Joe’s of the opinion that the Bucs need to make a major offseason splash to upgrade what could be a woefully thin secondary by adding a top-flight cornerback in free agency and drafting LSU stud Mo Claiborne.

If reports surfacing in Indianapolis are to be believed, Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik may be channeling Joe’s head.

Earlier this afternoon, Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune Twittered out what appears to be the pulse of agents, coaches and front office types at the NFL combine, that the Bucs want Titans cornerback Cortland Finnegan, a free agent to be.

@RCummingsTrib: Hearing a lot of talk here at the combine about the Bucs expressing strong interest in signing Titans FA CB Cortland Finnegan.

Moments after Cummings Twittered that rumor, Jim Wyatt of The Tennessean posted a report that talks between Finnegan and the Titans broke down today and it appears Finnegan has played his last snap of football with the Titans.

The Titans met with the agent for cornerback Cortland Finnegan on Friday at the NFL Combine, but indications are no progress was made toward a long-term deal.

All signs still point to Finnegan becoming a free agent on March 13. The Titans aren’t expected to use the $10.6 million franchise tag on Finnegan by the March 5 deadline. …

Finnegan recently put his Brentwood home on the market, however, still convinced he won’t be back with the Titans in 2012. It appears he’ll be right. The sixth-year pro is coming off another solid season after turning down a contract in the four-year, $28 million range prior to the start of last season. He’s seeking more than the five-year, $48.75 million contract cornerback Johnathan Joseph signed with the Texans last July, a deal that included $23.5 million in guarantees, and the Titans aren’t inclined to rise to those figures.

Now Joe would prefer Brandon Carr, but Tom Krasniqi of WHBO-AM 1040 makes an interesting point: Finnegan, though he can be a jerk at times, is a hard-nosed football player who often gets in the heads of opposing wide receivers. He has a nasty streak.

If the Bucs defense needs anything, it’s somebody who isn’t afraid of blasting people and making his presence felt, not swinging a red cape allowing running backs to run as free as whitetail deer in a Nebraska cornfield, galloping down the sidelines.

Now Joe has gone on record for years that drafting a running back in the first round is a terrible investment because, as a team, a club is paying top dollar for a player with a limited shelf life due to the physical punishment running backs receive.

Throw in the fact that there are so many good running backs drafted in late rounds or even pulled off the streets as a free agent, it’s much better to draft a cornerback or an offensive linemen with a first-round pick as teams get far more bang for the buck.

Given how horrible the Bucs defense was last year, how the team could be looking at filling three holes in the secondary this offseason, drafting a running back — some fans are pining for Alabama’s Trent Richardson — is simply irresponsible.

It seems the numbers crunchers at FootballOutsiders.com agree with Joe.

While their analysis of drafting running backs high in the first round is hidden behind a satanic paywall, ESPN’s Pat Yasinskas cracked open the door a bit to give readers a glimpse of the FootballOutsiders’ article.

The five leading rushers over the last five seasons are Adrian Peterson, Maurice Jones-Drew, Steven Jackson, Chris Johnson and Michael Turner. Those five have combined for two playoff wins as starting running backs (and that doesn’t include two playoff victories Turner had as a backup to LaDainian Tomlinson with the 2007 Chargers).

The column then points to the backfields of the two Super Bowl teams. The New York Giants had Ahmad Bradshaw (a seventh-round pick) and Brandon Jacobs (a fourth-round pick). The New England Patriots had a pair of undrafted running backs in BenJarvus Green-Ellis and Danny Woodhead as well as third-round pick Stevan Ridley.

Well, you can go back a few Super Bowls and see the same evidence. Sure, the Steelers drafted Rashard Mendenhall in the first round and he’s not come close to living up to his first-round billing. Hell, the Steelers won a Super Bowl with Mendenhall on injured reserve, and two years ago against the Packers, Mendenhall may have given the Super Bowl away when he fumbled deep into Packers territory in the fourth quarter when it appeared the Steelers were about to score.

