Hopefully LeGarrette Blount won’t be seen later today on a catwalk wearing a new Nike Bucs jersey and no pants. (Joe apologizes for the morning visual).

That written, Joe has learned that Blount missed Day 1 of the Greg Schiano offseason yesterday because he’ll be participating in this morning’s Nike-NFL rollout of new game jerseys, as Nike plants its flag on its new deal with the league in New York City. Joe can suspect Blount was summoned, in part, because he’s a former member of Team Nike as an Oregon Duck. 

Obviously, this qualifies as an acceptable previous engagement, as Greg Schiano referred to Blount’s absence last night on NFL Network.

What a sigh of relief for Joe, and a swift kick in the groin for all the Blount-bashers in the Bucs fan base. 

Assuming it’s true, the jaw-dropper of the day comes from ProFootballTalk.com, whose creator Mike Florio is reporting that super cornerback Morris Claiborne scored a 4 on his Wonderlic exam.

It’s an inconceivable score, especially when one examines the test questions.

“Yes.  A four.  Out of 50,” Florio wrote. “Six years ago, quarterback Vince Young initially got a six.  Re-scoring of the test bumped it to a seven.  A next-day Mulligan moved it to 13.

“Finally, Young has someone at whom he can point and laugh.”

Well, if the report is accurate, it will give new meaning to the question, Are you smarter than a fifth-grader? In Claiborne’s case that would be a resounding, No!

So does it matter? Joe’s not sure. It should matter a little bit, but this is football not elementary school math. A guy can have his strengths, and Claiborne’s surely lie on the gridiron.

Joe can’t resist. When Claiborne visits schools, do the kids read to him?

Yesterday, aside from a handful of players, it was the first time the Bucs were able to meet their new coach in person and learn what to expect from a man, who by all appearances, is a non-nonsense kinda coach.

While Schiano may not be a soulless taskmaster, it sure seems like he has no problem letting players know there will be one way to grow, gel, and yes, win as a team.

That’s the gist of what cool cat Scott Purks reported on CBSSports.com’s Rapid Reports, filed from One Buc Palace yesterday.

Coach Greg Schiano on what he told his team regarding discipline during their first meeting Monday: “What (the players will) figure out very quickly, is that there’s a right way and a wrong way as far as I’m concerned, and we’re going to do it the right way.”

Aside from Schiano’s Belichickian-like paranoia about not allowing the Bucs’ first preseason opponent the opportunity to know how much he will run a defense, Joe really likes what Schiano has to say and Joe also believes that several on the Bucs roster were in for a rude awakening yesterday.

Things are different at One Buc Palace now. For some players to adapt from the carefree style of Raheem Morris to the rigid format of Schiano, said players may be in for a long summer.

Quite possibly a dirty black summer.

Joe knows it was “voluntary” meeting sessions for Buccaneers at One Buc Palace today, the first day of the Greg Schiano era when he could finally talk football with his players and coaches could get them in a classroom. But Joe has to raise an eyebrow at any player that didn’t show up.

LeGarrette Blount was one of those guys, so Schiano said on NFL Network tonight.

Yeah, Joe realizes that players have real lives, and families, and life gets in the way sometimes. And Blount also was one of a small handful of Bucs in attendance at Schiano’s introductory news conference back in January. But Joe has to file this Blount absence away as a possible red flag.

Apparently, Blount wasn’t injured and off rehabilitating somewhere.

“He had a previous engagement. So he was unable to be with us today, but he informed me of that,” Schiano said.

Video mastermind Scott Smith, via Buccaneers.com, characterized attendance as a “full house” and “almost the entire roster” was there. And Adrian Clayborn told Smith of Day 1, “I think we just missed a couple of the guys on defense and it’s real good to know that everybody’s going to start to buy into what they’re talking about.”

Joe hopes Blount is there tomorrow learning the ropes from Earnest Byner and keeping Mossis Madu company, the only other running back on the roster.

Joe finds it very impressive at 5:24 p.m. that there’s not word anywhere revealing what Buccaneers did not attend Day 1 of the Greg Schiano regime at One Buc Palace this morning.

Schiano was asked and would not name names to the throng of scribes assembled, and it seems like nobody was talking around the bowels of the complex.

Attendance was voluntary, but it sure would be interesting and telling to know what Bucs couldn’t make it. For Joe, this is significant. Joe is quite sure beat writers were sniffing around as best they could but got nothing.

