Nobody could have been happier than Josh Freeman yesterday after news of Penn's deal. JoeBucsFan.com photo by Kyra Hallett

Woody Cummings, of the Tampa Tribune, tells the story of Donald Penn’s signing and the weight clause that landed in the contract.

Cummings doesn’t miss a step, including Penn explaining how he put his foot down on getting that long term deal done  now, even if he had to give some things up.

So much for no leverage. Penn apparently had so much leverage that he had a long term deal already on the table from Team Glazer, despite the looming lockout.

“So I told (Arceneaux), do whatever it takes to get me in there, because I’ve never missed a camp before. That’s not the kind of guy I am, so let’s get it done. Let’s make some sacrifices if we need to, but let’s get it done.”

One sacrifice Penn will have to make might come at the dinner table. His contract includes a clause that calls for him to be weighed six times a year and to keep his weight between 330 and 335 pounds.

Penn said he doesn’t believe his weight gain a year ago was as big an issue as the Bucs and the media made it out to be, but he already has taken steps to make sure it doesn’t surface as a problem again.

Joe finds it very intriguing Penn spoke of making concessions to get into camp.

Joe wonders if Barrett Ruud ever even sniffed a long-term offer?

JoeBucsFan.com photo by Kyra Hallett

Joe knows many Bucs fans think Kareem Huggins could be a sleeper, that lightning quick change-of-pace back that could add an exciting dimension to the Bucs offense.

Of course, it’s all just speculation, since Huggins only has a handful of impressive preseason NFL carries on his resume and was Division 1-AA standout in 2007.

On Saturday, Huggins looked sharp, unlike Clifton Smith who put the ball on the ground. Joe expects Huggins to carry the load for the Bucs in the second half of every preseason game. Maybe he’ll show enough to stay off the practice squad?

Working hard for his media partners at the Buccaneers flagship radio station, WDAE-AM 620 and BucsCountry.com, Joe caught up with new Bucs linebacker Jon Alston after Saturday’s evening practice. The fifth-year veteran, who was a special teams standout in Oakland, shared some thoughts on the 2010 Buccaneers.

Joe: At 27 years old, you’re a real veteran on this team. What’s it like coming into this kind of young club, how are you adjusting, and how does that translate to practice?

Jon Alston: I don’t know if the young team has anything to do with it. I was just thinking to myself, personally, how much I enjoy being here. [On Saturday,] I caught myself taking a moment and seeing how well we practice here despite the heat and compared to other places I’ve been. I’ve been in the league a while, and the energy is great.

Joe: What’s your role on this team going to be? You came in with a repuation as a special teams ace, and the Bucs have built a very strong special teams unit.

Alston: Primarily backing up Geno [Hayes], and trying to learn both [outside linebacker positions] and be ready for anything. Geno’s a great player. There’s a lot I can learn from him, and the way Quince and Barrett play and approach the game, I can learn a lot there, too. Special teams is going to make sure I’m on this team. That’s where I’ve excelled and we have a group here that can win football games. I’m really excited about playing for Coach Bisaccia. …The guys have so much respect for him. They believe.

Joe: What about Bisaccia stands out?

Alston: Definitely what we do on special teams stands out in the offseason preparation and approach. … We work hard. We go out and call it C.A.T. club. …It’s an acronym and I’ll leave it at that. …When other teams are just lifting and watching tape, we’re out there practiciing technique, things that make you better on gameday. That’s something that’s paid off here. Coach Bisaccia is consistent and he’s honest. That’s the great thing. He is so steady. There’s no panic now that the pads are on. We’re practicing in OTAs the way we’re practicing today. It’s consistent, thoroughly, and that’s special in this league.

Joe: Walking into this team in the spring and now, does it feel like a 3-13 team? Do you get a vibe that the team is climbing out of a hole?

Alston: I don’t feel that, to be honest with you. The guys are very excited about how they finished last year against some good opponents. And there’s a lot of confidence among the defense from the way things turned around late in the season. The atmosphere is, ‘Let’s build on that.’ …There’s no here we go again. It’s a race to 10 [wins] as Rah likes to say right now. …The guys are buying into that. For the first day of practice, I was impressed with the tempo.

Joe: You’re coming from the Raiders organization, where the fans are notoriously intense. What’s been your impression of Bucs fans at FanFest and now after the first day of practice?

Alston: Raiders fans are great. They really are. I do like how intimate it was at practice here. Having the fans so close and so involved and so loud at pracitice, it kicks you up a notch. I’m from the South, from Louisiana. There’s a different mentality in the south about the football. Some people around the country might take offense to that. I know the SEC, but I was a Pac-10 guy, and played professionally out there. It’s a different kind of excitement in the South for football. This kind of fan energy is new to me at a professional level. …It’s exciting. The fans are why we’re here, and it’s great to be reminded of that at the opening practice.

