved, this year’s draft is a more of a crapshoot to predict than ever before.

Davin Joseph is on his couch without a contract. That makes it conceivable the Bucs draft Pouncey. Unlikely? Sure.  But the Bucs are still all about No. 5.

Where the Bucs honchos stand on Aqib Talib is a closely guarded secret. Of course, the way Talib’s legal case plays out will be a huge factor in the team’s approach.

But it’s interesting to see how much disagreement there is from the full-time Bucs beat writers on the subject.

Yesterday, Joe brought you Stephen Holder’s take from a live chat on TampaBay.com that he believes “we’ve seen the last of Talib.”

That was decisively countered by Woody Cummings of The Tampa Tribune during his on-air chat with The Fabulous Sports Babe Show on WHBO-AM 1040 on Friday.

“I don’t think they’re going to dump Aqib Talib,” Cummings said.

While rock star Bucs general manager Mark Dominik clearly is a detailed planner, Joe can’t imagine Dominik has completely made up his mind on Talib.

Joe keeps coming back to Justin “The Commish” Pawlowski’s take, that Dominik will withhold a decision on Talib until he can fully assess the roster following the draft, free agency and preseason.

UPDATE 9:56 a.m.: Earlier today JoeBucsFan.com published a post that stated the felony assault case against Aqib Talib was reduced to a misdemeanor charge and he was headed for a sentence of probation.  

Joe jumped the gun.

Joe had talked to sources in Dallas on Thursday and, in conjuction with the case being assigned to a judge Friday and further follow up, Joe reached the wrong conclusion, though that’s the resolution Joe expects in the case.

Mistakes happen, and Joe will not hide from his error.

This morning, Talib’s Dallas attorney Frank Perez told JoeBucsFan.com that he “expects to take the case to the grand jury and have it resolved there,” meaning Talib would not be indicted. “We’ve interviewed 17 or 19 witnesses and none of them say Aqib Talib had a gun. He wasn’t handling a gun,” Perez said.

So many Bucs fans were wild with hope over the thought of Kareem Huggins becoming the shifty speedster running back the Bucs needed entering the 2010 season.

But Huggins went down with a massive knee injury, which followed up his 2009 knee injury that cost him a season.

Will the Bucs go for Round 3 with the undrafted kid from Hofstra that was out of football in 2008? Esteemed beat scribe Roy Cummings weighed in on Huggins’ future via a fresh Q&A on TBO.com.

Huggins had complete reconstructive knee surgery. He blew out everything. It was a very bad injury, but the Bucs are confident he’ll be back. The problem is, he never got a chance to really prove he could be an every-down or even third-down change-of-pace back so the Bucs have to prepare for the possibility that, after the injury, he’s not an NFL caliber runner. That means looking at running backs in the draft. We’ll get a good feel for how they really feel about Huggins during the draft …

Joe suggests you click the link above and read Cummings’ entire response and more.

Huggins seems like a fine young man, extremely nice during Joe’s many interactions with him. But one would think the Bucs could find a more promising prospect in the draft, or the second draft, as Mark Dominik sometimes calls it.

Huggins has accomplished nothing and is coming off a brutal knee injury. He almost feels like Cadillac Williams used to sans the huge achievements.

Joe suspects the Bucs will keep him around to see if he’s got a Cadillac-style comeback in him.