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?

A Bucs fan called “The Blitz” Friday morning — not to be confused with Joe’s good friend Justin Pawlowski’s “The Blitz” — heard exclusively on Sirius NFL Radio, asking co-hosts “The Godfather” Gil Brandt and Alex Marvez of FoxSports.com about the Bucs’ plans for the draft.

The caller asked about two specific players the Bucs may pick at No. 3, South Florida defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul and Tennessee safety Eric Berry.

Brandt isn’t overly enamoured with Pierre-Paul and thinks the Bucs can get better value at safety with another SEC star.

“You talk about Pierre-Paul from South Florida, he only has nine games of major college football,” Brandt said. “He has long arms and everything you look for, but that scares you with a guy with that limited amount of experience.”

Marvez began to laud Berry when Brandt came up with an interesting plan.

“Eric Berry, there has not been a safety to come out this talented since Rod Woodson,” Marvez said.

Brandt, the former architect of the famed Cowboys dynasty of the 1970s,  agreed but suggested the Bucs should not draft him at No. 3.

“Berry is a quality player and may be a top-five talent but I would not draft him in the top five,” Brandt said. “Historically, safeties are not drafted that high. Maybe Berry can play corner? You can get a guy like [Chad] Jones from LSU who may not be quite as good but you can get him in the second round.

“Do you want to pick someone a little too high or wait until the second round?”

Time to play Guess the 2009 Buccaneer.

• * Bothered by a knee injury.

• * Missed two games.

• * Produced well below expectations.

• * Earned a fat paycheck.

• * Unhappy about not getting the ball.

• * Far too old to be part of “the plan.”

So who is he?

That sure sounds like Antonio Bryant, who the Bucs waved good-bye to this week. But the answer is Derrick Ward. The only difference is Bryant missed three games and Ward missed two. Ward’s also a year older.

With the Bucs offering restricted free agent Cadillac Williams a one-year tender on Friday, Joe would be stunned if Ward plays for the Bucs in 2010, assuming Cadillac takes the $2.2 million deal, which was reported by Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune.

When Raheem the Dream told the media Bryant wasn’t in the plans, he said, “We’re going in a young direction.”

Joe’s expecting to hear the same song when the Bucs find a way to dump Ward.

Veteran player agent Ralph Cindrich

Joe recently chatted about the NFL combine and players’ draft strategy with former NFL linebacker and current agent Ralph Cindrich. A graduate of Pitt, Cindrich was drafted by Atlanta in the fifth round in 1972. He played five years in the NFL, also logging time for Denver, Houston and New England.

Notable former Bucs that Cindrich represented were Paul Gruber, Vinny Testaverde and Brian Griese. Cindrich also was a key behind-the-scenes figure in facilitating the infamous Herschel Walker trade between Dallas and Minnesota.

Cindrich has represented 27 Pro Bowlers over the years, but has only a handful of NFL clients today. Instead, he is a consultant for DeBartolo Sports, having sold his sports agency to that firm some five years ago.

Among other topics, Cindrich explains how Twitter, Facebook and other social media Web sites play a role in evaluating players, and Cindrich gets into the interview process, plus explains what agent-player tactic takes a hefty set of balls.

Enjoy.{+++}

JoeBucsFan.com: Ralph, how much different is the combine and draft process now from when you were a senior at Pitt?

Ralph Cindrich: Well, there wasn’t a combine back then. There were only Pro Days. So NFL people traveled all over the country to various colleges. I was not as prepared for the track meet [that Pro Days can be].

Now, the combine and Pro Days are really about speed and agility, not football skills. Players were not as prepared nearly as well then as they are now.

Joe: How do you select a client or how does the NFL weed out the good guys from the bad? How do you counsel players to act?

Cindrich: We know who the slimeballs are. Agents can tell how players party. Sure, not all are choirboys. But all are tremendous football players. To be successful from an agent perspective, you have to have good guys.

Joe: In the past, you have represented clients where the player essentially told certain teams, “Don’t draft me. I won’t play for you. I won’t sign with you.” Is that an advisable tactic with a player? Won’t that hurt a player in the draft?

