Since the day Chucky claimed he would call Warren Sapp right back — Sapp often half-jokingly likes to say he’s still waiting for that call back — the Bucs have been in need of an All-Pro defensive tackle.

Some suggest Oklahoma defensive tackle Gerald McCoy is such a player. But don’t tell that to Warren Sapp.

Good guy  yet Maoist Michael Silver of Yahoo! Sports brings word how one NFL scout compared McCoy to Sapp. When Sapp heard that, well, Joe will let Silver tell the story.

A 6-foot-4, 298-pound menace in the middle, McCoy has been said to resemble Kevin Williams, the Minnesota Vikings’ perennial All-Pro defensive tackle. He’s a strong, relentless, athletic player who has a penchant for blasting through and past defenders and terrorizing quarterbacks. One scout I talked to thought the Williams comparison didn’t go far enough.

“Kevin Williams?” the scout scoffed. “To me, he’s Warren Sapp, only bigger and stronger.” (Sapp’s response, via text message: “LMAO!”)

The skepticism is understandable: Sapp, a future Hall of Famer, was one of the best players of his generation, and exaggeration is rampant among talent evaluators this time of year.

Even if McCoy is 3/4 the player Sapp was, he would be a good pick up.

Later, Sapp Twittered with more mocking of McCoy:

@QBKILLA Good Morning, Dust has Settles 4 Me! Take McCoy! Ain’t No Bench Press On the any Yd Line! Feet Beat Weights everyday & Twice on Sunday!!

Imagine if some rich and powerful Bucs fans rallied together some rich and powerful financial guys to raise enough cash to buy the Bucs from the Glazers.

And in the process, the rich dudes begged Bucs fans to unify and stop going to games, so the Glazers would be strong-armed into selling the team to this new conglomerate or risk going broke.

That’s what’s going on in England with Manchester United. HOWEVER, the soccer fans keep going to games, the team is  superior and the Glazers don’t want to sell. This is nothing new, except the Internet is all abuzz today with the Man. U. buyout folks getting stronger and getting some fresh ink.

It’s meaningless.

The potential buyout group hasn’t even met with the Glazers, who, of course, don’t even acknowledge their existence. 

As long as Manchester United keeps winning, nothing will happen.  

QBKILLA, aka Warren Sapp, has emerged from his jail-induced silence and has resumed his in-your-face commentary on his Twitter account, where he goes by QBKILLA.

Apparently, Sapp’s self-imposed gag order couldn’t keep him quiet any longer about the stud defensive tackles projected to be among the top three picks in the first round of the NFL Draft. Sapp advises that the combine numbers for manbeast Ndamukong Suh and Gerald McCown be ignored.

He’s more of a film-only guy, which leads him to endorse McCoy.  

“Good Morning, Dust has Settles 4 Me! Take McCoy! Ain’t No Bench Press On the any Yd Line! Feet Beat Weights everyday & Twice on Sunday!!”

Joe wonders wonders what Sapp means by “dust has settles 4 me.” Perhaps his lawyers feel he’ll walk away clean from the domestic violence charges filed against him last month.

Since the Bucs last week cut loose their best wide receiver, Antonio Bryant, the offense is in more of a dire need for a receiver than Joe is a cold Caybrew and the caress of Rachel Watson.

Consider the Bucs top receivers on the current roster are Sammie Stroughter, Mo Stovall and noted blocking icon Michael Clayton.

Though Joe loves the prospects of Stroughter and the hustle of Stovall, with that gaggle of receivers, does anyone expect quarterback Josh Freeman to complete 50 percent of his passes?

Vacation Man of BSPN.com has been involved in a project that the Soviet-based site is working on, trying to find out where aggravated Broncos wide receiver Brandon Marshall will land.

Vacation Man believes, if Marshall is to play in the NFC South next season, the Bucs are the best shot.

That left Tampa Bay, and I threw that scenario out to Williamson as a “maybe.’’ It’s probably a long shot because of Marshall’s baggage and the Bucs don’t want to part with any of the 10 draft picks they’ve accumulated for this year. But they have a desperate need for a No. 1 wide receiver after announcing Antonio Bryant wouldn’t be back. Marshall is a better receiver than Bryant ever was, and he certainly would be a nice toy for quarterback Josh Freeman.