Add to the fact the Bucs already have a running back, LeGarrette Blount. (It’s not his problem he had a clueless offensive who didn’t know how to use him.) Shoot, Blount had a grand total of five carries in the season opener — FIVE! That is no less than outrageous!

Could the Bucs use another running back for depth? Sure, a speedster like LaMichael James who is lightning quick and can catch out of the backfield (so can Blount).

No. Just no to Trent Richardson. The Bucs have way too many holes on defense.

Joe understands, sadly, that good guy Gerald McCoy is losing his luster with many fans.

The Bucs had high hopes for GMC when he was the third selection overall in the 2010 draft. As a rookie, he had just started to turn the corner midway through the season when he blew out his biceps in his left arm.

Last year, GMC was often disruptive and this helped the Bucs jump out to a 4-2 record with wins over a pair of divisional playoff teams. Then he blew out the biceps in his right arm and was lost for the season.

GMC’s attributes are not lost on eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune who Twittered yesterday that it’s time for GMC to establish himself as one of the team’s best players.

@IKaufmanTrib: Gerald McCoy hasn’t generated Pro Bowl numbers, but the Bucs play better defense when he’s on the field. Keeping him healthy is critical.

There was too much of a drop off for the Bucs defense when GMC was not on the field. For the Bucs defense to turn the corner, GMC needs to have his jersey filthy at the end of games.

Joe watched the video below when it aired last night on NBC Sports Talk. And Joe previously has written about Greg Schiano’s comment on free agency spending, “We’re going to do it responsibly.”

Definitely take a listen. Schiano explains he’s only scratched the surface on evaluating the Bucs’ roster, and he gets into Ronde Barber’s potential return. 

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NFL Network analyst Michael Lombardi believes Greg Schiano will give the Bucs a "tough guy" attitude.

Last year during the grotesque 10-game losing streak that resulted in Raheem Morris being jettisoned, the Bucs were simply horrible.

The team had virtually no offense; its best weapon was on the bench more than on the field and a junior varsity high school play was used game in and game out with zero results, as if that was some brainstorm of a play hatched in a laboratory at One Buc Palace.

The defense was no less than a sieve.

In this NFL Network video, former NFL executives Charley Casserly and Michael Lombardi discuss the hiring of Greg Schiano as the new Bucs coach.

Lombardi is of the mind that Schiano’s no-nonsense, tough, defensive-minded approach is exactly what the Bucs need.

“You watch this team on tape, they didn’t tackle anybody,” Lombardi said. “You could get a long run any time you wanted on them. They need an attitude. Greg Schiano is a tough guy.”

Now Joe rarely posts non-Bucs videos but this is so good, he’s making an exception. Joe gets that most of the Tampa Bay area readers have likely seen this video, which has since gone viral, of WFLA-TV reporter Adrienne Pedersen doing a live standup while there’s a two-car crash just behind her. What makes this video so riveting is the girl doesn’t even blink! She continues with her report as if the crash was nothing more than someone coughing.

Adrienne follows Joe on Twitter so he’s giving her a shoutout here for being a true pro. Way to go Adrienne!

The free agency bell rings in less than three weeks and Bucs fans everywhere are salivating.

However you believe in building the Bucs, the thought of adding pieces is exciting, especially when management isn’t doing much to downplay the buzz that it’s gearing up to shop like a Black Friday freak camping out at Best Buy. Heck, the Bucs’ official website even says there’s a “clear mandate” to spend.

But Greg Schiano might have sprayed a little cold water on the fantasies of many fans last night on NBC Sports Network.

Asked by reporter Gregg Rosenthal about the Bucs’ expected spending in free agency, Schiano said, “We’re going to do it responsibly.” And Schiano repeated the familiar refrain that he hopes to fulfill his dream of drafting great players, re-signing them, and having them be career Buccaneers like Ronde Barber.