Not only is Team Glazer writing checks faster than Joe does on the first of the month, Team Glazer seems to be loving every minute of it.

What’s going on?

Brighthouse Network, the same outfit that shamefully denies its viewers NFL Network, turned out an impressive video from Bucs camp (no surprise they don’t offer embed codes) that includes footage of Joel and Bryan Glazer hugging Donald Penn. Great stuff.

There’s also plenty of shots of the svelte Penn in action.

Perhaps it is true that “money will never be an issue” when building the Bucs into a winner?

These are confusing times for Bucs fans.

The media throng gathered before a smiley Raheem The Dream this afternoon hit the head coach with a question about Donald Penn’s waistline.

After all, fat seemed to be a huge part of the ugly public negotiating tactics earlier this summer.

It was a pointed and appropriate query. The reporter essentially asked Raheem The Dream if he had concerns about Penn’s weight skyrocketing now that he has a fat new contract.

“You know I don’t, because I know the man’s character. You know, if he had weight gain, and when he did have weight gain, he’ll put it under control. And that’s what he’s been working on. That’s what he’s been doing this whole time,” Raheem The Dream said. “So, for me, it’s more about how much he cares about his teammates and how much he cares about actually playing. He’s got a big weight lifted off his chest. There’s two ways to look at that story. He’s got a weight lifted off his chest. His family’s secure. He knows he can be secure. He’s knows he’s going to be here. There’s no ‘what if’ anymore. He’s a Buccaneer. And hopefully, he’s a lifelong Buccaneer. So, you can look at that thing either way. You know, there’s different guys that get money, they turn it down and they do different things. But we don’t believe that or we wouldn’t have gave Donald Penn the kind of money that we gave him or the contract that we did give him.”

(Translation: Raheem The Dream says he’s not worried because Penn cares.) It almost sounded to Joe like Penn might not have a weight clause in his deal.

Joe couldn’t care less. Hopefully, Penn will keep it under 330 and go out and dominate.

Joe’s good friend Derek “Old School” Fournier, of WhatTheBuc.net, who also is a frequent fill-in host on CBS Sports radio in town, cut a video breaking down the first practice of Bucs training camp 2010.

Joe got caught.

WFTS-TV reporter Sean Daly, left, shares a laugh with (formerly) Big Nasty as the two were about to air a live interview.

Bucs players come over to the stands to mingle and sign autographs for the fans just prior to the first day of training camp.

Linebacker Dekoda Watson by way of Florida State.

Rookie defensive tackle Brian Price who had a huge first day of training camp.

Derrick Ward runs past defenders in a drill.

"JOE! Where have you been? Come here you hunk of man!"

For some odd reason, Van Halen's "Ice Cream Man" springs to mind for Joe when he looks at his photo.

As Joe wrote earlier, Brian Price clearly was getting extra attention from Raheem The Dream at today’s morning practice.

And Joe was watching as defensive line coach Todd Wash leaned on Price a little bit and made him go through an extra rep on a sled drill.

Price later busted up a run play that had Raheem The Dream ready to chest bump, and the rookie looked quick.

It seems the Bucs coaches and players took notice, too, per the recent Twitter musings of eye-RAH! Kaufman, of The Tampa Tribune.

Ira: Rookie DT Brian Price says he still isn’t fully over his hamstring problems, but he certainly impressed teammates and coaches Saturday.

Joe winces at the thought of Price battling a hamstring injury on Aug. 1. The Bucs need him or Gerald McCoy to have a strong season if they want to progress on defense. That’s a tough chore for any rookie, and the hammy won’t make it easier.

Everything about training camp on the field is fun for Joe. It’s all football. All the glorious nuances of the game.

But, admittedly, Joe gets a little more fired up to see the Bucs line up 11-on-11 and throw the ball in full pads, rather than watching Barrett Ruud today in an intense coaching session with new linbackers coach Joe Baker, in which the two were demonstrating/discussing (disagreeing?) on technique.

So the fun picked up a notch late when Mike Williams, who had already made a couple of impressive athletic catches earlier in the day, lined up one-on-one with Ronde Barber in the flat.

It was pretty — for Williams.

Williams juked Barber and got wide open (the crowd oooohed), but Williams dropped the pass, which was slightly underthrown by Josh Freeman.

Fun stuff.

