It all started with a laptop, a dream and a passion for the Bucs.

JoeBucsFan.com met the world three years ago today.

Feeling compelled to work tirelessly on behalf of his fellow Bucs fans, Joe set out to inform and entertain Bucs fans like nobody in history.

Thankfully, fans slowly began to flock here and proceeded to blast Joe for his strong opinions and call Joe a jerkoff and a loser hiding behind a cartoon. But they kept coming. They told friends.

Some of Joe’s media pals helped spread the word, and soon Joe knew JoeBucsFan.com was a place some fans wanted to go every day — whether they liked it or not.

Joe finally knew his humble website had arrived when traffic here exploded on the night Jon Gruden was fired.

More than 8,300 Bucs-related posts later, today Joe is proud and grateful to report that 2011 alone has already brought 1.7 million actual visits to JoeBucsFan.com.

Joe humbly thanks all of you.

Over the years, countless readers have kindly offered to buy Joe a beer one day. Well, now’s your chance on this special occasion. The options are below via PayPal. Joe promises to use the money for your specific gift — seriously.

In what his perhaps his best recap he ever recorded — Joe knows how tricky doing this live is — Derek “Old School” Fournier of WhatTheBuc.net shares his thoughts of the Bucs night practice at The CITS Saturday.

OK, Joe got back from the night practice and has cracked open his first beer of the evening — it won’t be his last.

Joe’s got photos he will post tomorrow, sorry for the fuzzy cheerleader photo above but Joe thought his readers will overlook how it’s slightly out of focus.

Some random thoughts on the night practice.

* Joe wrote this last year and he will repeat it tonight: Thank you Team Glazer for putting this together. It was a blast last year and it was equally enjoyable this evening. Shoot, even the players did their best to delay getting on the bus back to the team hotel so they could watch the fireworks.

Last year Joe decided to be just a fan and swilled lowered-priced beer. Tonight, Joe was on the sidelines.

Just a great night no matter where anyone was. Seeing Bucs players competing against one another was fun and everyone knows they were going all out because egos were involved.

* Not to stray too far from football, but Joe is happy that multimedia mastermind Scott Smith took Joe’s advice and hired former Bucs cheerleader Tiffany Jimenez to be a video host at tonight’s event. Joe wrote this before when the Bucs had her do video features: There are certain lasses that are made for the camera and it’s not their looks, but their personalities. Tiffany’s bubbly personality just jumps off the computer screen. She really should be working TV in some capacity like a co-host of one of these weekday morning gabfest shows or perhaps a game show. (“A new car!”)

Joe stands up and gives Smith a standing ovation. Nice. And to Tiffany, keep up the good work. You really should find yourself an agent. Sadly, Joe is not an agent.

* Joe was pleased to watch defensive backs hitting each other during drills and wrapping up. In each hit in this drill, a defensive back pretended to be a ball carrier. When the defenders hit the ball carrier, each time the defender wrapped up.

When Joe was in high school his coach, who had just retired from the Cowboys (Gene Stallings was Joe’s coach’s position coach),  pounded that drill into our heads daily and if we didn’t wrap up, we ran. It drives Joe bananas that NFL defenders don’t wrap up. Good to see Bucs coaches have the players utilizing wrapping up in these drills.

* In wide receiver/cornerback competitions, Mike Williams couldn’t shake Aqib Talib. In another, Preston Parker had E.J. Biggers beat bad but Biggers turned on the rocket booster, made up the real estate and picked off a pass. Nice.

* During a scrimmage, Allen Bradford made a nice grab over the middle of a Josh Johnson pass for about eight yards and tried to elude defenders by running to the left sideline, running right at Joe. Bradford got totally lit up near the sideline by Adam Hayward and fumbled and Talib nearly had a fumble recovery but the ball rolled out of bounds.

* Joe at one point was standing five feet behind defensive tackles coach Keith Millard and there’s only one word to describe Millard: Intense. Every play was like a goal line stand to win the Super Bowl. When his tackles got pressure on the quarterback, Millard would react like he won the lottery, jumping up and down like a little kid on Christmas morning who just got a new bike from Santa.

Mind you, this is a practice, not even a preseason game much less a regular season game.

* Johnson made a pretty touchdown pass to Ryan Purvis but it really wasn’t fair. Quarterbacks are not allowed to be touched and Johnson was surrounded by three defenders. If this were a game, Johnson would have been buried alive.

