OK, if everything works out, the Bucs have their quarterback (Josh Freeman) and he has his toys to throw to (Kellen Winslow, Arrelious Benn, Mike Williams, Sammie Stroughter) behind an average to above average offensive line.

But what about the running backs? Raheem the Dream seems to be OK with his stable of running backs, per the Mad Twitterer of the St. Petersburg Times.

“There’s always an opportunity at running back because you get the ball so much and you get to show so many things,’’ Morris said. “You get to show your ability to catch the ball a little bit during seven-on-seven. This time of year, you don’t get to see them in pads, which is always kind of a downfall. It’s always kind of a guess.

“Last year, we addressed it with Kareem Huggins. We got him in here and he was in the hopper all year for us and really played well.’’

But the Bucs did not really address the position after the draft, either. They signed Clemson fullback Redrick Taylor after a tryout in rookie minicamp.

Joe wrote this week about Earnest Graham, who Joe loves. Sure, Graham may not have the worn tread on his tires like some running backs, but he is 30, which is an old man in NFL running back age.

Cadillac Williams, a clear fan favorite and someone Joe admires, is playing on two surgically repaired knees. Every time he runs the ball around the right tackle Joe holds his breath.

Derrick Ward is still very much a question mark after a big free agent signing. Joe knows for a fact that a Bucs official in the highest reaches of One Buc Palace was not happy that Bucs offensive coordinator Greg Olson didn’t use Ward as much as some front office types wanted him to touch the ball.

Clifton Smith, let’s be honest, is a return man. He puts the ball on the ground way too much to deserve many carries, which is why Chucky didn’t like him at running back.

Now Joe’s not saying the Bucs running backs stink. What Joe is saying is that he isn’t overly confident the Bucs have a deep, solid running attack.

Bucs beat scribe Woody Cummings, of The Tampa Tribune, has served up a possible explanation why blocking icon Michael Clayton remains on the Bucs roster, even after the Bucs tried to trade him and after Mark Dominik and Raheem The Dream seem to have eliminated his name from their vocabularies.

Cummings says money is likely a big reason.

The fact wide receiver Michael Clayton wasn’t among those let go left many shaking their heads in wonderment. There is, however, a logical explanation for why Clayton still is and probably will be a Buccaneer through the 2010 season.

Quite simply, the Bucs still owe Clayton a lot of money. The contract Clayton signed in 2009 included $10.5 million in guaranteed payouts. At this stage, it’s far too early to accept a loss on that investment.

Joe chuckled after reading that last sentence by Cummings. Joe’s pretty sure the Bucs have already realized “a loss on that investment.”  To be fair, Cummings went on in his story to say the Clayton deal might be one of the “greatest blunders” of Dominik’s tenure.

Per the USA Today salary database, largely considered quite accurate, the blocking icon fleeced the Bucs for just over $7.5 million last year. That leads Joe to believe the Bucs are on the hook for another $3 million.

Now Joe knows that Team Glazer announced “money will never be an issue” when building the Bucs. So it’s hard to believe that Mark Dominik would consider something as trivial as $3 million when determining how to best craft his roster for 2010.

Never would Dominik consider keeping the blocking icon around when valuable reps and game experience could go to younger receivers. Right?

Surely, there must be more to Clayton still being around than money. Worrying about money is not part of Team Glazer’s plan.

Clifton Smith calls former Buccaneer Warrick Dunn his mentor

Joe’s written many times about the troubling lack of leadership on the Bucs, which is magnified by the team getting younger and the brass openly relying on rookies to turn around the club.

Raheem The Dream expounded on the leadership issue last week (only written about on JoeBucsFan.com).

Former Bucccaneer defensive end Steve White, a JoeBucsFan.com analyst, addressed leadership on The Fabulous Sports Babe Show on 1040 AM yesterday. He expressed that the Bucs might be relying too much on coaches to take on the hands-on role of mentoring often reserved for veteran players.

“It just happens. Leaders show up when it matters. Leaders are those guys who show up and produce. Leaders are going to develop,” White said. “The coach can tell you how to do something, but can he really show you? When Arrelious Benn and Michael Williams have trouble in the middle of the year. Who are they going to turn to?  When [Brian] Price and [[Gerald]McCoy hit a wall and the media’s on them. Where do they go?….Where are the shoulders that these guys are going to lean on?”

White shared his memories of defensive tackle Booger McFarland being a student of Brad Culpepper before emerging as a starter with 6 1/2 sacks in his second season.

White shared similar concern for Josh Freeman not having a veteran to turn to.