But would the Bucs be willing to take on Marshall’s baggage, even if the price tag is reasonable?

That’s why I threw it out there as a “maybe.’’ The Bucs traded for tight end Kellen Winslow, who had some history of trouble, last year. As far as we know, Winslow was on his best behavior last season and he played well. Maybe coach Raheem Morris thinks he can pull off something similar with Marshall.

Just maybe.

If the Bucs are not willing to part with any draft picks, that means for the Bucs to land Marshall, they would have to trade someone else in order to land a draft pick or two to compensate for the loss of a pick in acquiring Marshall.

Joe wonders who that player could be? Hey, if Mark Dominik could con the Bears into coughing up a second round pick for a guy that couldn’t start for one of the NFL’s worst defenses, Joe wonders what Dominik might to able to thieve from a team for Michael Clayton?

Many Bucs fans would be giddy to have manbeast Ndamukong Suh playing defensive tackle for Tampa Bay this season. And it seems Suh would be just as happy to be wearing pewter and red.

Josh Freeman, speaking on 1040 AM on Friday, talked about his relationship with Suh and how the manbeast told him he wants to play for the Bucs.

“I knew Gerald [McCoy] from the Army All-American game. I knew Suh from being recruited [togehter] by Nebraska. They’re both beasts,” Freeman said. “It’s every so often that a player like Suh or like McCoy come out. …I’d go with Suh. I saw him in Orlando. I talked to him. The guy is hungry, man. Talking to him, he wants to play in Tampa, too. That’s what he’s been telling me.”

It’s comforting to know that Suh has no plans to pull an Eli Manning and refuse to play for the Bucs.

Whether the Bucs should actually select him if he’s there when they’re on the clock with the No. 3 overall pick, that’s a whole nother discussion.

Bucs running back Derrick Ward, one of the key free agent signings last year, had more success off the field with a Kardashian than he did on the field for the Pewter Pirates.

Joe has already documented the puzzling strategy the Bucs have undertaken, seemingly turning up their noses at free agents of any sort this offsesaon.

Joe strongly suspects the Bucs, like other clubs, are preparing to go to the mattresses, fortifying their coffers for a long and protracted labor outage in 2011.

But Anwar Richardson of the Tampa Tribune, via the TBO.com Bucs Twitter feed, suggests the Bucs are not going after free agents for another reason.

Having been burned last year with free agents, the Bucs are now scared of free agents.

The Bucs were active in free agency last season and the result was 3-13. Can’t blame them for focusing more on the draft.

Well, that’s somewhat understandable with who they signed and how they were (not) used.

Striking out on Facestomper Haynesworth, the Bucs crowed about who they thought was a free agent coup, linebacker Angelo Crowell.

How’d that work out?

Then there was the signing of running back Derrick Ward. Offensive coordinator Greg Olson all but let him rot on the bench, infuriating a specific high-ranking Bucs official.

No wonder the Bucs are gun shy at signing free agents.

Joe doesn’t have much interest in the combine 40-yard dash times for defensive tackles. But Joe knows Bucs fans are riveted to the movements of manbeast Ndamukong Suh and Gerald McCoy.

So, without further adieu, Suh just ran his first 40 at the NFL scouting combine and clocked a 4.98. His second run is coming up. That matched the time of Penn State’s Jared Odrick, another top prospect at the position. McCoy checked in with 4.96. …Warren Sapp ran a 4.63 back in the day.

NFL Network analysts are praising Suh for even showing up for the combine, saying that all he needed to do was let his college film do the talking rather than risk getting hurt.

Update 12:05 p.m.: Suh clocked a 5.07 in his second attempt.

Joe is quite certain readers here are not interested in what truly arouses Joe, unless it’s a picture of Rachel Watson or a photo of the lovely playmate to the right.

But Joe is so thoroughly aroused right now, he has to explain why.

You see, Joe has just realized that JoeBucsFan.com reached 100,000 visits in February.  That’s actual times people came to JoeBucsFan.com — not page views, hits or some other glorified statistics. Just plain and simple:  100,000 times a Bucs fan — or hater –showed up here in February.