* Adrian Clayborn is damned quick off the snap.

* Are fans, by way of the fourth estate, seeing a change in Bryan Glazer? Normally reserved, Glazer held court with a mob of reporters and later did a live TV interview with Rock Reilly and Out House Networks.

Joe can say this: If people think Team Glazer doesn’t care about wins and losses, think again. But they are committed to Mark Dominik and share in his beliefs and philosophy. Don’t expect the team to go wilding on the free agent market until Dominik believes the time is right to plug in a hole or two.

Patience, fans, patience.

In the meantime, have fun watching the Bucs. Joe, and tens of thousands did tonight.

Joe didn’t realize Jayson Blair was back employed at the New York Times under the name Andy Benoit. What a freakin’ joke.

This Benoit character penned 2,000+ words breaking down the Bucs in a season preview story today. Joe stopped reading after the paragraphs below, when Benoit painted a picture of LeGarrette Blount getting 1,000 yards with smoke and mirrors.

And yet, put on the tape and it’s easy to see why Blount went undrafted (no, character concerns were not the primary reason – they almost never are in the N.F.L.). A roundly built 247-pounder, Blount is far from fast. More damning is he’s not powerful. Blount can’t seem able to lower his shoulder and deliver a great blow. At times, he even stops his feet and braces for contract. His timing and vision are unrefined, and his blocking and receiving skills are poor.

Still, Blount is able to produce, mainly as a lumbering runner who’s difficult to bring down in the open field (think of a bear that’s been just shot with a tranquilizing dart). But this kind of style makes for an inconsistent rushing attack. Blount might put up yardage, but defenses have no reason to fear him. And it’s still to be determined whether such a punishing style can be sustained for an entire 16-game slate (Blount played in 13 games last season, starting seven).

This has Joe steamed, not that Joe expects anything less from the New York Times. In one breath the guy writes that Blount is “not powerful” and can’t “deliver a great blow.” Then he goes on to say Blount might not last a whole season with his punishing style. Which is it, pal?

Joe has long believed that Blount’s arrival revolutionized and revitalized the Bucs offense, and the guy got 1,000 yards old school, in 14 games or less, yet he’s not revered as a superstar around these parts and surely not around the NFL.

Imagine if he cranked off a season like that in New York. Blount would be the second coming.  

Thankfully, the Bucs have stuck Blount’s image on the side of the C.I.T.S. this week. Rightfully so. And if you want to do a good deed, email your thoughts to this Benoit character, who also works for CBSSports.com. He can be found at andy.benoit@NFLtouchdown.com .

Bucs coach Raheem Morris generally says what’s on his mind, which Joe finds quite refreshing if not entertaining. CBSSports.com’s Pat Kirwan once referred to Morris as “brash.”

So when unpopular Florida governor Rick Scott, the man who will go down in history as killing a federal high speed rail project between Tampa and Orlando, dropped by One Buc Palace for a tour Friday, Joe could have guessed Morris would have had a good one-liner for Scott.

But Joe was shocked to learn Scott, apparently thin-skinned from harsh criticism and his awful approval ratings, not just shot back at Morris but tongue-lashed the third-year Bucs coach, as documented by Rick Stroud of the St. Petersburg Times on Twitter.

@STROUDNFL: Bucs coach Raheem Morris tells Fla. Gov. Rick Scott, “I would’ve liked that light rail, but don’t worry about that.” … Fla. Gov. Rick Scott responds “The highspeed rail? I’ll do that deal for you. Here’s the deal. It’s a great deal… I’m going to give you $2.4-billion, you have to put up a billion. You have to lose, oh, $100-million or so a year… And if you ever get tired, you have to give me my $2.4-billion back.”

WHOA! Politicians of all sorts go to events, dog and pony shows, where they are heckled or needled by someone and rarely if ever does said politician snap like this at a fellow celebrity no less, right in front of the pen and mic club.

This just goes to show how defensive Scott is about what his legacy as the state’s chief executive will forever be remembered for — which happened in the first few weeks of his administration.

Maybe Scott’s all too aware how he sabotaged himself by his high speed rail decision and all but guaranteed he would be a one-term governor, just days after he took the oath of office.