Joe was quite impressed with Arrelious Benn. The dude is strong. Joe know understands all that gay-sounding talk about his impressive lower body by Bucs coaches after the draft. Benn clearly is a guy who will be tough to bring down after the catch at the NFL level.

Benn didn’t have any drops – that Joe witnessed – and had what would have been a long-gainer on an out route, courtesy of a foolish gamble in man coverage by cornerback Derrick Roberson.

As for the other receivers, Sammie Stroughter had a bad drop, which he agonized over for a while. Terrance Nunn showed some sure hands, as did Micheal Spurlock, who seems to be just that little extra focused than others to make the team.

Reggie Brown didn’t stand out for Joe — good or bad. Although he apparently has befriended Michael Clayton, which can’t help his odds of making the team.

On a side note, Aqib Talib displays such incredible hands and body control in secondary drills, sometimes Joe wonders whether he should have been a receiver.

The Mad Twitterer and Stephen Holder of the St. Petersburg Times talk about how Bucs general manager Mark Dominik, in a span of a few hours,  may have dispelled the notion by some fans that Team Glazer is cheap.

Careful, Peanut, don't drop the little girl. JoeBucsFan.com photo by Kyra Hallett.

Now Joe loves the electrifying play of Clifton Smith the return guy. Undrafted, he started his career fumbling like a madman, but he stuck with it (and Chucky stuck with him) and turned it around.

However, Clifton Smith the running back has always been a fumbler in his limited touches. It is what it is.

At training camp today, twice Smith put the ball on the ground working with the offense.

Now both fumbles were ruled to have occurred after the plays were dead, but both were pretty darn close. The first time the ground likely caused the fumble, and the other time he was stripped (allegedly after the whistle) and rookie defensive end Erik Lorig scooped it up and took off.

Joe knows these were not officially fumbles, but for a guy like Smith with a history of coughing up the ball, it did nothing to soothe Joe’s concerns about Smith getting involved in the offense.

The Bucs weren’t tackling this morning. Oh, they were battling hard at the line of scrimmage and in coverage with their pads on, no question about it.

But there was just that goofy-looking fake tackling after the play went past the line, as is done during spring practices in shorts.

Joe should have known that some fans would not be aware of such a practice. And there were several.

Joe particularly got a kick out of one guy who routinely was angrily screaming at players to “wrap up, c’mon, wrap up.” Poor guy probably went home thinking the Bucs will have the worst defense in the history of football.

But that guy got Joe thinking. Perhaps the Bucs should have had Sabby The Goat be the only guy on defense approved to tackle this morning?

The noise buzz around training camp from the various media types Joe mingles with was that quarterback Jevan Snead will be cut to make room for Gerald McCoy on the Bucs roster.

Yes, McCoy, or any player, is not officially rostered until he has a contract.

Why anyone was even talking about Snead was because he was nowhere to be seen on the practice field. Only Josh Freeman, Josh Johnson and Rudy Carpenter were wearing the orange “quarterback jersey.”

Snead, an undrafted rookie free agent, was a ridiculous longshot to make the team, especially after Raheem The Dream expressed his deep affection for Carpenter back in June.

Blocking icon Michael Clayton was doing his typical training camp best this morning.

He was looking fit. He was running hard. And he was catching the ball.

Why the blocking icon even had the crowd roaring when he made a great adjustment in the air to catch a Josh Johnson bomb with cornerback Brandon Anderson all over him (not exactly Talib, but still a great play).

Unbelievable! The blocking icon came to play. He was working on some special teams drills, as well, which caught Joe’s eye.

Joe got at good laugh when a Bucs fan standing next to Joe was visibly offended by the sight of Clayton on the field, “Clayton. Clayton would drop his pads, if he had to carry them.”

Joe’s back from the absolutely packed house training camp where the Bucs cheerleaders were exceptionally active, frisky, bubbly, bouncy, extraordinarily sweaty and working the crowd in a huge way.

Pictures are forthcoming.

Of course, it also was great to see the Bucs make the Donald Penn and Gerald McCoy signings official, so reported the St. Pete Times, home of The Mad Twitterer.

Sleepless general manager Mark Dominik announced that the Bucs have signed left tackle Donald Penn and reached an agreement with first-round pick Gerald McCoy.

Penn, who arrived in Tampa on the red-eye from Los Angeles Saturday morning, signed a 6-year deal believed to be worth $48-million and includes nearly $20-million guaranteed. He joined his teammates at practice Saturday 15 minutes after the announcement.

Penn was at camp and spent a lot of time working away from his teammates one-on-one with the Bucs conditioning coach. Penn looked quite fit in a now-I’m-only-a-chubby-325-pounds kind of way. Penn was with his teammates later in practice but did not appear to participate in any contact work.