Cindrich: It’s never popular. It’s certainly not popular with the NFL. It’s a calculated risk. You only want to do that with specific people and specific athletes at specific positions in certain situations. I did that with Bill Fralic and the Vikings.

You need to know the business and the people you are dealing with. If you are going to try to make that play, you better be able to pull it off. It takes big balls. …Players are different now. There’s a lot more money involved and the team they end up with isn’t as much of a concern or goal. I used to have some of the best guys — both physically and mentally, smart guys. They knew we could win and we always did.

For this move to be successful, you have to know that there’s a team out there who has a hard on for that player, that they will give up the motherload to get that player.

Joe: How do you advise players to prepare for the combine?

Cindrich: My general advice is that it’s a professional interview. You have to look professional both on and off the field. You have to be a professional both at your workout and away from the workout. Also, treat everyone you meet with respect.

It’s a job interview so demonstrate your love for the game. This is what you are all about. This is your dream come true. You have to have a conviction and sincerity. Conduct yourself with a sharp eye and don’t lie.

Joe: Unlike just a few short years ago, players using social media sites like Facebook and Twitter are now as common as football players wearing a jock strap. How do you counsel players to use social media sites or do you advise them to stay off these sites all together?

Cindrich: Very good question. They do not have to avoid social media sites, but they have to be very smart. They cannot act like normal students. GM’s, scouts, etc., do go to those sites and read all. Teams have been known to knock players way down for bad conduct on it like open drunkenness, smoking and the like. 

Joe: Not long ago Joe noticed on your Twitter feed that you were going to appear on — your words — “Hot Megyn Kelly’s show” on Fox News. Joe greatly admires beautiful, intelligent women, as well. Is Megyn Kelly as lovely on a satellite feed or in studio as she is in HD?

Cindrich: (laughs) That was actually a joke. I’ve never been on hot Megyn Kelly’s show. Of course I would love to be on her show someday! Yes I think she’s beautiful! And yes, I know she’s married and recently had a child. But let me tell you: she is one tough momma. She’s a lawyer of course and she’s one tough momma. She’s sharp. She really knows her stuff. She doesn’t back down from anybody. She never backs down from Bill O’Reilly, she’ll give it right back to him and has.

I will tell you someone from Fox News who is as beautiful in person as she is on TV and that is Jane Skinner (Joe’s note: Skinner, who has a dirty little mind, is the wife of NFL warden commissioner Roger Goodell). I’ve met her. Her personality is as beautiful as she is on TV. She’s really a sweet, kind and very pretty woman. Classy.

Not all college football players are Larry Phillips or Fred Rouse, who beat up women, steal from teammates and generally try to see how much weed they can smoke every day before getting thrown in jail or thrown out of school.

Take Tim Tebow for example. There are fewer better people walking the planet than him, much less football players of any sort.

Myron Rolle is another example. The Rhodes Scholar wants to be a doctor and already has set up a foundation to fund a health clinic in the Bahamas. One of his life’s goals is to find out why so many native Americans are afflicted with juvenile diabetes, among other illnesses.

As Mike Mayock said about Rolle, “His intangibles are off the charts.”

So Joe nearly fell out of his chair when he read Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports detail how, during interviews at the Senior Bowl last month, a member of the Bucs’ contingent that interviewed Rolle had the unmitigated gall to call out Rolle to his face as some sort of a traitor.

During a 45-minute interview before the Senior Bowl in January with seven members of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers staff, including head coach Raheem Morris and general manager Mark Dominik, one member of the staff asked Rolle what it felt like to desert his team this season.

“I hadn’t heard that one before,” said Rolle, who pauses ever so slightly before answering to consider his thoughts. “My initial reaction was a bit of confusion. It never was anger, but I was more bothered by the question because if anyone knew my involvement with my teammates, how much they care about me and how much I care about them.”

Nice research there by the Bucs, huh?

Joe doesn’t know where to begin. Joe is so stunned, he is having a hard time being outraged.