Now Joe gets that Schiano is a clear-thinking, level-headed, measured speaker, and Joe knows that there’s nothing wrong with being responsible. So Joe surely can’t read too much into what “responsibly” really means.

Joe just hopes it means at least filling the Bucs’ glaring holes at linebacker. The Bucs drafted Quincy Black and Geno Hayes, who proved to be subpar players after three years of starting. Joe thinks it would be responsible to replace them with superior talent.

The Bucs announced the hiring of Bob Ligashesky today as their new special teams chief.

Ligashesky ran the Steelers’ special teams during the 2007, 2008 and 2009 seasons and scored a ring after Pittsburgh beat the Cardinals in Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa. Ligashesky got a pink slip from the Steelers two years ago, and he’s worked for the Broncos and Raiders since.

Joe’s sniffed around on Ligashesky and his firing seemed to be welcomed by Steelers fans after the ’09 season. But that hardly means much to Joe. Clearly, Ligashesky knows what winning football looks like and adds more NFL experience — and another ring — to the Greg Schiano regime.

Joe will raise a cold one in hopes Ligashesky can at least figure out who the Bucs’ best returner options are. Joe’s not sure that happened last year.

Injury-prone and trouble-prone cornerback Aqib Talib seemingly had a warm and fuzzy meeting with Greg Schiano recently, so reports TampaBay.com Bucs beat writer Rick Stroud.

No word on whether Talib liked Schiano’s swag or called him “Dawg.”

Schiano held court with reporters at the NFL combine in Indianapolis this afternoon, where Schiano talked a bit about the Talib meeting and expounded on his brand of discipline.

“So if you make the expectations clear, then discipline really isn’t discipline, it’s a choice. You knew if you did this, everything is cool and if you don’t, there’s going to be consequences. That, to me, is not that complicated. But you have to make sure you’re very, very clear on what it is your expectations are,’ Schiano said.

If Joe were a defensive head coach like Schiano, Joe also would be eager to give Talib a fresh look. The guy’s in the last year of a relatively inexpensive contract, and Schiano doesn’t have much to lose. He can always cut Talib. Plus it’s not like the Bucs have anyone — right now — that’s close to Talib’s league on the bench.

When the Bucs hired Rutgers coach Greg Schiano to replace jettisoned coach Raheem Morris, it was rumored that Schiano was going to bring in a lot of college coaches to round out his staff.

And while some like Tim Ryan invoked the name of Bobby Petrino at this news, ESPN’s Pat Yasinskas is of the mind this tactic may not be a bad move by Schiano.

The Bucs haven’t officially announced their full staff of assistants yet, but it has been widely reported that Schiano has hired at least six coaches that were on Rutgers’ staff with him last year. It also was reported that he has hired P.J. Fleck, who had just left Rutgers to become offensive coordinator at Northern Illinois. So we’ll say Schiano is bringing seven assistants that were with him at Rutgers last season. Schiano also has officially hired defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan, who recently had been hired for the same job at Ohio State.

That’s really not all that unusual. I just took a look back to 2010 when Pete Carroll left Southern California to take over the Seattle Seahawks. He brought eight members of his Southern California staff and hired wide receivers coach Kippy Brown away from Tennessee. So roughly half of Carroll’s first staff, and we’re including strength and conditioning coaches, came from the college ranks.

That’s an interesting take. First off, if Bill Belicheat’s premise about Schiano is accurate, that Schiano will make a good NFL coach because he always produced talent that was prepared to play in the NFL, the same also could be said for some of Schiano’s assistants, no?

Offensive line coach Bob Bostad has produced solid NFL offensive linemen at Wisconsin; Ron Cooper has produced solid NFL defensive backs at LSU.

So if the trait for Schiano of being able to develop NFL talent leads him to be a good NFL coaching candidate, then so should the staff he has handpicked.

Absolutely the Bucs need help — and bodies — in their offensive backfield.