Schiano clearly got the message through to the Bucs how tight his ship will run — or perhaps he shocked the crap out of the team and they couldn’t get their lips to move. Regardless, Joe’s already feeling a major culture change on Day 1.

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Players were back at One Buc Palace today and able to work with coaches for the first time and talk football. Greg Schiano talked to the media at 12:30 p.m. and here are Joe’s highlights:

*Greg Schiano said he was “flying out of bed” this morning raring to go.

*Schiano said some guys were not there and reminded media this was voluntary attendance for players today. Schiano did not get into specifics on who was there and who wasn’t other than saying Josh Freeman was front and center.

*Coaches can not be on the field with players but can do everything else. Strength and conditioning staff can work with players on all kinds of thing.

“Good to have those eyes looking back at you,” Schiano said of being in front of his team. Schiano didn’t get too specific about his messaging. “What I took from it was a group of guys that are willing and want to,” Schiano said. Now it’s about leadership, Schiano said.

*Overall, Schiano said he was encouraged by the “attentiveness” he saw from players today.

*Schiano said establishing his staff took longer than he wanted. Schiano said philosophically he’s on the same page with his staff yet he’s still learning to work together with them. Schiano said he will not micromanage but he will have non-negotiable points mandated by the head coach.

*Asked about how he will instill discipline, Schiano said we have to regain [fans] trust — on the field and in the community. … An interesting response.

*Goal is to implement all schemes two times through offseason.

*Schiano said there were “no red flags” regarding players coming back from injuries. He was asked specifically about Michael Bennett, Cody Grimm and Aqib Talib.

Calm down. This is a just a mock draft.

However, it’s always a thoughtful one when it comes from NFL draft guru Justin “The Commish” Pawlowski, who has pumped out takes on the first two rounds.

The Commish has the Bucs snagging the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year with the fifth pick of the second round.

36. Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Mychal Kendricks
MLB – Cal
5’11” – 239 lbs – 4.47

Comments: Toss a coin between Kendricks and Lavonte David for this pick. I go with Kendricks because I still feel Mason Foster might be better at outside linebacker, which was his original position.

Now Joe’s more of the mind that the Bucs would grab a running back in the second round, assuming they don’t get all wacky and take Trent Richardson in the first round. But who knows what will be on the board come Round 2?

If the Bucs nabbed Kendricks, that would mean they would have taken three Pac-10/Pac-10 defensive players in the first three rounds of the 2010 (Brian Price), 2011 (Mason Foster) and 2012 drafts. That would be a somewhat interesting stat.

When the Bucs hired Greg Schiano to replaced jettisoned Raheem Morris, a lot was made about Schiano’s relationship with Bill Belicheat. In fact, word was that Belicheat strongly lobbied Team Glazer and Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik to hire Schiano.

How close are the two? It seems that at the NFL owners meetings last week in Palm Beach, Schiano was spotted often with Belicheat as Schiano is trying to pick up any nugget of information he can from the three-time Super Bowl coach, so reports popcorn-munching, coffee-slurping, fried chicken-eating, oatmeal-loving, beer-chugging Peter King, the NBC Sports guru and Sports Illustrated scribe.

To start each work week, Joe inhales King’s must-read Monday Morning Quarterback column. Today, King puts forth the belief that Schiano is so close to Belicheat, that it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Schiano could someday replace Belicheat as the Patriots coach when Belicheat decides to retire.

Mentor and mentee were together a lot in Palm Beach. “He knows every player in the National Football League,” said Schiano, the new Tampa Bay coach. “When you’re a young coach you go to clinics with a pad full of notes. As you get on in coaching, you know who you are and what you believe in, so maybe you’ll go someplace and come away with a note or two. He’s the one guy still when I sit with him, I still have two pages of notes. That shows you how bright he is. He’s treated me very well.”

I wondered the other day, when Belichick retires, is Schiano the kind of guy he’d recommend to be his successor as Patriots coach. You never know what the future could bring.

Well, for now, Schiano is the Bucs coach. And today, he actually for the first time gets to coach and meet all his players. Schiano will be in meetings this morning with Buccaneers and on the practice fields of One Buc Palace.

Over the years, Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik always talked about getting “toys” for quarterback Josh Freeman.

A big, shiny toy was delivered last month when Dominik shelled out a lot of cash to grab a legitimate No. 1 receiver in Vincent Jackson.

This transaction has moved many Bucs fans to wonder aloud if the Bucs offense now becomes lethal. That question was posed to ESPN’s Pat Yasinskas in a recent NFC South chat on the four-letter’s site.