Joe knows whoever this mental midget was that asked Rolle that question was likely trying to draw a reaction out of Rolle, but really!?

Let’s see: Rolle had a once in a lifetime opportunity to further his education at the highest of the world’s higher institutes of learning; an honor very, very, very few people are afforded — all with the blessing of the school, coaching staff and team he attended and played for — and some asswipe who likely has a two-bit physical education degree from some low-rung land grant state directional school has to gall to ask that question?

So Joe guesses this asswipe employee of the Bucs also considers every junior who enters the draft a deserter as well?

No wonder the Bucs cut Warrick Dunn, why, he deserted his siblings after his mother was murdered to leave his hometown to attend college, the absolute nerve this lowlife Dunn had! The Bucs cannot have someone of such ill repute on their squad!

Derrick Brooks helps launch a school for God’s sake. Nope, can’t have his ilk sully the roster. The Bucs need more guys to slug cabbies in the grill Joe assumes?

If Bucs general manger Mark Dominik — who Joe personally likes a great deal and has a lot of respect for — has any balls he would either force this scumbag who went after Rolle to publicly apologize or he should have his ass demoted to clean out urinals at the CITS after games.

What next, the same guy is going to ask some player who grew up in a fatherless home what’s it like to have a whore for a mother?

Or maybe the same derelict is going to ask Tebow if he’s a homosexual since he hasn’t had sex with a woman yet?

This is just absolutely beyond the pale and Joe is sick right now to call himself a Bucs fan!

The word “shameful” doesn’t begin to describe what some asshole asked Rolle.

Rolle (and Tebow) are all that’s right about sports.

Whoever this jerk was who works for the Bucs who went after Rolle is such a way is all that’s terrible about sports.

There are better, more professional and dignified ways to get a rise out of an interviewee than that.

The biggest concern Joe had this offseason is that somehow the Bucs would let arguably their best player, left tackle Donald Penn, slip away.

Not happening.

Good guy Stephen Holder, of the St. Petersburg Times, reports the Bucs have contacted Penn’s agent and, in Holder’s words, will “place the highest possible restricted free agent tender” on Penn.

That means it’s highly unlikely Penn will play elsewhere.

Penn was hoping for a lesser tender that might have enticed another team to present an offer because the draft pick compensation would have been lower. Under that scenario, Arceneaux said, the Bucs could have opted to match or let him walk while receiving something in return.

Instead, “He’s being punished two years in a row,” Arceneaux said, referring to the fact Penn played under the same agent tender last season, though for slightly less money.

“You’re saying he’s worth a 1 and a 3 but they won’t pay him,” Arceneaux added. “So, basically, they agree with me that he’s a valuable player.”

Hey, Arceneaux, don’t gripe at the Bucs. Gripe at the NFLPA. They signed the current labor contract, not Bucs general manager Mark Dominik.

Nice job, Dominik!

Update: The Mad Twitterer claims (via his Twitter feed of course) that Jeremy Trueblood received a second round tender.

Update II: Holder reports, again via Twitter, the Bucs have slapped linebacker Barrett Ruud with highest possible tender. Joe believes somewhere, his good friend Justin Pawlowski is celebrating this news with a cold Caybrew.

Mike Florio, the creator, curator and overall guru of ProFootballTalk.com, delivers a scathing rant directed at Bucs’ management in this video, part of his “Fix My Franchise” series.

By STEVE WHITE
JoeBucsFan.com analyst 

Steve White spent every season of the Tony Dungy era playing defensive end for the Bucs. He’s spent countless hours in the film room with the likes of Warren Sapp, Rod Marinelli and more. Joe is humbled to have White, also a published author and blogger, as part of the JoeBucsFan.com team. Below is White’s weekly Bull Rush column that breaks down all things defense. It’s simply a can’t-miss read for the hardcore Bucs fan. 