Kregg Lumpkin is, well, Kregg Lumpkin. And Earnest Graham is a free agent coming off a major injury, plus he’s 32 years old. Moises Madu showed he has NFL quickness, but one would think the Bucs can’t count on his effectiveness in 2012.

Today, Tampa Tribune beat scribe eye-RAH! Kaufman floated a possibility of the Bucs looking to running back Michael Bush in free agency. Many will remember when the then Raiders rookie gutted and gashed the Bucs, with DeMarcus Russell at quarterback, to put the exclamation point on the famous December collapse of 2008 and send Chucky off to invent the Fired Football Coaches Association (or whatever he calls his little club).

Kaufman points out that Bush is a weapon out of the backfield.

Bush is a powerful runner who is also a stellar threat as a receiver, averaging 11.3 yards on his 37 receptions last season for the Raiders. In 2010, Bush averaged 10.8 yards per catch. Very few backs in the league can approach that kind of production as a target out of the backfield and Tampa Bay’s new coaching staff might envision Bush as a particularly effective weapon for Josh Freeman on third down.

Joe’s not going to quibble with Kaufman’s evaluation, but Joe must counter with the fact that LeGarrette Blount himself averaged 9.9 yards per pass catch last season on 15 receptions. And that was for an offensive coordinator that clearly didn’t know how to use him effectively and rarely called designed passing plays his way.

Sorry, but Joe’s not convinced Blount can’t catch two or three balls a game and maul guys in the second level on a screen pass. Joe’s of the mind that Blount is one of the least maximized weapons in the NFL.

While Bush would be a welcome presence to push Blount, back him up and serve as a punishing second threat, Joe would love to see the Bucs find a real speed threat out of the backfield, a scatback type, to make the offense more threatening.

Given the possibility that the Bucs could be looking at two holes at cornerback for the 2012 season, Joe has been banging the drum for the Bucs to draft stud LSU cornerback Morris Claiborne with the fifth overall pick.

Well, the Bucs took a step toward such a move last night when the Bucs hired Claiborne’s position coach, LSU secondary coach Ron Cooper, so reports Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times.

Under Cooper, the Tigers’ secondary accounted for 16 interceptions, nine fumble recoveries and 12 forced fumbles. LSU led the nation in turnover margin (+1.69) and ranked fifth in total interceptions with 18.

The Tigers allowed just seven passing touchdowns all season, the fewest by an LSU team since it allowed only five in 1989.

Joe once again begs Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik to land a top flight starting cornerback; draft Claiborne and suddenly the Bucs have a solid if not good pair or corners.

And no, Joe is not holding his breath that troubled Aqib Talib will be on the Bucs’ roster this fall.

Joe recommends checking out solid interview below with the great Derrick Brooks on The Ron and Ian Show on WDAE-AM 620 today.

Brooks, of course, didn’t throw darts at any Bucs personally, but he did explain what was going through his head as he watched the 2011 Bucs. Brooks said the Bucs’ problems were less “about talent” and “more so about a mental approach,” calling some of what he saw “disturbing.”

One great story Brooks shared was a locker room speech from Tony Dungy on accountability during Dungy’s first season in Tampa.

 “The thing about it was when that line was crossed that player was not on this football team. We got the message,” Brooks said. “When that line was crossed in 1996 when he got here, I’ll never forget, he stood in front of our team meeting room/locker room and very sternly said, ‘Some of you guys on this football team will not be here. I wish I could get rid of you tomorrow but financially I can’t. But as soon as I can, I will. And if you’re lookin’ around, it’s probably you.’

“I’ll never forget that speech. And we had a very different football team in 1997.”

Oh, those numbers crunchers at ProFootballFocus.com. They’re at it again.

Now last year under Pat Morris, Joe thought the offensive line made some improvement. Granted, Donald Penn wasn’t his normal self towards the end of the grotesque 10-game losing streak, probably because he knew it was all over.