While that’s hardly a record month for Joe, it’s an exciting total for a short month in the offseason. Plus the average visit was over six minutes.

Joe continues to be humbled by the response to JoeBucsFan.com.

Now, if you’re a business owner, you can attach yourself to this skyrocketing ship on the cheap.

Click here to learn more about advertising with Joe. A wise decision today could have your phones ringing tomorrow.

Joe is among those who believe the Bucs are suspect at running back.

Sure, Joe greatly appreciates Cadillac Williams’ accomplishments, and Joe’s a big Earnest Graham fan, and Derrick Ward might perform if given a chance, but the reality is that all of those guys are on the downsides of their careers. Yet the Bucs are supposed to be rebuilding with youth?

Heck, even Antonio Bryant was too old, and he’s younger than Graham and Ward.

Esteemed draft guru Mike Mayock, of NFL Network, was raving about the 2010 running backs class over the airwaves Sunday. “If you need a running back, you can get healthy in this draft,” Mayock said.

His analyst co-hort Mike Lombardi, a former NFL personnel executive, was of similar mind. And Lombardi had major kudos for Fresno State RB Ryan Matthews, who used to share the backfield with Clifton Smith and was explosive in his combine drills.

Matthews looks like the one-cut punishing runner the Bucs allegedly want to have. Lombardi said Matthews “has the buzz. …He does everything. …He moves way up the draft chart.”

Now Joe has no clue what the Bucs’ plan is. But they sure could use a running back. Sad thing is you could say that about every position, outside of offensive line and tight end.

It’s one thing not to know the background of some nondescript player for Portland State.

It’s quite another not to know the background of a high-profile collegiate athlete for a prominent, in-state school whose story has been splashed all over BSPN and virtually every local and national media outlet.

That sure seemed to be the case when, allegedly, a Bucs staffer accused Florida State safety and Rhodes Scholar Myron Rolle of being a deserter, an accusation Bucs general manager Mark Dominik flatly denies.

Despite the (alleged) rude if not downright ill-informed question to one of the best standup guys in the draft, Rolle, who hopes to be a neurosurgeon, has forgiven the Bucs, so reports Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune.

Rolle said Sunday that he understood the line of questioning as well as the reason for it and that it didn’t differ all that much from the line of questioning he got from the Rhodes council.

“They (both) want to see you on your feet, see how you respond to certain questions and I think that was an example,” Rolle said of the Bucs question. “So there’s no anger, no ill will toward them at all.

“In fact, (Bucs) Coach Raheem Morris has probably been my biggest advocate. He pulled me aside (after the Senior Bowl interview) and said ‘I’m so proud of you for winning that Rhodes scholarship.’

Though Dominik denied the line of questioning that was first reported, Joe wonders why, per Cummings, Rolle said Raheem the Dream pulled him aside after the now notorious interview at the Senior Bowl to apologize on behalf of the Bucs?

When wide receiver Dez Bryant was banned from play last year by the NCAA for lying to officials about dabbling with an agent, Joe’s antennae went up.

A guy who is clean and upstanding as he claims knows better unless he is as dumb as a box of rocks.

And if he is that dumb, well, that’s another proverbial red flag.

Since Joe brought up the subject of red flags, our old friend Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports, he of the investigative journalist who dug up how the Bucs employ someone in the highest reaches of the scouting department who apparently does zero research on players, had done some more digging and has discovered that Bryant doesn’t seem to like alarm clocks.

Bryant also seems to consider time relative. He shows up for practices and games when he finds time in his packed itinerary.

“I wouldn’t draft that kid unless I had someone to wake him up in the morning to get to meetings, someone to wake him up for practice and someone to wake him up for games,” one source said.

A second source said Bryant’s reputation was earned because he was consistently late to team activities. That included showing up late for games.

“We’re not just talking about being a little late for warmups, but like being late for the actual game,” a source said with a chuckle. “When you start to hear some of the stories of there, you go, ‘He did what?’ ”

This is alarming to Joe. If a player isn’t motivated enough to show up on time to games, one can only imagine  how he places practicing and conditioning on his list of priorities.

Joe never heard anyone accuse alleged dispassionate football player Myron Rolle of being late to games much less practices.