Strengths

As much attention as Josh Freeman gets, and deservedly so, the rookie who played the most snaps for the Bucs last year was Roy Miller. From the first game on, Miller was the third defensive tackle in a three-man rotation, filling in on both sides and even starting one game. It says a lot in my book, on a mental as well as physical level, for a rookie to be able to come in and perform and the defense not skip a beat. (Before any commenter says so, yes I know that’s a low bar. lol)

I think Roy did a good job of using his hands, but I was more impressed with how he used his feet. Most of the season he was quick off the ball and he had very good lateral movement. He was also one of our best defensive linemen when it came to not stopping his feet on a pass rush. He ended the season with 33 tackles and two sacks. Those are respectable stats for any rookie defensive lineman. He was particularly good when he played a head up nose tackle in our short yardage and goal-line packages.

Weaknesses

One thing about Miller was that he seemed play smaller than his size at times. What I mean is, for a guy listed at 6-2 and 310 pounds, there were times when he got pushed around a little too easy for my liking.

Mostly, I would attribute this to him getting too high and not maintaining his leverage because he was trying to look into the backfield to see where the ball was going. That is a mistake most rookies make.

The truth is this: when it comes to playing defensive line, the blocking scheme will ALWAYS tell you where the ball is going. Now recognizing schemes, however, isn’t the easiest thing in the world. You have to watch a ton of film and really rep it over and over to get a feel for the differences between, say, when a guard is trying to reach you, (block your outside shoulder) or a guard is trying to base you (get you going outside and then push you that way to open up the hole inside).

Another weakness that Miller, like most of our defensive linemen had, was running pass rush games. I won’t go through another dissertation on that, but again I want to emphasize the point that the better a guy runs those games, the better the chance they have to get pressure on the quarterback. The worse a guy runs those games, the higher the chance that neither he nor his teammate will get any pressure on the quarterback. And that puts a helluva lot of pressure on our secondary.

Lastly, Miller seemed to hit that rookie wall late in the year and never truly rebounded. His quickness was gone, his get off was gone, and he was no longer pass rushing up to his abilities.

I don’t know it for sure, but I think Miller may have had a lower body injury that also slowed him down. But if it’s one thing I learned in my time in the NFL, it’s that nobody cares. It’s kinda like that scene from “Goodfellas.”

Got a sprained ankle? Eff you, pay me.

Body worn down? Eff you, pay me.

Confused about the new defense? Eff you, pay me.

Nobody buys excuses, even legit ones, when you get to this level. So my top for Roy is to get in top condition before the season and take care of your body during the season, including preventative measures like getting in the cold tub even when you feel good.

The Future

I predict the Bucs will give Miller every opportunity to start at nose tackle this year, if they in fact go back to a nose tackle/under tackle alignment. If they stay left and right, then I would suspect that he would be afforded every opportunity to start in that situation as well.

Whether its a free agent or a high draft pick, it’s pretty much a given that we will have at least one new starter at defensive tackle this year. With Miller being a third round draft pick last year and the team rebuilding with a youth movement, I think the Buccaneers brass would love to be able to point to Miller as another “hit” for them.

That’s not to take anything away from what he himself has accomplished. I think he has basically all the tools to be a good player. But the second year is usually a tough one and he is going to have to step his game up a notch to be a starter.

While he will definitely have a leg up as a draft pick, he is going to have to go out and prove himself again this year. The Bucs don’t have many guys who you can write down in anything but pencil as a starter, especially at this point. So Miller better understand that starting out at the top of the heap doesn’t mean he’ll automatically end up there.

This is going to be a pivotal season for Miller. Either he will step up and become that starter that we can count on for years in our defensive interior, or he will stay the same or go backwards and allow someone else to overtake him. I guess we’ll find out what it will be later this year.

Joe ran across this item Wednesday night and wanted to save it for Friday.

Mike Florio, the creator, curator and overall guru of ProFootballTalk.com beat Joe to the punch.

On the same day that Mike Mayock spoke on WXOS_FM 101.1 in St. Louis that the Rams may still draft Sam Bradford with the first overall pick in April’s draft, BSPN’s Adam Schefter all but told Bryan Burwell and Bob Stelton he would quit his job if the Rams didn’t draft Bradford with the first overall pick.