Ironically, in another great video interview on Buccaneers.com posted yesterday, Clifton Smith talked about his career goals and his mentor.

“I also want to also be able to stay in this league 10 years plus. You know, have the succesful career. You know, my mentor, Warrick Dunn. I want to pretty much [model] my career after his.” Smith said. 

From those comments, it’s obvious Dunn clearly influenced Smith during his stunning breakout rookie season in 2008.

Joe wishes the 2009 rookies had the advantage of a Warrick Dunn type at their respective positions.

Team Glazer must not be in the financial peril that some believe.

Manchester United, their beloved kickball team, will not play in Tampa during their summer tour of the United States in July. And considering Team Glazer would reap nearly every penny from what would surely be a near sell out of the C.I.T.S., Joe can only assume Team Glazer is not hurting for cash.  

After Team Glazer bought Manchester United five years ago,  it was speculated the kickball team wouldn’t play preseason summer games in Tampa because it’s so ungodly hot here that training and playing here would be a burden.

But that argument goes out the window now that the team will play exhibitions against Major League Soccer teams in Houston, Philadelphia and Kansas City in July. The K.C. game was a real kicker for Joe. It’s ridiculously hot and humid there, too, and the game is scheduled for 6 p.m., not even a night game.

There’s no doubt Manchester United playing in Tampa would have brought a windfall of tourists to the area and just gobs of cash to Team Glazer.  The team’s following and allure is that large. … Don’t they realize how many $8 beers Euro soccer fans would drink?

Joe thinks it stinks that the Glazers didn’t make a game happen for the Tampa Bay area. But Joe also has to think it’s a good sign for the Bucs that Team Glazer doesn’t need the many millions in ticket revenue and concessions that a Manchester United would have generated here.

Joe understands fans don’t give a rat’s rear end about non-football related front office moves, such as the Bucs hiring a new media relations director. The only reason Joe ran a story was he thought it was interesting that Team Glazer hired a seasoned GOP operative to replace the departed Jeff Kamis.

And no, Joe’s not anti-GOP.

The reason for today’s post was a small story Joe would like to share with Bucs fans. It seems for the Green Bay game last season, Kamis denied credentials to the notorious Jack Bauer.

As one can imagine, Bauer did not sulk in his CTU bunker over the rejection. As the photo details below, Bauer doesn’t take “no” very well, and, well, the result was not one of Kamis’ career highlights.

It seems to Joe that quite a few people are putting a lot of pressure already on rookie wide receivers Mike Williams (19) and Arrelious Benn (17) with lofty expectations.

Surfing last night it’s apparent to many scribes that Bucs rookie wide receivers Arrelious Benn and Mike Williams will start for the Bucs this season.

Mind you, these guys haven’t even put on pads yet and they’ve yet to face any Bucs player not a rookie, much less any NFL foe.

Vacation Man ,of Stalinist BSPN.com, also is joining in the chorus. He believes, unless something drastic happens, Benn, Williams and Stroughter will be the opening week starters at wide receiver.

Let’s go beyond the first-round picks. Let’s go beyond the biggest name in the NFC South draft class (Jimmy Clausen) because some of those guys might not start right away and some play positions where you won’t hear a lot from them. Let’s turn to Tampa Bay receiver Arrelious Benn, a second-round draft pick. Heck, let’s also throw in Tampa Bay receiver Mike Williams, a fourth-round pick.

Barring a totally disastrous training camp from either one of these guys, I see this tandem as Tampa Bay’s starters on opening day. If Benn and Williams can even come close to grasping the playbook by September, their physical talents make them better than Michael Clayton and Maurice Stovall.

Throw them out there with Sammie Stroughter as the slot receiver and you have a group of receivers that’s incredibly young. But it’s also a very talented group that could make a lot of noise.

Joe is as geeked as the next Bucs fan that Mark Dominik drafted these two receivers. But it’s starting to frighten Joe that so many people are expecting so much from these two and it’s still early May.

Can’t we give these guys some breathing room and allow them to ease into their new gigs rather than forcing them into a starting position?

Pete Prisco, of CBSSports.com, spent time studying how Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan studies the game. The result was an excellent feature story.

And it seems that while Josh Freeman has been the Bucs’ offseason workaholic, he’s just keeping up with Ryan, as both quarterbacks try to get to Drew Brees’ level in the NFC South.

Prisco picked several film breakdowns from Ryan to highlight, one in which he praised helmet-wielding Aqib Talib.