Matthew (Tampa)
With Vincent Jackson, how much does Freeman improve?

Pat Yasinskas
A lot. He’s got a WR that can get open downfield. Should make the entire offense better.

Freeman may have summed up an opposing defensive coordinator’s predicament in planning for the Bucs when Freeman said to Pat Kirwan and Tim Ryan of “Movin’ the Chains,” heard exclusively on SiriusXM NFL Radio, “With Mike [Williams], defenses always rolled coverages to him. With [Jackson] lining up for us, now what do they do?”

The key to Freeman’s success is simple: cut down on the picks. Having a target like Jackson should allow more receivers to get open, thus, Freeman shouldn’t be forcing passes into traffic like he did last season.

Joe’s written many times that Greg Schiano’s barely dry five-year contract is no indicator of the pressure, or lack thereof, on the head coach to win.

It’s there. The days of a coaches getting long leashes are long gone.

So Joe enjoyed reading today in the Tampa Bay Times that Schiano knows he must produce quickly.

“I … know it’s a win-now league. Believe me, I got that memo,” Schiano said. “I think it trickled down to college as well. You had a head coach get fired in college after two years. That’s unheard of. But we also know what coaches are getting paid, too. That’s changed, too. With everything, as the stakes rise, I got that part, too.

“There’s such a fine line in this league between winning and losing. Now it is in college, too, but it’s much finer here. I think the talent level is much closer, too. So we added some talent. We’ll add some more in the draft, try to coach them the best we can. We talked about implementing some new systems, and obviously, we won’t be as far along as the teams that we play. Try to win every game, more important, try to go out and play the best we can.”

Joe suggests you click on through above and read the whole piece.

Joe’s not demanding Schiano go out and make the playoffs in Year 1, though that would be damn nice. But once the culture change comes and Schiano can mold his team — coaches and players — the wins will have to come fast. 

Once upon a time not too long ago Larry Johnson was a manbeast of an All-Everything Penn State running back drafted by the Chiefs in the first round.

Kansas City used him sparingly before he tore up the NFL in his third and fourth seasons. Johnson carred the ball a whopping 752 times for a stunning 3,539 yards and 38 touchdowns in 2005 and 2006. Then Johnson was paid a king’s ransom, hurt his foot and never was close to the same.

So who cares, Joe?

Well, noted NFL Draft guru Wes Bunting, of NationalFootballPost.com, compared Johnson and Trent Richardson this week during an interview with Tom Krasniqi of WHBO-AM 1040. Bunting said the two had similar strengths, and speed.

“The biggest misconception with running backs that people think, and the average fan thinks, is that big plays and long runs are predicated off straight-line speed, which couldn’t be further from the truth.” Bunting said. “It’s a running back’s ability to make a man miss at the first level and/or break a tackle, which Trent Richardson does very well. I remember when Larry Johnson led the NFL in long runs, 20+ yard runs, when he was in his heyday with the Chiefs. The guy couldn’t break 4.6 [in the 40-yard dash], but he had good short-area quickness and was physical at the first level, broke a ton of tackles and accelerated quickly. I think Trent Richardson does that as well as anyone.”

Hearing this, of course, reinforced the fragility of running backs to Joe, as any memory of Larry Johnson would.  

As loyal JoeBucsFan readers know too well, Joe wouldn’t touch a running back with the Bucs’ No. 5 overall pick for three reasons: the Bucs already have a talented beast of a running back, the Bucs can grab a stout complementary running back in the second or third rounds and a solid backup in free agency, plus the Bucs have built such a monstrous offensive line that the new stable of backs should have no trouble moving the chains.

What the Bucs can’t grab in later rounds is cornerback Morris Claiborne.

As for Bunting, after raving about Richardson left and right, he played Bucs general manager and said the Bucs should draft Claiborne because the position “is a higher priority” in today’s NFL and because Claiborne and Richardson scored the same grades on his draft board.

Much was made about Greg Schiano’s comments about ball security during a discussion of LeGarrette Blount and Trent Richardson at the NFL owners meetings last week. It was widely interpreted as a shot at Blount, though Joe saw it more as a gentle poke.

In this WDAE-AM 620 audio below, TampaBay.com Bucs beat writer Rick Stroud joined Todd Wright and gave his impressions of the Schiano chat about Blount. “He didn’t throw many bouquets at LeGarrette,” Stroud said.

There’s much more to the audio, including Stroud’s take on a topic Joe found boring: why Team Glazer abstained from voting in the case of the Cowboys-Redskins league sanctions.