“I would like to record something here, on February 24th.  Two months from the draft.  And tell you who the number one pick is gonna be right now.  On the basis of what I’ve talked to people around the league [about], everything I’ve heard.  And at some point it’s gonna shift to this guy, and I don’t know whether it’ll be now or late March.  It’ll probably be after his Pro Day, when he goes through his Pro Day and goes through his workout.  Then all of a sudden — it’ll be about a month from now — we’ll start hearing, ‘Wow.  Would and could the Rams take with the number one overall pick Sam Bradford?’ 

“And I believe ultimately, when all is said and done, that the Rams’ number one pick on April 22nd, two months from now, will be Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford.  I’m willing to take all bets on that one right now.”

What does all this mean? If the Rams do actually pick Bradford, that means either manbeast Ndamukong Suh or Gerald McCoy will fall in the Bucs’ laps.

The NFL Scouting combine is all over the NFL Network, and player workouts start Saturday.

Draft season is starting to simmer.

Subscribers to the JoeBucsFan.com draft coverage are being treated to some of the best and most diverse draft coverage around. And things are just getting started.

And remember, if you missed anything, all the 2010 subscription draft coverage is archived here for easy access.

Subscribe today.

*All who subscribe in February are registered to win a $25 or $10 gift certificate to Mugs Grill & Bar. Joe’s got a stack of them to give away.

Taking a break in Indianapolis from spreading agent-driven speculation, The Mad Twitterer of the St. Petersburg Times caught up with Raheem the Dream in an Indianapolis coffee house for a surprisingly candid, on-the-record conversation.

Maybe it was the bold brew of Java or maybe Raheem the Dream is this confident, but he spoke proudly, boldly, that the Bucs are on the cusp of great things, as is his career.

“We really have the ability this year — (general manager) Mark (Dominik) and myself — to tell you with straight faces, that we’re light-years ahead of where we were last year, just based on knowledge, based on what we’ve been able to partake, our own film study, our own tape, our own reports — all those things that are critical,” Morris said.

“It’s got to translate onto the field. I’m not going to sit here and act like you go 3-13, and just because you’re getting better and competitive every game, that’s acceptable. There ain’t no way.”

Then, presumably after throwing down another 20-ounce slug of coffee with a triple-shot of espresso, Raheem the Dream claimed so many people (fans?) wanted him fired because others coveted his job with the Bucs so much.

“I know why there’s no talk about (Jim) Schwartz and there’s no talk about (Browns coach Eric) Mangini,” Morris said. “It’s because I’ve got the best job in football. We’re in Tampa. Everbody wants my job. Every coach who’s retired or out of football wants my job. Everybody doesn’t want to coach somewhere else. But everybody will come to Tampa. If the Dallas job comes open, every name will be thrown against the wall to see which one sticks. Tampa, it’s the same thing.”

Joe calls baloney on this. Lunkhead Mangini was a dead-man walking until the Browns upset the Steelers late in the season at home on a nationally-televised Thursday night game on the NFL Network. People very much were after Mangini with lit torches.

Joe also wonders who exactly Raheem the Dream is referring to that every coach out of football wanted his job? Was he hinting at Tuna? Or was this a jab at Bill Cowher? Or perhaps — God forbid — Marty Chokenheimer?

Now Bucs personnel czar Mark Dominik has officially jumped into 2010 by passing on Antonio Bryant, far and away the Bucs’ best receiver and a guy who was flat out ballin’ at the end of 2009.

And it was obvious from Joe’s interaction with fans that a large majority wanted to the see the Bucs bring back Bryant, assuming the price was fair market value.  

A JoeBucsFan.com reader poll earlier this month saw more than 70 percent vote in favor of Bryant’s return.

Considering the Bucs didn’t at least leave the door open for Bryant to test the free agent waters and go from there, today’s announcement that Bryant is done in Tampa Bay is a little stunning. In fact, it may have even hurt the Bucs’ ability, however slightly, to negotiate the best possible trade for a receiver, as any team Dominik contacts now knows he’s extraoridinarily desperate for a No. 1 wideout.