Joe was glued to NFL Network this weekend watching offensive linemen run footwork drills, wide receivers run routes and all sorts of other scouting combine stuff.

Frankly, what the combine truly needs is cheerleaders. The cut-away shots to Eric Mangini just don’t do it for Joe.

Aside from fantasizing about the missing cheerleaders, Joe had happy visions of Golden Tate in a Bucs uniform (that dude is fast, strong, and lightning quick at everything). Joe also was also pretty stunned by Tim Tebow’s interview prowess.

Tebow did an on-field, football-in-hand interview with Mike Mayock, in which Tebow explained and physically showed under rapid-fire questioning how he has changed his throwing mechanics and footwork, and answered other questions.

While’s Joe is not a Tebow groupie, Joe was struck by how the kid is ready — right now — to step into the broadcast booth for a successful career.

He could probably make more from BSPN than he’ll ever make in the NFL.

Made Joe think for a fleeting moment how a potentially creative Bucs marketing department could use the kid if he were on the team. He could be snatched in the third round and dropped on the practice squad and plastered all throughout the Bucs’ broadcasts immediately.

Joe wouldn’t draft him. But there’s no question that Tebow could bring a lot of value to the Bucs. And he might just be a legitimate quarterback in a few years.

Veteran St. Petersburg Times columnist Gary Shelton is puzzled. No, not because Joe crossed paths with him last night at a fine eatery.

Shelton is puzzled by the Bucs’ disinterest in free agency.

In a related story, NFL free agency begins Friday.

From the sound of it, the Bucs don’t seem to be interested.

This is baffling. The refrigerator is empty, the grocery stores are about to open and still, the Bucs say they aren’t shopping. For weeks now, general manager Mark Dominik has said the Bucs “won’t be major players” in free agency.

All together now:

“Huh?”

Joe sees both sides. Joe is totally convinced the Bucs, just like other clubs, are expecting to go to the mattresses after this season in preparation for no season in 2011. So it wouldn’t be real smart to start signing guys to hefty contracts if there may not be a season next year.

Joe also sees Shelton’s points: How exactly are the Bucs supposed to sell tickets or even win games if, for example, your two best receivers are Sammie Stroughter and Mo Stovall (in Joe’s eyes, Michael Clayton is a No. 3 receiver who can come off the bench to throw a key block)?

Joe suspects the Bucs will load up on inexpensive free agents later this summer.

Meanwhile, Joe faintly hears Raheem the Dream bah’ing like a sheep. Because he’s likely going to be the sacrificial lamb come December, much to T.J. Rives’ surprise.

So Antonio Bryant’s days with the Bucs are over. Joe is very sad about this.

Even the good people of the NFL Network are aware of what Bryant meant to the Bucs. So they put together a highlight package of his top plays as a Buccaneers wide receiver.

Click here and enjoy and realize what the Bucs will be missing this fall.

When the Bucs tendered wide receiver Maurice Stovall last week, it was Christmas in February for Stovall.

That’s because he had his salary doubled, per Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune.

Stovall was a third-round pick of the Bucs in 2006 and he was given an original draft position tender, which carries with it a $1.176 million salary for 2010 .

Stovall is hardly an All-Pro receiver, instead he’s dynamite on special teams. Still, he’s worth more than Michael Clayton.

Let’s do some quick math:

In 2009, Stovall had his best season in his four years with the Bucs. He had 15 catches and a touchdown for 366 yards, an average of 15.3 yards a catch.

In 2009, Michael Clayton had 16 catches (and too many drops to count) for 230 yards and a touchdown for an average of 14.4 yards a catch.

To be fair, Joe wasn’t able to retrieve any blocking information about Stovall.

Joe apologizes for not bringing this to you sooner.

Whether the Bucs draft Tennessee stud safety Eric Berry or not remains to be seen. If that happens, Berry just might fit like a glove.

Of course his defensive coordinator at Tennessee last year was Monte Kiffin, the father of the Bucs’ Tampa-2 defense. This, Berry feels, gives him an edge with the Bucs as he spoke on WCNN-AM 680 in Atlanta.