“Talib gets beat,” Ryan said as the play unfolds. “That’s beat in the NFL, even if it doesn’t look like it. It’s there. If the ball lands three feet that way, it’s a touchdown. All in all, it’s not a bad throw. But with that coverage, it has to be more precise.”

Talib, who Ryan raves about, tips the ball away at the last second. Incomplete pass.

“If the ball is right here, he might catch it,” Ryan said as he points to the spot. “That should have been a touchdown.”

Ryan said the key to deciphering the Bucs coverage is no different than with any other team. The keys are the safeties. They usually dictate the coverage, although changes in the NFL game have made it tougher.

Ryan went on to reveal trends in the Bucs’ defense as it relates to using Ronde Barber.

Interesting stuff.

Joe hopes somebody e-mails the story to Freeman in hopes of him getting even more fired up to be the best he can be.

For those who have yet to see it, the Buccaneers have re-designed their Web site.

Joe’s still getting used to the change. Joe’s lukewarm to it right now. But frankly, as long Scott Smith and the Bucs continue to turn out top notch video (which they do compared to most teams) Joe will cotinue to find it to be an excellent site.

One thing missing from the new site are fan message boards. The well used fan hub was shut down today at noon, per a notice posted by the team.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have joined with the NFL to create an exciting new website. In addition to the new website, a new message board is being created that will launch this fall.

The current message board will be taken down on Thursday, May 6th at noon.

We encourage all of our message board fans to join us on our official Facebook page until we launch the new message board later in the year.

Joe was quite surprised by the move. Why shut it down? Why stifle the voices of the fans?

As a pretty tech savvy guy, Joe knows that the current message board could have continued easily while the new one is developed.

Perhaps the Bucs prefer fans spend more time leaving comments on JoeBucsFan.com? Though that seems rather doubtful considering the prevalent anger in those ranks.

Joe looks forward to seeing the Bucs new mesage board. And Joe plans to launch his own before the season.

Putting moves on an NFL tackling dummy is one thing for rookie Brian Price. Putting moves on an NFL guard will be quite another.

Joe is somewhat excited about the Bucs coming off the draft. This means the NFL, and the Bucs, have done their job.

An indirect result of all the hype surrounding the NFL draft is to get NFL fans worked up for the coming season. Largely, it’s an annual success story and it has worked on Joe as well.

While Joe has high hopes — key word there, “hopes” — for the 2010 campaign, reality slowly tends to creep back into focus.

It seems eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune isn’t buying the draft hype. It appears he has believes expectations for the Bucs are lower than last season, so he wrote on the TBO.com Bucs Twitter feed.

A year ago, the over-under number on Buccaneer victories was 6.5. I have to think the number for the 2010 season will be in the 5 range.

Sadly, Twitter limits posts to 140 characters, so Kaufman couldn’t go into detail what leads him to believe this.

Joe was asked yesterday by a highly-prominent, highly-visible media outlet to help put together a Bucs season preview. Joe doesn’t know if he’s at liberty to release who assigned Joe this project (no, it’s not the Bristol Bolsheviks), but Joe will announce where it can be read at the appropriate time.

In the preview Joe worked on last night, he came to the realization that the Bucs seem to be putting a lot of hopes and, in turn, pressure, on their rookie defensive tackles and wide receivers, which may be unfair to the rookies.

Let’s be honest; how many rookies step off a college campus onto an NFL practice field and excel right away? Not many.

For the Bucs to expect four to do so is pushing their luck, at least for this season, at least for the immediate future.

Of course, Joe hopes all four rookies are studs right away. But Joe can see where and how Kaufman is coming to his conclusion.

To expect four rookies not to have a learning curve, well, that’s likely wishful thinking.

One of the true good guys on the Buccaneers, Earnest Graham, is in full community-service mode during the offseason.

Though he lives in the Tampa area now, Graham not only works on charitible efforts in the Bay area but around his hometown of Fort Myers, as well. His foundation, Earnest Giving, hosts a huge annual weekend event in Cape Coral. And Graham recruits many Buccaneers to give a full 24 hours of community service.

The foundation largely supports children with cancer. In previous years, Graham has supported performing arts programs for kids, in addition to other causes.

This year’s festivities kickoff on Friday, May 14. Graham will lead 15 or so Buccaneers in a charity basketball game at Mariner High School in Cape Coral.

Graham expects the roughly 1,000-seat gymnasium to sell out. Then the players will head to a Cape Coral night club for an 11 p.m. party. After that, Graham will have the guys up early Saturday to visit children with cancer, and then they’ll head to a local bowling alley for the Roll With Earnest celebrity bowling event at 1 p.m.