Draft guru and emerging sports genius Justin Pawlowski, The Commish of WDAE-AM 620, drives The Sports Animal bus from 4  p.m. to 6:30 p.m. today live from Bucs open practice at the C.I.T.S.

The Commish has been buzzing around One Buc Place relentlessly and no doubt will have some great Bucs interviews and chatter, plus talk about last night’s Rays romp, on a Friday night no less.

Bobby Fenton

Before The Commish, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., Bobby Fenton will bring his analytical and always-informed style to the airwaves. It’s the not The Free Stretch, but it’s free on WDAE-AM 620. Joe’s just geeked that Bobby is able to pop up on “The Animal” from time to time. Wish it was more often.

Those chained to computer can listen online at 620wdae.com.

The preseason opener is always a glorious time, but the excitement never lasts long enough.

Starters are gone quickly and the drama fades fast, like when you realize the young lady you brought home was stuffing her bra.

But this year will be a bit different, so says Raheem Morris. Speaking at his Friday news conference, the defensive mastermind/head coach explained that the usual diet of 12 to 15 snaps for starters in the preseason opener is about to change. 

“You might want to get up to the 20s [in total plays]. Let these guys play a little bit because they missed a little bit of stuff,” Raheem said.

Raheem said he expects the same amount of starters reps in Game 2 of the preseason.

Another byproduct of the asinine lockout. But barring injury, this should raise the fun-factor.

Listening to Raheem Morris’ news conferences daily, Joe hears more and more Chucky.

Not Chucky the head coach, but Chucky the BSPN talking head who never saw a player he didn’t like. Raheem seems to love everybody on his roster. Joe gets how coachspeak goes, and the Bucs don’t exactly have a bunch of stiffs running around, but Joe’s not detecting Raheem publicly lighting a fire under anyone’s ass or showing any sign of jumping off the Love Train.

Now that Joe has that off his chest, Raheem is, of course, liking how Mason Foster is zeroing in on the mike linebacker job, even taking first team reps.

 “I’m really liking where Foster’s going. I’m really liking him taking control of the defense,” Raheem said today. “He’s going to make some full speed mistakes, which I’m a fan of when you’re a rookie. I’m ok with that, and so are his men around him. They’ll help him. They’ll guide him through.”

Joe’s about over training camp and can’t wait to see these guys fire it up on Friday night in Kansas City. It’s been too long.

Joe’s feeling a lot better now that the Bucs have brought back free agent defensive end Tim Crowder, who signed a two-year deal.

The man Raheem Morris called the “King of Hustle” last year is an important piece of the puzzle. Yeah, Joe really means that.

In the back of Joe’s mind lives the obvious injury concern with Da’Quan Bowers. Keith Millard brought it up just yesterday. Sackless, never sleepless, Kyle Moore has a lot to prove. And Alex Magee might not be the most reliable guy in the world.

Crowder plays both sides of the line, is a major cog on special teams, and in Joe’s mind he should have qualified as an emerging player worthy of rockstar general manager Mark Dominik’s thumbs-up. Thankfully, he did.

Crowder might be the only good thing to come from Jim Bates, who snagged him in the second round of the draft with the Broncos back in 2007.

Maybe the first nasty injury of the preseason just occurred at One Buc Palace during the Bucs practice this afternoon.

Details are sketchy about what happened to defensive tackle Gerald McCoy but reports are his day is done as he left the field in pain, per Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune.

@TBO_Buccaneers: McCoy now has a large wrap around his right shoulder. Looks like they’re icing it.

Damnit. GMC was just turning the corner last year when he tore a biceps and now it appears he’s got a bum right shoulder, after all the work in the offseason he did and how he has taken over as the leader of the defensive front.

As one can imagine, Joe hopes this is just minor.

UPDATE: Rick Stroud of the St. Petersburg Times reported that GMC’s injury could be a stinger and that he ripped his shoulder pads off right away.

UPDATE II: Rick Brown of the Lakeland Ledger Twittered that Bucs trainers are icing down GMC’s right shoulder.

UPDATE III: Per Stroud, Bucs trainer Todd Toriscelli escorted GMC into One Buc Palace.

UPDATE IV: Cummings quotes Mark Dominik via Twitter that GMC’s injury “nothing scary” and he is day-to-day.