“One of the biggest things that I learned from Monte was actually getting into the mind of defensive coordinators.  When we are in meetings and things like that he doesn’t tell you the play that he is calling.  He actually tells you why he called the play and what situations he is going to call it so you can actually get in the mind of a defensive coordinator and you kind of see yourself anticipating what he going to call on third and short or second and long and things like that.  I think that is what he taught me the most probably.

“[I’m r]eally focused on getting [to Indianapolis] and talking to the coaches and seeing what they really have to say.  A lot of the mock draft stuff could be true or couldn’t be true so I really stay out of that and really try to get it from the direct source.  Obviously if I do go to Tampa, I know their whole playbook so that would be a plus.  If I just take care of what I need to take care of and get ready to play someone is going to have to get me.”

Joe has a feeling if the Bucs draft Berry, he will fit in perfectly and understand the defense as a rookie much better than Sabby the Goat will entering his third season.

(Hat tip to Anwar Richardson of the Tampa Tribune.)

Like most personnel decisions, the rationale behind the Bucs not re-signing talented wide receiver Antonio Bryant was based on a number of factors.

Sure, salary played a part. So too did his age. Also, his injuries were a concern.

But Woody Cummings, of the Tampa Tribune, did some research and through his sources learned the Bucs were concerned about Bryant freelancing too much on routes. In particular, Bucs staffers felt Bryant caused a few of quarterback Josh Freeman’s interceptions because he was not running crisp routes.

Precision was another issue. It turns out that Bryant is a bit of a free lancer when it comes to running his routes and that penchant for being off just a tad resulted in a handful of picks for Freeman last year.

Bucs insiders won’t say how many of Freeman’s 18 interceptions were the result of imprecise routes run by Bryant, but the number was apparently big enough and the problem chronic enough that the Bucs felt a need to move on and get someone else to be their top wideout.

Keep that in mind as the search begins for a replacement. What the Bucs want in their new top target is something of a perfectionist, someone who, in addition to making the great leaping catches that Bryant made, will further help his quarterback by running an 8-yard curl or a 12-yard dig when the play calls for an 8-yard curl or a 12-yard dig.

Now before people pile on, Joe knows that imprecise routes, even off just slightly, can result in unwanted results. Did Bryant’s spectacular catches and ability to stretch the field make up for freelancing? It appears the Bucs didn’t think so.

Consider also that the Bucs have admitted in no uncertain terms the main goal currently is to develop Freeman.

If Bryant’s less than accurate routes did indeed result in a number of interceptions, perhaps the Bucs feared this would lead to Freeman’s confidence being crushed and therefore, his development would be stunted if not destroyed.

Think this is trivial? Look at Freeman’s salary figures compared to Bryant’s.

Pat “Vacation Man” Yasinskas, of BSPN.com, did some chillin’ at Disney World with Josh Freeman on Friday.

And Raheem The Dream’s bride revealed that he’s been watching film of college receivers with Greg Olson and Alex Van Pelt, who are interested in his opinion as they consider who the Bucs might draft to fill their many holes at wide receiver.

Now Joe doesn’t believe for a minute that the Bucs’ brass give a crap about Freeman’s opinion — he says he likes Jordan Shipley out of Texas — but Joe thinks it’s nice to make the kid feel wanted. However, Joe would prefer Freeman spend all his film watching legendary NFL quarterbacks.

Despite all that receiver study, Freeman told Vacation Man he would have the Bucs select manbeast Ndamukong Suh with their No. 3 pick.

“I would love to see Suh here,’’ Freeman said.

The Bucs would be wise to listen to Freeman’s thoughts on Suh because their quarterback knows the defensive tackle very well. They first became friends as teammates in a high-school all-star game, saw each other frequently as college foes and were hanging out together at the Super Bowl in Miami a few weeks ago.

“He basically lived in my backfield every time I played against Nebraska,’’ said Freeman, who played at Kansas State. “The drive that that guy has is unbelievable. He’s going to be a great teammate for whoever he goes to. The guy makes plays. He gets in the backfield and nobody can block him. They’re trying to figure out what’s going to help our team the most. If it’s a receiver, it’s a receiver. If it’s get Suh, it’s getting Suh. Anyway you look at it, I’m excited.’’ 

Joe’s not going to moan if the Bucs draft Suh, although there’s no way to know at this point what the team is thinking.