You can get all the details here, fans can attend all the events at very reasonable prices.

Joe talked to Graham about the big charity weekend and, of course, about Bucs football. Graham shed some light on the Bucs’ draft picks, playing fullback and the impact of Kareem Huggins, and more.

Joe: Tell me about the Friday night festivities you have planned around this celebrity basketball game. Which Buccaneers are any good at hoops?

Earnest Graham: Football guys want to be basketball players. We’re always up for a basketball game. It’s very similar to last year. It’ll be celebrities against high school alumni, and a post-party to benefit the foundation. Josh Johnson is a ridiculous athlete. We all want to see him play again. Tanard [Jackson] can play. Clifton [Smith’s] good. (laughs) That’s about it. … I just stay on the bench pretty much. …Let the other guys play.

Joe: Most players raise money for charity with a golf tournament or just one event. This is a pretty big commitment to get a lot of your teammates involved over two days and outside of Tampa. How does that go over with them?

Graham: A lot of the guys on the Bucs are very focused off the field. And they know my commitment level off the field.  So I expect a lot. I take good care of them and put them up at a resort. I’m very grateful for the commtiment. This year it’ll be about 15 guys. We’re still confirming. It’ll be a good number. …I get the sponsors to help take care of them. This year it’s pretty much 24 hours full of events. It’s such a huge deal in [Southwest Florida] because it’s not everyday that the Buccaneers are around. There’s a lot of excitement around this from the Bucs fans there. 

Joe: I know you’re an excellent bowler. Tell me about the Saturday bowling event.

Graham: That’s definitely the event that’s more personal. Bowlers will get to win a raffle to pick what celebrity they bowl with. And [the spectators] will have chances for autographs. … A guy like Cadillac Williams is someone who will really take the time with people.

Joe: So, are you the Bucs starting fullback coming into camp? Have you been told that by the coaches?

Graham: I wouldn’t say that. And I can’t really answer that. You know, I know right now I’m a guy who can play all over the place, run the ball. No question. The more I’m involved, the better.

Joe: How was your play evaluated at fullback after the season? Did you get all positive feedback?

Graham: They were happy with me playing the fullback position. I never trained to be a fullback. It was something that I had to do.

Joe: Have you trained differently this offseason knowing that you could become the starting fullback? Have worked on getting bigger or stronger, anything specific to prepare yourself?

Graham: I naturally sort of that type of fullback build — short, sturdy, stocky. So not really anything specific that I’ll be doing. I don’t know that I’d ever be a goal line guy, a Lorenzo Neal type of fullback. In our offense, now that we’re running more of a West Coast attack, there’s an opportunity for me to catch a number of passes and really make the offense more unpredictable. So a team won’t know if I’m in as a fullback or going to split out wide or come right out of the backfield. I can really help the team in that kind of role.

Joe: You said on the radio that you might be training in the spring with Kareem Huggins, when you resume your workouts. Have you two gotten together yet?

Graham: We haven’t. I’ve been staying in shape but pretty much resting up because of my toe injury I had at the end of the year. I really wanted to wait and make sure that was 100 percent. I’m really targeting the OTAs coming up. That’ll be my definite time leading up to the season; I’ll go hard from May to July.

Joe: Regarding Kareem Huggins, Coach Morris recently called Huggins “the driving force or our football team.” Can you explain how that is and what the coach means there, considering Huggins didn’t really see the field? Is that just his effort on the scout team?

Graham: Kareem’s an energy guy. A very high effort guy. Someone who gives 100 percent in practice. I would say he was the only guy like that. Sammie Stroughter is like that as well. Chris Pressley does that as well, bringing a physical presence to the practice field every day. Kareem finishes all his runs. He really out there making it tough on the defense by giving them a great look in practice. It’s very hard for the defense, very hard to match Kareem’s energy and tempo during practice. For the defense, you get to a game situation and it’s probably slower than the pace Kareems at in practice. He’s been a huge asset to the football team. He’s made our defense better. 

Joe: Obviously, the Bucs will come to camp in a much more stable, familiar situation than last year. Will that continuity really make a difference?

Graham: It’s a huge deal. Years past, the years I was under Gruden, we changed quarterbacks a lot. Whether it was Chris Simms, Brian Griese, Bruce Gradkowski, Jeff Garcia, Griese … that’s hard on a football team even with the same coaching staff. And then last year…the league is tough enough, and then you throw all those changes in. It’s tough on a football team, especially a young football team. ….It has to help, going in knowing what you’re going to get, knowing who the quarterback is. It should translate on the field.