Dominik no doubt has some sort of plan. But he has completely raised the stakes on his job security. He has to replace Bryant with a true No. 1 veteran receiver. Drafting Dez Bryant won’t cut it alone, if the Bucs even go that route.

Joe was the last media member to talk to Antonio Bryant. Joe and Bryant had a long chat just before the Super Bowl. You can read it here.

Make no mistake. Bryant would have been very pleased to return to Tampa Bay for a fair-market deal. And Joe is confident that Bryant didn’t have any inflated sense of his value.

As Bryant told Joe, “Film don’t lie.”

The same phrase will apply to Dominik. Whoever replaces Bryant best be as good as he is or better, if Dominik wants to retain any credibility with fans.

Seems as though the Bucs and former Bucs wide receiver Antonio Bryant’s agent weren’t discussing a future contract too heavily.

Per St. Petersburg Times Bucs beat writer Stephen Holder’s Twitterings this afternoon, the Bucs never tipped off Bryant’s agent they would not re-sign him.

How surprising is Bucs’ decision not to re-sign Antonio Bryant? His agent says he was informed by a reporter. That should never happen. Far as I know, the sides never talked about contract demands. There were no real talks to speak of, so doesn’t appear to be about $$.

Just from Holder’s musings, it seems the Bucs long ago made up their minds they would cut Bryant loose. Otherwise, wouldn’t they have at least probed Bryant’s agent for a reasonable asking price, or at least see what other teams were going to offer him before bailing?

Since Bryant was battling a bum knee, Joe suspects Bryant’s price would have been at or near a discount rate.

The Antonio Bryant era with the Bucs is finished.

That’s the word from Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune.

Raheem the Dream announced Thursday that the Bucs would not bring the talented Bucs wide receiver back for the 2010 season.

Cummings has learned that the Bucs have no intention of signing the free agent wide receiver, who last year the Bucs kept with a franchise tag.

Though they plan to make a point of improving the talent around quarterback Josh Freeman, the Bucs have decided to part ways with Bryant, whom the team tagged as their franchise player just a year ago.

“Antonio missed a lot of time last year and I’m not trying to blame Antonio but really, right now, we’re going in a young direction,” Bucs coach Raheem Morris said Thursday during a break at the NFL Scouting Combine. “We’re going to choose to move on. He’s going to test the free-agent market and its going to be our decision to move on and go in another direction.”

Bryant, 29, caught 83 passes for 1,248 yards and seven touchdowns in 2008 but struggled with knee problems all through the 2009 season and caught just 39 balls, still the second-most on the team, in 13 games.

Joe wonders if Dez Bryant is climbing up the Bucs’ mock draft chart.

It’s getting very, very interesting.

Based on his recent writings concerning the Bucs, Joe believes Vacation Man may need some downtime with a Bucs cheerleader. Joe could use such a break as well.

Vacation Man seems to be in an angry mood.

Having read and heard many rumors about the Bucs and the draft, specifically the rumor that popped up last weekend that the Bucs and Rams would flip first round draft positions, Vacation Man lashed out.

He’s claiming the Bucs would be wasting time, energy, draft picks and money in trading with the Rams.

Vacation Man first, smartly, points out it’s too early for the Rams to peddle their pick. Then, Vacation Man jumps off the deep end.

Second, Bucs fans are the first to accuse their owners of being cheap. Do you really think the Bucs want to pay a few million more in salary by moving from No. 3 to No. 1?

Third, and this might be the most important detail of all, the numbers don’t add up. If you take a look at the trade value chart, the Bucs basically would have to give up the No. 3 overall pick and their two second-round picks to have the ammunition to do a deal. That’s three players who could be potential starters. The Bucs are quite proud of the fact they hold 10 picks, including five in the top 99, in this year’s draft. They’re not looking to subtract from that number.

First, Joe has no idea what point Vacation Man is trying to make in the first paragraph Joe cited in the excerpt. So the Bucs will prove that they are “cheap” by trading up? Huh?