Shaun King wasn’t impressed watching Dezmon Briscoe at practice recently, but Raheem Morris has raved about the young receiver and Mark Dominik has expressed his excitement.

You can judge for yourself at practice today or tomorrow night at The C.I.T.S.

Briscoe caught six balls in the Bucs’ final two games last year, including a sick touchdown grab against New Orleans, but he’s probably best known for being at the center of a Marvin Lewis meltdown.

Throw receivers coach Eric Yarber into the mix of those raving about Briscoe, so documented Rick Brown of the Lakeland Ledger, aka Backwards Hat, 

“For such a young guy, he has such great route discipline,” said Tampa Bay receivers coach Eric Yarber. “In order to be a great receiver in my eyes, you have to have great patience in your routes and that’s what Briscoe has. He has patience, he knows how to set up defenders and he was taught very well in college. He caught over 200 balls in college. He’s pretty polished.”

Joe suggests you click through above and read the entire piece. Interesting stuff.

Not in the story is the fact that 21-year-old Briscoe was a teammate of Aqib Talib at the University of Kansas in 2007, when Briscoe won all kinds of freshman honors. Going against a cover guy like Talib in practice surely couldn’t have hurt his development.

Joe’s glad the Bucs found a talent, but Joe needs to see a lot more from the guy to be convinced. He’s not the next Mike Williams.

Yes, Joe last year coined Bucs general manager Mark Dominik the “rock star” because, all of a sudden, when the Bucs started winning games, he was popping up on virtually every national sports talk radio show and making a solid name for himself with swift, easy-to-understand analysis in a concise yet eloquent manner.

If this football thing doesn’t work out for Dominik, Joe is convinced he’ll be hired by the four-letter or FOX or CBS to provide NFL front office insight.

So often Dominik was on Sirius NFL Radio at one point, Joe tabbed him “rock star” as if he was David Lee Roth pimping the Van Halen reunion tour, sans a troupe of roadies of course.

It didn’t hurt that Dominik was nailing draft pick after draft pick as well.

But not all players may agree with this assessment of Joe’s. To many, Dominik is the NFL grim reaper. Think about it: How many players has Dominik deemed not worthy or over the hill and not invited to a training camp? Many of those same players had limited NFL careers after Dominik waved goodbye.

The list is impressive if not depressing. Anwar Richardson of the Tampa Tribune, Twittering on the TBO Bucs Twitter feed, mentioned a few.

@TBO_Buccaneers: When #Bucs GM Mark Dominik tells a player he’s lost his value, Dominik is usually right (Brooks, Dunn, Cadillac, Ruud, Stylez).

Joe sees what Richardson is implying and he’s dead-on. To be fair, we do not know if Ruud’s career is shot. Over 100 tackles last season does not suggest Ruud is washed up.

To Joe’s knowledge, Stylez White is still unemployed and he’s been very quiet on Twitter of late.

Cadillac, as much as Joe loves the guy, proved last year he was no longer an effective NFL starter.

In other words, if Dominik doesn’t want you, it’s a good bet your NFL days are numbered.

Joe made the case yesterday that Aqib Talib is a not a player hatchetman commissioner Roger Goodell cares much about because Talib is little known on the national stage, therefore his transgressions, and alleged trangressions, are not a priority.

Some think the hatchetman will suspend Talib this season before his trial in Texas. Joe would be stunned if that happened.

Today, Mike Florio, creator, curator and overall guru at ProFootballTalk.com, launched a similar take saying Goodell’s discipline is subjective public relations more than anything else.

How else can anyone reconcile the fact that Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was suspended six games despite never been arrested or charged for sexual assault, and yet Broncos cornerback Perrish Cox continues to practice and play despite facing two years to life based on specific, detailed, and troubling allegations that he raped and impregnated a woman who had passed out at his apartment?

If Roethlisberger had allegedly done what Cox had allegedly done, the lockout wouldn’t have ended.  For Roethlisberger.

Following Florio’s logic, a strong season by Talib this year certainly enhances Talib’s chances of garnering a stiff punishment from the justice-be-damned commissioner. If the Bucs make the playoffs and Talib picks Peyton Manning twice on Monday Night Football, all of a sudden Goodell probably will feel like he must flash his testicles and crack down on Talib regardless of what the Texas courts say next year.

What a way to run a league.