Joe:  Did you watch the draft? What’s your take on the Bucs’ picks?

Graham: I definitely paid attention to the first couple of picks on TV. I think, as with every draft and every team, it will depend on the leadership on our football team. That will dictate what these players will become and when. Every team has a draft and there’s a lot of hype, but after the draft is over it gets back to football really quick. We have to establish our leadership and chemistry on the team for these players and this team to be successful quickly. The envrionment in the locker room will dictate that. We know everyone who gets drafted is talented.

Joe: So what about leadership? It seems almost like the Bucs don’t have that leadership in place yet. Coach Morris recently talked about leaders needing to emerge. When might that happen?

Graham: It just happens. You can’t script it. Leaders show up when it matters. Leaders are those guys who show up and produce. Leaders are going to develop. We’re a young football team.

Like all real men, Joe has the NFL Network and watches it daily, religiously. But Joe knows there are some (wo)men who don’t have the NFL Network.

You know, the same kind of men who regularly watch “The View” and “Dancing With The Stars?”

To that end, Joe pities them to a certain degree (hey, the last three residences Joe has had, he didn’t think about moving in/buying the place until he first confirmed he could get DirecTV/NFL Sunday Ticket/the NFL Network. So people who whine like women that the local evil cable syndicate, Out House Networks, shakes down and holds innocent yet naive football fans hostage have only themselves to blame. Who exactly forced you to live in an Out House?) so Joe offers this recent NFL Network interview with Raheem the Dream.

In a curious yet unique view, Raheem the Dream notes that firing former offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski before the 2009 season began and scraping the horrid Jim Bates Experiment midway through the 2009 campaign actually put the Bucs rebuilding process “three years ahead” of schedule.

(Tip o’ the hat to Anwar Richardson of the Tampa Tribune.)

In the following NBCSports.com video, the lovely Tiffany Simons and Gregg Rosenthal discuss rookie wide receivers and fantasy football. A discussion about the Bucs wide receivers as a whole takes place midway through the report.

Joe has several new readers since last football season, so Joe will write once again he’s not a fantasy football guy. Nothing against it, just Joe’s idea of “fantasy” has absolutely nothing to do with football but everything to do with Rachel Watson, a secluded, tropical isle and copious amounts of adult beverages.

Speaking of fantasies, Joe was of the belief that Simons was once a Florida State cheerleader. Joe came to this conclusion after some rigorous research of Ms. Simons, a former Miss Florida finalist.

Alas, Joe had his bubble burst when Joe chatted with Rosenthal at Super Bowl media day in South Florida in February. Rosenthal, though intrigued with the prospect of Simons frolicking in a some skimpy cheerleader number, informed Joe that, in fact, Simons was not a cheerleader at Florida State (sigh).

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Seventh-round pick Erik Lorig might get a look on offense

The guy standing around in uniform doing nothing in the various video clips of Bucs rookie minicamp was Erik Lorig, the Bucs’ final seventh round pick.

The defensive end out of Stanford is sidelined with a pectoral injury.

Woody Cummings, veteran Bucs beat writer for the Tampa Tribune, did a little digging into Lorig’s status and found that he not only might he be out of action for a long time, the Bucs don’t see him playing much, if any, defensive end this season and are considering him at tight end.

His days playing on the offensive side of the ball might not be over. Though the Bucs see him working primarily as a defensive lineman, they haven’t ruled out the possibility of using Lorig as a tight end on occasion.

“You are talking about a guy who played tight end for years,” Bucs coach Raheem Morris said. “You only get 45 guys on game day, so who knows, he may actually show up and play a little tight end for us at some point.”

At this point, the 6-foot-4, 281-pound Lorig would be happy to play anywhere. That pectoral problem has the potential to rob him of his rookie season, which probably would sour the Bucs a bit, too.

For you bottom-of-the-roster fans, Lorig’s presence probably isn’t a good sign for Ryan Purvis, the Bucs tight end on the practice squad nearly all of last season. Purvis told Joe last year that he’s more of a pass catcher than a blocker. And it would seem that the Bucs are more in need of the blocking type.

Also, Lorig’s injury probably gives undrafted free agent defensive end James Ruffin a better shot to make the team.

Joe isn’t sure there is a much nicer guy than former Bucs quarterback Shaun King. Joe has dealt with him several times, both as a Bucs quarterback and a high school offensive coordinator.

(True story: King nearly spit on Joe once on the sidelines in the middle of a game. It was in error; Joe almost walked into the line of fire, in so many words. King profusely apologized but Joe was laughing so hard at the near miss, King then too broke out laughing.)