But Jeremy Trueblood played better than in 2010 and Jeff Faine played OK, probably because for the first time in two years he was able to play the entire season (minus one game). Though the spreadsheet warriors at Pro Football Focus weren’t as impressed as Joe. They decided to break down each team’s offensive line and have ranked the Bucs at No. 23.

23. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (30th)
Run Rank 19th, Pass Rank 21st, Penalties Rank 29th
The Bucs haven’t been short in investing in their offensive line, but for what? How many of their players do you think they can build a line around? While Davin Joseph (-6.8) had one of his better years, it was still below average. Moves like the one for Jeff Faine (-11.4) just haven’t worked out, and they’ve done a poor job in general of drafting talent for this area.
Best Player: He’s not a top tier left tackle, but you could do plenty worse than Donald Penn (+5.4), even if he does give up a bit too much pressure.
Worst Player: Why did the Buccaneers re-sign Jeremy Trueblood (-30.6)? Since his impressive 2008, he’s been terrible, and he had no place playing 962 snaps this year.

Well, if the Bucs offensive line jumped up seven spots from the previous season, yes, that is improvement.

As Joe has written before, if Jeremy Zuttah lands a new contract, it just may trigger some movement on the offensive line.

And no, Joe doesn’t think Davin Joseph is overrated. Far from it, in fact.

Yes, Bucs rockstar general manager Mark Dominik has said the Bucs will be active in free agency this year. And there are three common reactions to that among fans:

1) Duh. The Bucs sign a free agent or two every year. What does that really mean?
2) Hooray!!!
3) Yeah, I’ll believe it when I see it.

Joe understands what generates all those reactions, and Joe would fall into the first group.

There’s been endless speculation from all corners of the country about what the Bucs actually will do when the bell rings on free agency, from big splashes to a lot less, but Joe tunes most of that out. Why? Because nobody knows anything.

However, Joe can’t ignore an interesting choice of words from a preview of tight ends in free agency from the Buccaneers themselves, via Buccaneers.com. Here’s the snippet claiming the Bucs’ brass has a “clear mandate” to spend. 

Still, with a new coaching staff being put in place under Head Coach Greg Schiano and a clear mandate to make use of a favorable free agency spending position, the Buccaneers can’t be considered set at any position. With free agency opening in exactly three weeks, Schiano and company will be poring over 2011 game film, upcoming Combine information and the pro scouts’ evaluation of the pending market, seeking to identify where upgrades can and should be made. Tight end, like every position on the depth chart, is worth examining in regards to the free agent market and how it might affect the Buccaneers’ roster.

Whoa! Last Joe checked, “mandate” carried the following definition from Miriam-Webster: : an authoritative command; especially : a formal order from a superior court or official to an inferior one.

So who’s issuing authoritative commands to spend in free agency at One Buc Palace? Joe suspects only Team Glazer carries such power. Of course, the author of this piece on Buccaneers.com might have mistyped and could now be on an unemployment line as a result, but Joe doubts that’s the case.

It’s going to be very interesting when the bell rings on March 13.

Yeah, the Bucs have major coaching pieces in place and plenty fans have breathed a sigh of relief that the entire Rutgers staff didn’t follow Greg Schiano to Tampa.

But critical holes remain.

Special teams coach, obviously, and quarterbacks coach are huge pieces for the Bucs. Nothing but crickets so far on those fronts, and Joe has to wonder about the quality of candidates still available. Are there really A-list coaches in those areas on the market?

Specifically at quarterback, Joe wonders whether rockstar general manager Mark Dominik and Schiano will learn toward signing a true veteran free agent quarterback to push/mentor/backup Josh Freeman, if they can’t get the caliber of QB coach they desire.

Last season, Dominik was quick to talk about how Alex Van Pelt had a long career and his years of playing experience was an asset for Freeman and, in effect, filled the role of having a veteran player for Freeman to talk to. One has to think Dominik still values that veteran sounding board for Freeman.