Speaking on 620 WDAE-AM after practice, Raheem The Dream said he was eager to find out how soon he could get McCoy on the field.

Clearly, Raheem The Dream was a bit obsessed with Brian Price today, getting in his face a couple of times for good and bad. And Price drew Raheem The Dream to a near chest bump when Price got great penetration and busted up a run play quickly in the backfield.

“Nice job, B.P.” was screamed by the head coach at full volume.

Price looks very quick, through Joe’s eyes, and Price also seemed to be feeling the heat (as in weather) more than most.

Ahhh, the joys of training camp presented with eye candy, courtesy of the local folks at ABC.

One of Joe’s longtime commenters, a fellow who goes by the moniker of “Mr. Lucky,” has to be a happy man today.

Because football is here.

Mr. Lucky, roughly two weeks ago, began posting a comment that was nothing more than a countdown to the start of training camp. Mr. Lucky is not a Rays fan nor does he monitor baseball in general. Mr. Lucky would rail on other sports and demand Joe and others talk football.

Mr. Lucky is one of the reasons Joe exists: to satisfy the hardcore, pewter-and-red bleeding Bucs fans who need — no, demand! — Bucs news daily /365.

While Joe has never been a training camp freak (reminds him too much of two-a-days in high school amid the southern Illinois cornfields in weather hotter and equally humid as Florida, being so sore and beat up he could barely walk), Joe will be out at One Buc Palace. Expect some photos and other goodies later.

But Joe rejoices today. To wit, respected, intelligent sports radio hosts will no longer:

* Prattle about this LUH-bron James character. Joe just wants to take a crowbar to people trying to cram down the non-basketball association down Joe’s throat in the middle of baseball season!

* International kickball.

Finally, Joe’s senses will no longer be assaulted when trying to listen to sports radio when Sirius NFL Radio is in commercial.

We have been liberated today, folks.

It’s football, glorious football, until February!

Enjoy.

With Donald Penn apparently returning to the Bucs with a new contract much sooner than anyone expected, The Mad Twitterer and good guy Stephen Holder of the St. Petersburg Times discuss the political and social ramifications of Penn inking a new deal.

Yeah, Joe has mentioned this already, but he wasn’t totally forthcoming.

Of course, Joe will be at One Buc Palace today (and Sunday) for the start of Bucs training camp. If  you can’t make it out there, you will want to be at your computer.

Armed with his blackberry, Joe will be Twittering like a madman.

Later Saturday, Joe will bring you loads of pictures and posts about what he witnessed at training camp. So stick with Joe. He’s doing the dirty work for you!

(Part of that dirty work will be ogling Bucs cheerleaders up close such as the example to your right.)

Joe believes it’s safe to write that Bucs general manager Mark Dominik was not at the Rays stirring win over the Yankmees tonight. Dude has been a busy guy.

First, the Donald Penn nightmare is over. And if NFL Network’s Jason La Canfora is to be believed, Bucs first round pick Gerald McCoy will be on the practice fields of One Buc Palace Saturday.

In a live interview late Friday night on NFL Network with the fetching Michelle Beisner, La Canfora talked about Sam Bradford’s crazy contract when Beisner asked La Canfora for an update on second overall pick Ndamukong Suh and third overall pick GMC.

Referring to GMC, La Canfora said, “I’d be shocked if McCoy is not [at Bucs training camp] Saturday.”

GMC has always said that he wanted to wait for his Oklahoma teammate Bradford to sign first before he inked a deal with the Bucs. Now that Bradford is signed, sealed and delivered, lets see how quick Dominik can get GMC to One Buc Palace.

The Glazers are spending money. The Glazers are spending money. The Glazers are spending money.

Joe’s doing his Paul Revere act here to announce that the Bucs will be signing Donald Penn to a long term deal. Krispy Kremes, orange soda and trans-fat laden food for everyone.

And Joe is smiling inside and laughing at all those Bucs fans and observers who thought Penn had no leverage. Hahahaha. 

Penn had plenty of leverage, it seems. Jason LaCanfora, of NFL.com, is reporting the Bucs and Penn will sign a deal on Saturday.

The sides have come to terms on the major issues of a deal, but they’re still working out some language, according to the source. Both Penn and his agent, Rocky Arcineaux, were en route to Tampa on Friday night, and they will meet with Bucs officials Saturday, when the lineman is scheduled to sign the deal.

How bout that Team Glazer! Way to go. Way to do the right thing. No wonder Raheem The Dream isn’t nervous.

Kidding aside, Penn earned this money. He’s an excellent football player. Hopefully, he can become truly great in a Bucs uniform.