Vacation Man then uses some jabberwocky concoction likely devised by a twisted spreadsheet warrior, perhaps stuck in a soulless cubicle located at the Red Square in Bristol, Conn., that suggests the Bucs would have to give up three picks to move up, including both second round picks and their third round pick.

What moron this side of Mike Ditka really thinks it would take that sum of a ransom to move up two slots?

Look, when the Bucs moved up two slots in the first round last year to get Josh Freeman and it only cost them one sixth round pick for crying out loud!

But, yes, Joe did snicker when he heard part of the proposed deal the Bucs would send to the Rams was career backup quarterback Josh Johnson. What, the Rams were going to use him as a wide receiver?

If the Rams draft Sam Bradford first overall and the Bucs remain at No. 3, it looks like the Bucs get manbeast Ndamukong Suh or Gerald McCoy.

Bucs fans are praying, if Mark Dominik doesn’t trade down in the draft, that somehow, someway, manbeast Ndamukong Suh or Gerald McCoy slip down to No. 3 so the Bucs can grab either one.

The Rams are like the Bucs: they need help everywhere. Only difference is, the Bucs have a quarterback. The Rams — even with Marc Bulger — cannot say as much.

No less of an authority than Mike Mayock, the NFL draft guru of the NFL Network, spoke on WXOS-FM 101.1 in St. Louis on “The Bernie Miklasz Show” and explained to Miklasz how it’s not an outrageous premise that the Rams would draft quarterback Sam Bradford first overall.

(Joe has known Miklasz since Joe’s first NFL training camp as a reporter back in 1987 when Joe was a poor college student — as opposed to a poor professional with a mortgage — and Miklasz pitied Joe, buying him shots of tequila.)

“A franchise quarterback always trumps all,” Mayock said. “Let’s face it: St. Louis does not have a quarterback in the building they are 100 percent comfortable with. So you’ve got to be looking at Sam Bradford right now. If you believe he is a franchise quarterback from every perspective, including medical, and is the future of your franchise, you’ve got to take him.

“However, if there is any hesitancy at all, you have the two best players in the draft staring at you in the face. I believe both are All-Pros.

“But you have to stay open for business and listen to whoever will talk to you right up until the time you are on the clock. St. Louis has passed on some quarterbacks in recent years so there will be some pressure for them to take a quarterback.”

Later in the interview, Mayock breaks down why he thinks McCoy is slightly better than Suh, but also explains areas where Suh excels better than McCoy. It’s an interview well worth your time.

JoeBucsFan.com analysts Jeff Carlson and Steve White, both former Buccaneers, crank out excellent insight in their weekly columns. Where else can Bucs fans find such tell-it-like-it-is takes on the Bucs from guys who wore the uniform?

Nowhere.

But sometimes White and Carlson’s finest takes come in their back-and-forth comments here with JoeBucsFan.com readers.

The Bucs possibly considering Rams quarterback Marc Bulger to be their No. 2 QB and mentor for Josh Freeman was news yesterday, but Carlson, who was a Bucs QB in 1990 & 1991, explained that Bulger’s potential value as a mentor is largely a bunch of hype.

“The mentoring thing with an older QB is overblown,” Carlson wrote. “Brett Favre just told the truth a few years ago when he said it wasn’t his job to develop Aaron Rogers and to find a QB willing to do that as part of his job is to find a guy cashing a paycheck, not a backup QB!

“Having a mobile QB as my backup is what I would usually want. I liked Marc Bulger a few years ago in his “timing” system with the Rams, but things really have to be in sync to work well. If he his coming off the Bucs’ bench because the starter got hurt, then things won’t be clicking and I would rather have Josh Johnson, who could potentially make things happen on broken plays with either his arm or feet.

“The new quarterback coach (former NFL QB Alex Van Pelt) is the mentor and the guy being paid to be just that. If you want a personal trainer to wake up with Freeman and work out at 6 a.m.. you can buy those, too.

“Another older veteran QB is not going to be Freeman’s sidekick (like Gilligan and the Skipper), it just doesn’t work like that.”