Joe suspects that the Bucs might tip their hand if pricey, almost-32-year-old Chris Hovan is cut in the coming days.

Yesterday, Joe ran a story from Yahoo! Sports’ Jason Cole that detailed a horribly obnoxious, if not grossly misinformed line of questioning a member of the Bucs staff lodged at Rhodes Scholar Myron Rolle.

Rolle, a former Florida State safety, left FSU — with the school’s, team’s and coaching staff’s blessing — to take advantage of a rare opportunity to study at Oxford, an opportunity afforded only a fraction of the world’s populous.

In short, Rolle pulled an academic version of declaring for the draft after his junior year.

Per the Yahoo story, a Bucs staffer suggested to Rolle at the Senior Bowl he was a deserter during a Bucs interview with Rolle.

The story would have gone viral had Joe not run the story on a Friday afternoon. But it got enough eyeballs that Bucs general manager Mark Dominik — who Joe personally likes a great deal and respects — felt compelled to address the issue while attending the NFL combine in Indianapolis.

Speaking to Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune, Dominik said the line of questioning was not the way it was reported by Cole.

According to Bucs General Manager Mark Dominik, who was in on the interview along with Bucs coach Raheem Morris, the question that was actually asked of Rolle was “Did you feel like you deserted your team’’ by going to Oxford.
The difference isn’t all that subtle. One suggests the Bucs accused Rolle of abandoning his team while the other suggests the Bucs simply had an interest in learning how Rolle felt about leaving his team.

One thing that can’t be debated is Rolle’s feelings about the question. The safety, who is projected to be a late-round selection at best, was clearly taken aback by the query.

Cummings is correct. The wording of the question Dominik cites is far different than the wording that Cole quoted. The inference is far, far different, and quite appropriate.

If Dominik’s version is accurate, Joe hereby apologizes for being so harsh on the staffer in question. (Of course, if Cole’s version is accurate, Joe takes nothing back.)

However, Joe was not in the room when Rolle was questioned. Now, it’s a he-said, he-said issue, provided Cole was quoting Rolle accurately.

It seems though that the way Rolle interpreted the question, he believed it to be below the belt.

As always, if Joe wrongs an individual, Joe offers an unedited, open forum for the party in question to respond to any charges or accusations.

For weeks, various Bucs beat writers have claimed the Bucs likely would be parting ways with Byron Leftwich next week because he was due a $3.5 million roster bonus.

It turns out that was baloney.

Lefwich didn’t play enough games to hit the bonus, so Mark Dominik told the Tampa Tribune on Friday.

The Bucs have decided to keep quarterback Byron Leftwich, at least for now, and could carry as many as four quarterbacks into their offseason program. It was expected the Bucs would release Leftwich before a $3.5 million roster bonus was due, but the bonus did not kick in because he didn’t play in enough games, Dominik said.

So now Lefwich will have to make the Bucs roster in order to earn his $2 million 2010 salary. Or, of course, the Bucs could play wait-and-see and try to trade him for the pittance he might return. 

Joe’s curious to see if Leftwich will try and force the Bucs hand by not showing up for voluntary offseason training activities.

Joe isn’t sure a day goes by that some commenter on this very site cites that the Bucs are cheap.

Tom Edrington of the Bleacher Report doesn’t appear to be much of a fan of Bucs general manager Mark Dominik. Edrington, paging his best Dan Ruth prose, roasts Dominik for many wasted millions.

The biggest failure was shown the door this week.

Mark Dominik, the Wizard of Waste, has sent Antonio Bryant packing. Yes, No. 89, he of the franchise tag, he of the $9.88 million salary last season.

For close to $10 million, Dominik, the Dumper of Dollars, paid AB a tad more than $256,000 per catch. Nice work if you can get it.

But there are more.

Joe isn’t sure this can all be pinned on Dominik. Joe learned through a trusted source last week that Dominik was, well, less than pleased that Ward was seldom used through most of the season. Notice Dominik doesn’t decide who plays.

Joe would suggest Domink’s biggest mistake in wasteful spending was not Antonio Bryant. Rather, it was (and is) another receiver: Michael Clayton. 

You know, the guy that can block?