Much has been written and said about Donald Penn battling Adrian Clayborn in training camp. It’s fun to watch, and it’s fun to hope that Penn is helping the kid mature and make up ground lost thanks to the asinine lockout.

Penn delivered some of the more interesting commentary on the topic, courtesy of Craig Smith of ESPN1040.com. It seems Penn is getting his own education.

Speaking of rookies, DE Adrian Clayborn has had a fast start to camp, much like WR Mike Williams did a season ago, and has already earned the praise of his practice counterpart, Pro Bowl LT Donald Penn.

“He really holds his ground good,” Penn said. “It helps us, as a defense, set that edge.  It’s really hard to get him off the box, off the block, on the run plays.  He has so many counter moves.  I tell people all the time, I think a lot of his plays are going to be made off of effort and off of counter plays, because he counters so quick.  It’s something I haven’t seen, so it’s something I’m trying to get used to that will help me in the long run, too.”

Joe loves hearing all this stuff, but Clayborn is still a rookie. Joe will be very pleased if he performs better than Stylez White did last year.

Joe knows the players at One Bucs Palace crave national attention for the emerging Bucs. They want the buzz and hype that comes with your team playing on a national stage — and the gear and ticket sales, marketing deals and overall popularity that typically follows.

The Bucs have Monday night and Saturday night games this year, but the first national show is a week from tonight.

Hardly sexy, but the Bucs are nationally televised in Kansas City on FOX for their preseason opener. There’s no other national game up against them, and the biggest markets in the country don’t have a home team playing at the same time.

Hoping to catch a glimpse of naughty Margaret Hoover, Joe watched a bit of The O’Reilly Factor last night on FOX News. The show went to a commercial break and up popped a sizzling promo for the Bucs-Chiefs game. Josh Freeman was getting talked up and LeGarrette Blount was airborne.

Hopefully, that helps. The Bucs desperately need to score the bandwagon types that typically jump on a 10-6 young team with dudes like Blount and Freeman — in what’s supposed to be a football town.

With single game tickets going on sale today at 10 a.m., Joe wonders what the response will be.

In sort of a farewell address to the Tampa Bay area, former Bucs leading tackler and middle linebacker Barrett Ruud appeared on The Fabulous Sports Babe Show Thursday afternoon heard on WHBO-AM 1040.

During the long interview which touched upon a variety of subjects from his new coaches to his alma mater being rated the best team in the Big Ten, Ruud was asked both about his harsh critics locally and his relationship with the Bucs.

Ruud all but dismissed his critics as not being knowledgeable football people and professed his affection for Bucs coach Raheem Morris.

Fabulous Sports Babe: When was the moment you knew you were not coming back here?

Barrett Ruud: You know what? It’s tough to say. I really thought I’d be coming back. I guess once free agency started and I didn’t hear a whole lot from [the Bucs], I guess I figured then. I really did think I would be back this year after the [2010] season was done. It just so happened it didn’t work out. But I guess I sort of figured through free agency I wasn’t going to be back.

Sports Babe: I said for the last month or so now — it was just my own personal opinion — that if I were Barrett Ruud I would not stay here because I felt that no matter what you did, it wouldn’t be enough for the people who were going to constantly complain about Barrett Ruud.

Ruud: (chuckles) Yeah, you know what? One thing you can’t control is criticism. The one thing I have a lot of comfort in is I find most of my critics are not involved in the game. It seems like the people that are involved in the game don’t criticize me that much. So, that’s one thing you are going to deal with. It’s part of the league and that’s why it is so popular is that everybody’s into it. My niece does fantasy football and she thinks she knows more than me. But that’s the reason why football is one of the — it is the premiere sport in the world, probably. You are going to have criticisms but you can’t look that much into it.

Sports Babe: You think your relationship with the coach , the head coach and the front office was fractured?

Ruud: Definitely not the coach. Me and Raheem are very close. I always plan to make return trips down to Tampa. I have friends down there. When you spend six years there, I’ve met too many good people just to shut it all out. My coach is one of them. We are very close and we will always hang out, so that is not an issue. Definitely when you are not wanted by people it is frustrating when it’s your job.

It sounds like Ruud won’t be exchanging Christmas cards with Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik as Ruud went out of his way to dodge the question about his relationship with the Bucs front office.

Just goes to show what a class guy Ruud is in the midst of a difficult, humbling if not embarrassing time for the guy.