Since his trial on gun-related assault charges has been delayed (again) in Texas, this time pushing the trial past the NFL draft, there have been cries from seemingly all corners for the Bucs to cut ties with troubled cornerback Aqib Talib.

The loudest of the shouts has come largely from Tim Ryan of SiriusXM NFL Radio, who earlier this week all but assured listeners if the Bucs (rightly) drafted LSU cornerback Morris Claiborne, it would be just a matter of hours before Talib became an ex-Buccaneer.

This, so Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune suggests, is premature speculation as Cummings explained in a TBO Bucs Q&A.

Q: I saw the article about drafting Claiborne and dumping Talib. I believe it would be best to have all three with Talib at No. 1, Claiborne No. 2 and Wright in the slot. Talib has shut down star receivers and in 2010 he proved he was a shutdown cornerback, when healthy. Last year he played on a bad hamstring.

Andrew Athans, Arnold, MD

A: I don’t think the Bucs have any plans to dump Talib. They’ve dealt with him and his problems for this long; it wouldn’t make much sense to dump him now or even after the draft. Not with only a year left on his contract. And for a player of his abilities, he comes rather cheap this year. Talib is due $1.85 million, which is a bargain for a top-level cornerback. I believe the Bucs’ plan is to see how Talib responds to the more disciplined approach of new coach Greg Schiano and take it from there. This is obviously a big year for Talib. If he can stay out of trouble and clean up his act he could earn himself a new contact here. If not, the Bucs will probably move on with someone else.

— Woody Cummings

Now that’s an angle Joe didn’t think of: Talib’s inexpensive salary this season allows Bucs decision makers more leeway into tolerating the drama that seemingly always follows Talib.

Now to expect Talib to somehow stay out of the off-field headlines, fairly or unfairly, may be a stretch. Roughly every six months something seems to pop up about Talib, and it wasn’t like when Talib played for Chucky that a tight ship kept the drama away.

Everything Joe has heard is that Talib really is a good teammate. There were times Joe himself saw Talib take a young defender aside to help him on the practice field. When cornered, Bucs officials will state the same thing.

Talib’s work on the field and in the locker room is not the issue with his job security. It’s all the drama off the field. If Talib is able to stay out of the headlines under Schiano’s first year, is that just a temporary reprieve or a complete turnaround?

That, Dominik will have to weigh after Talib’s contract ends following the 2012 season.

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One of the more interesting quotes in recent Bucs history came from Team Glazer back in 2010.

Per the then St. Pete Times, Team Glazer issued an edict to Mark Dominik and Raheem Morris as to how, in part, they would be evaluated on building and growing the Bucs.

“We’ve had long talks about this. And really, the general message is: You think long-term, we  think long-term. It’s plain and simple. You start thinking short-term, we start thinking short term,” Glazer said.

“Everyone buys into this plan. I always ask, “Does everyone have the stomach for this because there’s a lot you’ve got to endure early on.”

While Joe has not talked to Joel Glazer over a pastrami sandwich about the deepest meanings of this quote, Joe’s always enjoyed envisioning the message being delivered to young Raheem and young Dominik in a Vito Corleone-like manner.

So this brings Joe to 2012. Are the Bucs — Glazer and/or Dominik — now “thinking short-term” after huge free agent signings, having a quarterback entering his fourth season with a lot to prove, plus many talented young players entering what should be defining seasons in their careers?

It’s impossible to get a read on the Bucs’ plan without seeing what the Bucs do with the rest of their offseason. Clearly, drafting Morris Claiborne is the safer pick (long-term), versus drafting Trent Richardson (short-term). The shelf lives of top cornerbacks might be double that of top running backs. The Bucs have long-term vs. short-term options in the second-round, as well. And more free agents (London Fletcher?) will have to be signed.

Despite Greg Schiano’s shiny new five-year contract, surely the Bucs are at a bit of a crossroads, and Schiano’s window to win is much smaller than the length of his contract.

Aqib Talib is a better cornerback than Eric Wright. Ronde Barber is an icon and future Hall of Famer coming off a solid season. But Wright’s the guy who got a monster contract while Barber took a pay cut and will earn more than Talib.

Yeah, Joe understands the business of the NFL, but it’s still a wacky league.

Per ESPN’s Pat Yasinskas, Barber signed for 25 percent less than he earned in 2012.

This contract is very simple. Barber is scheduled to earn $3 million in base salary. He didn’t get any signing bonus and there are no other frills in the contract. He’ll count $3 million against this year’s salary cap. 