So it was a bit surprising to Joe to hear King mock embattled Bucs wide receiver and blocking icon Michael Clayton yesterday. King, now a budding media star and blogger, co-hosts a radio show on WQYK-AM 1010 with Toby David called “King David.” (Hey guys, as Harvey Korman once famously said in Blazing Saddles, “Too Jewish.”)

The duo entertained St. Petersburg Times Bucs beat writer Stephen Holder and the subject turned to the Bucs passing game, specifically rookie wide receivers Arrelious Benn and Mike Williams. After some discussion, King stated, “Don’t forget Michael Clayton.”

Catching the sarcasm, Holder had a nervous snicker, being careful not say something out of turn, thus potentially having Clayton cut off Holder’s precious access to him, and acknowledged King’s one-liner when King busted out laughing.

This is the level that Clayton’s career has sunk: Not only have the Bucs drafted two wide receivers with high draft picks and all but announced the two will be given every opportunity to start, but a guy without a bad bone in his body has mocked Clayton on the public airwaves no less.

There are certain hot-button issues with Bucs fans that are sure to get a reaction; positive or negative.

Raheem the Dream, English kickball and blocking icon Michael Clayton will certainly get a quick response from Bucs fans. Nothing else needs to be said. Just mention those subjects, and the words flow.

Another subject is Barrett Ruud.

There is no question that Ruud is a great guy. Pleasant, polite, down-to-earth. That’s not the issue. Ruud at times flashes brilliance on the field. His downfield interception at Chicago playing bump-and-run coverage on a wide receiver in 2008 was one of the greatest plays by a linebacker Joe has ever seen.

The second half of that season, Ruud virtually disappeared. Even he admitted it to Joe prior to the 2009 season noting he was trying to figure out why his numbers dipped.

Last year Ruud became a focal point of sorts to the horrifying disaster that was the Jim Bates Experiment. Ruud, more often than not, looked like a man trying to chase down his frightened Labrador after it had broken loose from its leash. Rarely was Ruud seen stopping a ballcarrier within the second or first level. Often, Ruud was trying to run down ballcarriers from behind.

Many fans began calling Ruud out, probably unfairly, for holding out in offseason workouts in a contract dispute, thus, being unprepared for the wretched Jim Bates Experiment, thus leading to woeful play.

Off the field and on paper, Ruud had a wonderful season, racking up a lot of tackles. Critics rolled up that same paper, threw it in the trash, popped a DVR recording of a Bucs game and pointed out that as a middle linebacker, Ruud should have shed blocks better and made tackles in the box more, not at the third level.

Other fans felt sorry for Ruud, pointing the finger instead at the Bucs terrible play up front on defense. This premise was reinforced when newly created rock star and current Bucs general manager Mark Dominik drafted two defensive tackles with his first two picks in last month’s draft.

Regardless of why Ruud had a subpar season, eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune blogs that this year is a pivitol year for Ruud, both on and off the field.

Tampa Bay’s 26-year-old middle linebacker found himself under siege after a 3-13 season, with many Buc fans accusing Ruud of making too many stops considerably past the line of scrimmage. As one of the hundreds of potential unrestricted free agents who found themselves still tied to their existing clubs in March because of clauses in the labor agreement, Ruud became a restricted free agent still seeking a long-term deal.

Although only San Francisco’s Patrick Willis boasted more tackles in 2009, Ruud needs to show Buc management he is unquestionably a core player as the Bucs continue to rebuild. According to team statistics, Ruud made only two stops for losses in 2009. Couple that with only one interception and one forced fumble and it’s clear that Ruud needs to generate more impact plays on a young defense.

With the addition of rookie defensive tackles Gerald McCoy and Brian Price, the Bucs should receive more of a push up front, occupying blockers and helping Ruud to make more plays in the backfield. Everyone on a 3-13 team has much to prove, but Ruud is under particular scrutiny before the Bucs decide whether he merits a long-term commitment.

It will be interesting to Joe to see how or if Ruud’s play improves with the acquisition of defensive tackles Gerald McCoy and Brian Price. Anyone knows that it helps a linebacker to have solid players up front, thus keeping bodies off of the linebacker.

Despite this, it does make Joe wonder how a middle linebacker, no matter how subpar the play up front was, could only have two tackles for a loss in a 16-game season.

As far as Ruud’s contract, Joe believes Ruud just might get compensated fairly by Team Glazer, so long as Ruud’s play on the field improves.

A while back on the JoeBucsFan.com Radio Network, former Buccaneer defensive end Steve White talked about how the mainstream media has gone rather TMZ these days.