Joe knows Steve DeBerg recently resurrected Rex Grossman’s career working with him as a private coach in Tampa. Perhaps DeBerg would be interested? Or perhaps the Bucs go the Donovan McNabb route as Bucs beat writer Roy Cummings suggested?

Regardless, Joe expects/hopes Freeman will have a player or coach by his side that’s taken quite a few snaps in the NFL.

Update: OK, Joe is aware of Randy Melvin as the Bucs’ D-line coach. As former defensive coordinator for B.C. in the CFL, the local paper there initially reported he left for the Dolphins but they’ve since corrected their report.

So Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik confirmed in recent days what many of the football fantasy types have been beating the drum for since Chucky was jettisoned as the Bucs coach: The team will splurge by buying some free agent talent.

Since, Bucs fans have reacted as if Rachel Watson herself was Santa, racing with a wish list to whisper in her ear. Among the presents Bucs fans want Rachel Dominik to bring them is a top-flight wide receiver.

Many — including Joe — thought Dwayne Bowe of the Chiefs would be a good target. But the Chiefs appear to be in the process of slapping Bowe with the dreaded franchise tag.

Now more and more it looks as if the Steelers will lose Mike Wallace in restricted free agency. But if the Bucs would land him, it would cost them the team’s No. 5 pick overall. Now Joe knows Dominik covets draft picks as much as Joe covets the warm, perfumed embrace of a Bucs cheerleader, so this move appears unlikely.

However, if Oklahoma State receiver Justin Blackmon is thought to be worthy of a No. 5 pick — and many believe he certainly is — then Wallace is surely worth a fifth overall pick.

Still, that is a heavy price to pay when the Bucs’ secondary is in dire need of an upgrade. So could it be Dominik has a safer route in mind? It seems eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune believes, yes, Dominik does have another, perhaps better, option available.

That option be the Chargers’ Vincent Jackson, so Kaufman Twittered.

@IKaufmanTrib: If Vincent Jackson hits the free agent market, the Bucs have the resources to land him. The burning question: do they have the inclination?

Jackson is an unrestricted free agent and it doesn’t appear, per reports out of San Diego, that Jackson will be franchised, though that could always change.

Dominik has the house money to play with that would lure Jackson and make San Diego sweat enough to give up on him. And, voila, you have your No. 1 receiver for Josh Freeman.

When Joe was listening to new Bucs defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan (Joe’s such a history geek he has already corrected himself typing “Phil Sheridan”), Joe came away impressed that Sheridan believes the Friday the 13th-like slashing of the Bucs defense by opponents last year is correctable.

The Bucs defense gave up so many big plays last year, especially during the grotesque 10-game losing streak, Joe lost count because by the time the game was over, Joe laid in a fetal position on his leather couch, well into a bottle of Bushmills.

The Bucs’ official Twitter — Joe assumes it is multimedia guru Scott Smith at the keyboard — typed out a paraphrase of Sheridan’s take on the ugly Bucs defense of 2011.

@TBBuccaneers: New DC Bill Sheridan has reviewed Bucs film from 2011 and says the big-play problems are correctable with technique and scheme.

Imagine! Scheme and technique can cure these ills!

Look, Joe knows that for whatever reason, jettisoned Bucs coach and defensive coordinator Raheem Morris lost this team last year. One reason could have been the following:

Joe has harped on this for a couple of years now, but the Bucs game after game were not prepared. Whether that was because of an ill-conceived gameplan or simply not ample preparation during game week (or both), Joe isn’t sure.

To his credit, Morris in 2010 was able to adjust on the fly and the defense always seemed to play better late in games than in the first half. Having your heads handed to you to start a game each and every week, Joe could imagine how players might begin to tune out a coach’s words.

Shoot, Bill Walsh would have struggled to have a winning record if his defense got lit up at the start of virtually each game.

Sheridan could go a long way to fixing the Bucs’ porous defense by doing one simple thing: having the team prepared to play when the ball is kicked off on Sundays.

Is that too much to ask?