Finally. Finally! Joe has figured out who defensive line coach Keith Millard reminds him of. It’s Jesse “The Body” Ventura.

The man’s coachspeak sounds like Ventura talking to Mean Gene Okerlund circa 1985 on WOR-TV. Ahhh, Joe longs for his teen years. The invigorating, inspiring voice resurrecting the Bucs’ D-line sat down for an interview Thursday with the Ron and Ian Show on WDAE-AM 620 and rapid-fired takes on his students.

So what does Millard, a former All-Pro manbeast of defensive tackle himself, think of Da’Quan Bowers?

“Oh, man. He’s a brute. You remember Reggie [White]. That’s what I think of when I think of him. Big strong 285-pound guy, 16 [percent] body fat. Unbelievable explosion out of his stance,” Millard said. “When he gets in his stance we call him hidden dragon crouching tiger. I mean he is down there low. Just got to clean up his technique and his lines a little bit, how he’s gettin’ off and staying on his lines. You know, getting him to use a little more footwork.

“He likes to go right down the middle of people. He likes to blow people up. You gotta have a little bit of changeup in there. You know what I’m talking about Ian. But he’s coming along great. We’re trying to get him healthy at the same time, you know, so we’re a little bit slower on bringing him along as far as the technique and things of that nature.

“We’re making sure he’s assignment sound. But we don’t want to push hin too much and not be able to have him for the season. We want him for the season.”

Reggie White? That’s the highest of high comparisons. Of course, Joe knows Bowers has yet to play a down, but Joe got fired up hearing Millard spit that out as only he can.

A little scary that Millard doesn’t consider Bowers healthy, but we’ll all know the truth soon enough. Nonetheless, Joe’s excited to see the guy who is a massive X factor for the Bucs this season.

For those unfamiliar with Jesse Ventura, also a former Bucs radio man, here’s a clip below:

What mentors does Raheem Morris credit for his success? (yes, Joe realizes haters will be quick to say Raheem has a losing record.)

Surely there’s a long list from Raheem’s 10 years coaching in the league. But somewhat surprisingly, it appears the Bucs head coach puts Derrick Brooks atop the list, so he told the dean of Tampa Bay sports radio, Steve Duemig, on WDAE-AM 620 yesterday.

“Everybody knows he’s the Don. And that’s how we refer to him,” Raheem said of Brooks. “I guarantee you. Half the stuff I say, I got from him, that he probably got from Dungy or some of the great coaches he worked for, Coach Bowden.

“I’ll never forget, it’s like clockwork for me right now, about him explaining to me one day about falling back in Cover 2. He talked about letting the 3-technique win. And he talked about ‘taking two steps, three steps, if you go any farther you’re going to go too far you won’t be able to fall back. You won’t to make the play.’ To this day it’s a coaching point.

“It is absolutely from the Don. That is not in any playbook.”

Brooks was at Bucs practice yesterday, and Raheem acknowledged that Brooks still has a heavy influence.

Hopefully, Brooks has all the young linebackers on speed dial.

The Bucs won’t be cutting massive checks to their big free agent signings until next month. But it’s coming, so ESPN blogger Pat Yasinskas detailed today.

Yasinskas says he’s looked at the contracts of Davin Joseph and hopefully-not-overpaid Quincy Black, and they’ll get big first-year paydays before their annual salaries slowly drop.

The Bucs didn’t give Joseph a signing bonus on his seven-year, $52 million contract. Instead, they put a ton of money right up at the front of Joseph’s contract. They gave him a $9.5 million base salary for this year and the same for next year. Both years are fully guaranteed.

After that, Joseph’s base salary drops to $6 million in 2013 and stays the same in 2014. It rises to $7 million in 2015 and stays the same in 2016. In 2017, Joseph’s schedule salary is $7.5 million.

The Bucs took a similar tact when they brought back linebacker Quincy Black. He didn’t get a signing bonus either, but he got a big first-year salary. Black will earn $6 million this year and his salary drops to $5.5 million for each of the following four years.

Looking at the massive payday for Quincy Black — Quincy Black! — Joe wonders how incredibly motivated Geno Hayes must be. Hayes will be a free agent in 2012.

One could make an argument that Hayes, who turns just 24 next week, is more valuable right now.