Joe wonders whether Barber’s kicking himself for not demanding a two-year deal before 2011.

Yasinskas notes that after re-signing Demar Dotson the Bucs have about $15 million in salary cap room remaining.

Hopefully that’s enough to sign their draft picks, plus buy a safety, running back depth, a veteran linebacker that can lead, and a versatile veteran defensive tackle.

The draft talk really got ramped up this past week when Bucs brass openly waxed poetic over Alabama running back Trent Richardson.

Then, the ultimate draft guru, Mike Mayock of the NFL Network, came out and claimed he made a mistake in grading Richardson and that he is a top-ten if not a top-five pick.

Many Bucs fans, turning a blind eye to the gaping holes in the Bucs secondary, that awful track record of first round running backs and the gnawing truth that the Bucs already have a solid running back, are doing cartwheels in their backyards as if they were just violated by a former Bucs cheerleader with the notion that the Bucs may draft Richardson.

This subject came up yesterday during a segment of “Movin’ the Chains,” co-hosted by Pat Kirwan and Tim Ryan, heard exclusively on SiriusXM NFL Radio.

A Bucs fan called in and was adamant Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik will draft Richardson. Kirwan and Ryan are not on the Richardson-to-Bucs bandwagon and are of the mindset that the Bucs need to address a critical need at cornerback with a stud like Morris Claiborne of LSU.

(The conversation began interestingly with Ryan gleefully saying if the Bucs draft Claiborne, troubled Bucs cornerback Aqib Talib will be cut soon after the draft.)

Caller: I think we take the running back because I think he’d fit our offense better.

Pat Kirwan: He’s a terrific player. But again, a Gil Brandt-ism: Look at the next round and where you might find a player. I believe there will be better running backs in the second round than cornerbacks.

Tim Ryan: Go get Doug Martin out of Boise State in round two. You will kill two birds with one stone. You’re going to get a guy who can run and a guy that has the ability to protect in third down and catch the rock out of the backfield.

Now this is an interesting theory Joe never thought of, but explains why Gil Brandt was a legendary general manager.

Let’s say the Bucs are torn between Claiborne and Richardson. If one area (between running backs/cornerbacks) is stronger in the second round, it tips your hand what to draft in the first round.

Martin is an interesting subject. He played in a pass-happy offense so he had to know how to block, and catch, out of the backfield. Oh yeah, and he can run too.

You better have the right mindset if you want to remain a Buccaneer. That’s the message Greg Schiano seems to be sending these days.

Like football and come to work hard each day? That might not keep you on the roster. You better love the damn game.

Schiano talked to the Detroit Free Press about Eric Wright’s versatility and makeup, and unveiled a deeper layer of his philosophy.

“He can do the things that we’re going to ask him to do in man coverage,” Schiano said. “A lot of guys can play zone coverage; it changes your skill set when you need to play man coverage, and I think he runs very well. And he’s a football guy.

“One of the biggest things that will be evident pretty quickly is that guys who love the game will be on our team. Liking it’s not going to be enough at our place. There’s nothing wrong with people who like it. There’s guys who like it, and there’s other guys who love it. The love it guys lose track of time when they’re doing it, and that’s the kind of guys we want.”

Joe wonders what will happen to the Bucs that don’t love football. Surely, the roster has some of those guys, so one would have to assume there will be some unexpected cuts.

Raheem Morris preached “mentality before reality.” Schiano seems to saying “mentality or find a new team.”

Joe knows all about being sloppy. You should see him after a few beers on a steamy Friday night, gawking at Courtney the Bartender.

But it’s one thing to get sloppy at one of the great establishments of the Original Hooters chain, it’s quite another to be sloppy on a football field.

This seems to grate at new Bucs coach Greg Schiano who, while speaking with eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune at the NFL owners meetings in Palm Beach this week, all but hinted at a housecleaning because of the lack of discipline with the Bucs.

“We’re one of the sloppier teams with the football that I’ve ever seen, so we have to get that remedied from Day 1,” Greg Schiano said Wednesday at a media breakfast with NFC coaches. “That’ll take a lot because it’s a bad habit.”

The Bucs led the NFL with 40 giveaways last season, finishing last with a minus-16 turnover differential in the final year of the Raheem Morris regime.

It was almost as if Schiano is bracing Bucs fans for a honeymoon of sorts, not to expect too much too soon as he stated it takes a while to work the bad habits out of one’s system.

Hopefully with an extra OTA and a full offseason this spring and summer, Schiano will get a head start in exorcising these demons.