A product of the print journalism ranks, Joe likes to give his colleagues the benefit of the doubt most of the time, but the way the local MSM has handled the Jermaine Phillips case saddens Joe.

The newspapers and TV talking heads were quick to prominently trumpet Phillips’ arrest in January after an alleged attempt to strangle his wife in their Westchase home. Now, several days after Joe reported the case was closed, the MSM has yet to issue even a two paragraph brief on the subject.  

That’s just wrong. If reporting the arrest is newsworthy, then it’s equally newsworthy to report the outcome.

Joe’s partners at WDAE-AM 620 reported the news, as did Joe. So the information was out there and consumed by tens of thousands.

Joe hopes his colleagues do the right thing in the coming hours.

"Look, this guy's worth the money."

With the help of former George W. Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer, Team Glazer sought a power player to run its Bucs media relations operation and has found a true professional to deliver the team message.

His name is Jonathan Grella, and he seems to be from the pit bull school of Beltway relations, having worked for Tom DeLay and played Republican strategist on CNN.

And Tom DeLay’s former spokesman Jonathan Grella had such a forceful, tackling-esque personality himself that when he was employed by the then-House speaker, his email address was aggressive@mail.house.gov. (That’s no joke.)

More recently, Grella, a popular fixture on the D.C. social scene (especially when donning his trademark captain’s hat) was working in the private sector on energy issues. Still, he’d been interested in the “intersection of sports and PR for awhile,” he told POLITICO. And with the help of his pal, former Bush White House press secretary Ari Fleischer, Grella got the gig with the Buccaneers.

On the surface, it might seem like the Bucs hired a fully-armed guard to protect their cone of silence and effectively channel the team’s rebuilding message, but Joe sees Grella as a great savvy veteran who can teach Raheem The Dream; Grella’s a former college professor.

Joe suspects the head coach just got a hell of a lot better in front of the microphone. So the upcoming season surely won’t be as much fun.

Though considering Grella describes himself as “aggressive,” and he’s a Republican, Joe suspects nobody will censor Raheem to stop him from saying “violent” this year.

One of the smartest moves in Joe’s eyes that Bucs general manager Mark Dominik made after the draft was to sign former Florida State/North Alabama wide receiver/running back/return specialist Preston Parker.

Joe had previously described him as a poor man’s Dexter McCluster. Had Parker not done stupid stuff — he got tossed off Florida State’s squad for, among other silly things, not putting the one-hitter down — perhaps Parker would have been spoken in the same conversations as McCluster.

Parker was a star on Florida State’s emerging offense under Jimbo Fisher, and at the time he was really the only offensive weapon that Seminoles opponents were really concerned about.

Then Parker got tossed off the team by iconic coach Bobby Bowden and Parker was mired at North Alabama, hardly the same level of competition of, say, the Crimson Tide.

It seems the Bucs were impressed enough with Parker during rookie minicamp that he caught Raheem the Dream’s eye, per the TBO.com Bucs report blog (hey Aaron Knox, Joe didn’t give anyone credit because you didn’t publish the name of whoever uploaded the story).

“He showed some good things, made a nice grab today, ran a couple of really good routes,’’ Morris said of Parker. “He’s been a professional since he’s been in our building and he’s one of those guys that you want to get a little more of an in-depth look at.’’

Signing Parker was a very smart, very, very low risk and potentially high-reward move by Dominik. Right now, even though he just finished playing Division II football, Joe isn’t so sure Parker doesn’t offer as much as some receivers already on the roster.

Former Bucs QB Jeff Carlson

By JEFF CARLSON
JoeBucsFan.com analyst

Former Bucs quarterback Jeff Carlson (1990 & 1991) writes The QB Blast column here at JoeBucsFan.com. Joe is ecstatic to have him firing away. Carlson is often seen as a color analyst on Bright House Sports Network, and he trains quarterbacks of all ages via his company, America’s Best Quarterback.

This time a year ago the Bucs were just getting organized with their new coaches, players and draft picks. New philosophies were being put in place under the new head coach and new offensive Coordinator, Jeff Jagodzinski.

Last spring we were told the Bucs’ offense would be run- and play-action heavy with their solid offensive line and strong stable of runners to complement either veteran quarterback Luke McCown or Byron Leftwich. We were also told rookie first round pick Josh Freeman would spend 2009 learning from the sidelines.

We all know those plans changed dramatically when Raheem Morris turned over the coordinating duties to Greg Olson just before the first kickoff. That wasn’t the reason for the horrible start, but it didn’t help. And the best intentions of leaving Freeman on the bench to learn turned out to be a “baptism by fire” after just seven games.