Joe agrees. And, as Joe expressed previously, he never bought the Mad Twitterer’s outlandish speculation that Byron Leftwich was a goner because he wouldn’t lift weights with Freeman at 6 a.m. As Carlson wrote, you can pay someone to do that.  

It’s one thing for the starter to take a backup under his wing. It’s quite different for a veteran No. 2 like Bulger or a Chad Pennington — who both surely believe they can start — to reach up and mentor a young starter. Jeff Garcia couldn’t handle it at 39 years old. And if the Bucs cut Leftwich, then they obviously don’t think he’s cut out for that, either.

Success in that role of mentor for a young No. 1 would take an extraordinarily special guy. Maybe it’s Bulger. Maybe not.

Vacation Man of BSPN.com knows the Bucs better than most. Not only was he a Bucs beat writer for the Tampa Tribune in a past life, he covers the NFC South for that Soviet bloc institution based in Bristol and lives in Tampa.

Vacation Man has read and heard all the kvetching and whining and moaning about Bucs general manager Mark Dominik and has just about had enough of it.

Breaking down the draft needs of each of the NFC South teams, Vacation Man fires off at Dominik’s critics.

Let’s be nice and start by giving the Bucs credit for finding a franchise quarterback in Josh Freeman last year. And for getting receiver Sammie Stroughter in the seventh round. Everybody likes to rip general manager Mark Dominik and coach Raheem Morris. But part of the reason the Bucs are in the shape they’re in is because Jon Gruden and Bruce Allen were busy using early picks on guys like Gaines Adams and Dexter Jackson. They somehow thought Jackson could be the second coming of Carolina’s Steve Smith.

Though Vacation Man is leaving out all sorts of facts, he hits a home run with one element: Dominik was not the guy who pulled the trigger on Adams or Justin Pawlowski’s favorite target, the bad Dexter Jackson.

If anything Dominik should be lauded and have free beers whenever he walks into a local watering hole for somehow conning the Bears into coughing up a high second round pick for a guy who couldn’t start for one of the worst defenses in the NFL.

Joe’s always glad to see his print colleagues loosen up and keep it real.

So for this reason, Joe was pleased to read the transcript of St. Pete Times’ columnist John Romano’s live chat yesterday at TampaBay.com. Joe wouldn’t call himself a Romano fan but, nevertheless, Romano deserves credit for actually loosening up and answering some bizarre questions, including those about his nipples, Howard Stern fans, Sarah Palin and (gasp) JoeBucsFan.com.

But it was a question about Raheem The Dream’s performance that Joe will reference here. Romano was challenged to grade Raheem The Dream.

[Comment From Norton]
And I dare you to give Raheem Morris a letter grade for last season 

John Romano: Dare me to give an opinion? That’s kind of what I get paid for. I haven’t thought too deeply about it, but I’d probably give Raheem a D. I think he was a little too free spirited early in the season, and I think he had some sideline decisions that did not work. He kept the season from being a complete disaster when he took over the defense late in the year.

Fair enough assessment in the confines of the limited chat format. Seems that Romano, like Joe, would have given Raheem The Dream an “F” had he not defrocked Jim Bates and turned around the defense.

If ever Joe needed a six-pack of Caybrew and the comfort of Rachel Watson, it is now.

Moments ago, Joe was shaken to his core when a text alerted him to a truly disturbing post by his good friend and NFL Draft guru Justin Pawlowski on the NFL draft page at 620WDAE.com, where Pawlowski makes the case that signing Rams quarterback Marc Bulger would be an asset for Raheem the Dream.

It seems word is leaking out of St. Louis this Bulger may be released. Joe just can’t imagine why?

The Bucs need and want a veteran back up to continue to help teach Josh Freeman how to be a successful NFL quarterback. I thought and still do that Chad Pennington would be a good fit for that role, but Bulger’s history with Greg Olsen may make him the Bucs top choice. Bulger has had zero success since signing his big deal with the Rams a few years back.

Look, Joe thinks the world of Pawlowski, but this Bulger is nothing more than a junior-grade Jeff George who can’t stay healthy. To quote the great Norman Chad, “Only in fantasy football would you actually want Jeff George.”