After taking on the task of offensive design and play-calling, Olson turned the team back to his comfort zone and to the previous regime’s influence, but all I could differentiate was a little less of the pre-snap running around that Gruden was so fond of and was mostly show anyway.

That pre-snap motion is hoped to expose the coverage, but as one long-term player under Gruden said to me, “It just made us tired before the play.”

Losing a lot of that nonsense was a step forward for the current offense. A young QB’s head is already swimming with thoughts at the line of scrimmage, trying to figure out what the defense is planning. And the more movement before getting set gives him less time to figure out if he wants to audible and what to audible to before the play clock runs out.

Another thing that needs to change from that offense is the extensive wording. While some of the running plays are called simply enough, the passing game verbiage is ridiculous. 

If you watched  “Gruden’s QB Camp” on ESPN recently, Gruden disparaged Colt McCoy’s southern accent, saying no one would be able to understand the extensive play call with his current accent.

I learned multiple pro offenses, including the 3-digit system that many teams are still regularly winning with (Chargers and Cardinals among others), and none of them sounded anything like Gruden’s — “Flip Right Double X Jet 36 Counter Naked Waggle at 7, X Corner. Heads-up for a 358 Cannon Check on 1.”

We know that football teams aren’t overflowing with rocket scientists in the first place, and players also haven’t spent years and years in the same system, nor do they spend the same amount of time in their dark “laboratories” studying film like their coaching staffs.  In fact, players are much more likely to be coming in for the night at 4:17 AM, not firing up the video reel of third-down blitzes like Gruden does.

Although relatively good things should be expected from the Bucs’ running back contingent in 2010, last year’s run-oriented plan didn’t work out as well as hoped and this group still lacks a homerun threat.

This team is now squarely on the big, young shoulders and arm of Josh Freeman and the focus should shift to where the biggest plays will come next year and that is through the air. 

To maximize that effort, Olson would do well to simplify the verbiage and pre-snap movement of whatever his offense morphs into. That will benifit his star QB and his potential star rookie wideouts.

Joe admits it. He’s intrigued by Rendrick Taylor, the versatile, athletic manbeast fullback the Bucs signed yesterday along with four other guys out of their recent rookie minicamp.

Tom Balog, beat writer for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, explained the Bucs’ fascination with Taylor on Saturday. 

Watching the 6-foot-2, 274-pound Clemson player being tried out as a fulltback and tight end, move around Saturday through special team drills, you wonder how he got here … as a tryout player. 

You can get look at big No. 45 late in this video from Buccaneers.com.

And Joe’s been doing some digging. WBTW-TV in South Carolina reported that while Taylor is listed as a fullback on the Bucs’ roster, he played receiver, tight end, linebacker and running back at Clemson.  And Joe talked to a Clemson official on Monday who didn’t want his name published, who said that Taylor is “a rare athlete who needs to stay in one position and get some great coaching.

Taylor also was injured throughout his college career, including missing the entire 2008 season.

Surely, all those injuries dropped his draft stock.

Joe has no clue what the future holds for Rendrick. But Joe imagines a 274-pound fullback with his kind of athleticism could do some damage on 3rd-and-1.

The Buccaneers are really working hard to promote their young draft picks.

Joe can’t blame the Bucs for thrusting them into the spotlight. From a marketing standpoint — and a winning standpoint – the Bucs need these guys prepared for high expectations.

In honor of the draft picks, the good folks at Buccaneers.com have launched a new “Who is?” series.

Joe really enjoyed the Scott Smith interview of wide receiver Mike Williams. The rookie dropped the interesting nugget that his mother is his mentor and she taught him how to play football and was a player herself.

Williams also continued to discredit the media, which, along with Mark Dominik, labeled him a quitter out of college.

“I think fans should know, like, don’t believe what the media said before. (Laughs) But, no, fans should know I’m a good person,” Williams said. “And I’m somebody that’s going to go out here and work hard. And I’m tyring to win, just like everyone else. Tyring to bring another Super Bowl here.”

Long ago, Joe was excited by Williams. Watching the NFL combine on the real-man NFL Network, it was obvious that Williams was loaded with Pro Bowl talent.

But as much as Joe is pulling for Williams, Joe just can’t expect much from him in 2010. At the end of the day, he’s a rookie fourth-rounder. If he can hold on to the ball, ring up 20+ catches and score a few touchdowns, Joe will be more than satisfied and will look for him to improve significantly in 2011.