Since the great, cranky, well-informed Dr. Z, Paul Zimmerman, had a series of strokes, knocking him off the pages of Sports Illustrated and SI.com, popcorn-munching, coffee-slurping, fried chicken-eating, oatmeal-loving, beer-chugging Peter King, the NBC Sports guru and Sports Illustrated scribe has picked up the mantle for the publication’s annual mock draft.

King has done a pretty good job too. Last year, King even beat Mike Mayock for accuracy. That’s pretty solid in Joe’s eyes.

So SI.com just posted King’s mock draft. He claims the Bucs secondary is in such a dire need of an upgrade, that drafting LSU Morris Claiborne is a must for Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik.

(Should pick: Morris Claiborne). Ronde Barber is 37, and free agent corner Eric Wright is plenty leaky, so this is Tampa Bay’s position of greatest long-term need. The Tigers trusted Claiborne on an island; as a pro he’ll have to hold his own against NFC South gunslingers Drew Brees, Cam Newton and Matt Ryan if the Bucs are going to have a chance to be competitive.

This is what Joe has been writing for months now: Never mind that Wright next year (if not this year) may be the Bucs’ best corner. It looks like Barber will be playing plenty of safety and who knows about Talib this year, much less if the Bucs re-sign him after his contract ends after the 2012 season.

Drafting a running back instead of Claiborne with the fifth pick is simply irresponsible, unless fans pine for the Bucs being down three touchdowns in the first half facing the likes this season of the Mannings, Phillip Rivers, Brees (twice), Matty Ice (twice) and Newton (twice).

Bucs icon Derrick Brooks is not hiding his desire for fellow Pensacolan Trent Richardson to wear pewter and red. And we already know Richardson wants to be here, too.

Joe’s tired this morning and will not beat the drum again for Morris Claiborne, who Joe desperately wants to see donning Bucs gear this time next week. Brooks spoke today on WDAE-AM 620. Listen below.

With about half his voice lost on the One Buc practice fields, Greg Schiano made it very clear to the media Thursday that Mason Foster’s role on the team is a major question mark.

Asked point blank whether Foster, who led all NFL rookies in tackles last season, showed enough to give Schiano confidence that he will be the Bucs’ middle linebacker, Schiano replied the following:

“You know I want to sit down with the staff and really talk through it. You know these have been long days. And at the end of the day we staff meet, but we haven’t talked a lot of personnel,” Schiano said. “I thought he had a good three days. I’m not sure where all those linebackers will land. You know Mason played [weakside linebacker] when he was in college. And then he played the Mike last year. So we have to kind of look. I may go back and even watch more of his college tape. I’ve watched a few games. You know, just to get a better feel. Because we’re not back at this stuff again now until June. So we’ve got some time to really study it.”

It’s interesting that Schiano is talking about going back to Foster’s college tape, considering he’s got hundreds of snaps on film — and likely watched all of them — of Foster playing MLB for the Buccaneers. Joe can’t figure out whether that’s alarming, or refreshing that coaches are working to get the most out of their players, versus the Jim Bates Experience of trying to ram the wrong scheme down players’ throats.

Clearly, Schiano is trying to find the right fit for Foster, versus trying to transforming him into something he might not be.

“It’s not only enough to get the right guys on the bus, but you gotta get’em in the right seats,” Schiano said. “And that’s one of the things that we’re trying to work very hard at is to figure out who fits where in our scheme. And do we have to adjust our scheme because nobody fits it.”

"Mark Dominik didn't draft me."

Joe makes no efforts to hide the fact he’s a fan of Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik. It was his uncanny ability to pull guys off the scrap heap in 2010, guys who plugged holes left by injured players with no apparent drop off in play, bringing the Bucs within whiff of Rachel Watson’s perfume from the playoffs. Combined with his sudden, new-found celebrity with the national media, is how Dominik earned his moniker.

But things didn’t start off so good for Dominik in his first year running the Bucs.

First, there was the messy divorce from popular, cornerstone franchise players like Derrick Brooks and Warrick Dunn that still has fans howling in disgust in their local watering holes, some three years later.

Attempting to channel his inner Ted Thompson and Kevin Colbert to fill the Bucs roster with draft picks, well, Dominik’s first draft hasn’t gone so well, documented Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times.

Only quarterback Josh Freeman, the first-round pick, has developed into a starter.

Two players — fourth-round pick Kyle Moore, a defensive tackle, and fifth-round pick Xavier Fulton, an offensive tackle — are no longer with the team. The other three players — cornerback E.J. Biggers, defensive tackle Roy Miller and receiver Sammie Stroughter — have limited roles as backups.

Gulp. That’s not good, especially for a team that wants to build through the draft. And Joe knows many Bucs fans want to run Biggers out of town on the next Greyhound bus… and Miller may be in the fight for his short professional career in trying to keep a roster spot this fall.

Still, Dominik will really have to try hard to find the magic of drafting that his predecessor Bruce Almighty and noted quarterback savant Chucky possessed.

Joe only needs to reference the 2007 draft, which may go down in Bucs history as the absolute worst draft.

First round: Gaines Adams (RIP).
Second round: Arron Sears, Sabby the Goat.
Third round: Quincy Black.
Fourth round: Tanard Jackson.
Fifth round: Greg Peterson.
Sixth round: Adam Hayward.
Seventh round: Chris Denman, Marcus Hamilton, Kenneth Darby.

No, Dominik’s first draft may have been a stinker. But Dominik will be able to rest at night, comforted in the knowledge that he couldn’t try to have a worse draft than Bruce Almighty and Chucky pulled off five years ago.

And people actually wonder why those two are no longer employed by the Bucs?

No, it’s not a new player signing. Calm down.

Joe’s here to introduce the new in-house, Bucs video reporter, Rachel Ramirez, who appeared on a new “@1Buc video” feature on Buccaneers.com about the recently concluded minicamp. Joe’s a big fan of Ramirez. Click on the link. (You’ll also see LeGarrette Blount talking about the Bucs new order, Greg Schiano working with Myron Lewis, and more.)

No slight to Scott Smith, who leads the “Buccaneers Insider” team videos, but Ramirez leaves Joe with a much more warm and fuzzy and tender feeling.

A little research reveal Ramirez is a couple of years out of college and comes to the Bucs from KION-TV in Mason Foster country, coastal Northern California. Joe’s heard she’s full-time with the Bucs and fans will be seeing a lot of her.

Good luck, Ms. Ramirez. Joe will be watching attentively.

The Vikings either sent out a massive smokescreen today or are being stunningly straight with their fans and the rest of the NFL.

Per the Pioneer Press, the Vikings have made their internal approach to their No. 3 overall pick public.

Minnesota Vikings general manager Rick Spielman is showing his staff three names to consider for the team’s third overall pick in the NFL draft: USC left tackle Matt Kalil, LSU cornerback Morris Claiborne and Oklahoma State wide receiver Justin Blackmon.

Each player, listed as equals on the team’s “big board,” will be the subject of the staff’s intense film evaluation over the weekend. Spielman, who has the final say on all personnel matters, hopes to decide on one of the three by Wednesday, April 25.

Of course, this news puts a knot in Joe’s stomach because it means Claiborne might be off the board when the Bucs step to the plate with the fifth overall pick. However, if the Richardson is off the board at No. 5, as well, the Bucs should be hit with interesting trade-down offers to get Kalil.  

Joe could see a scenario where the Cardinals want to trade up from No. 13, and the Bucs potentially drafting safety Mark Barron out of Alabama with Arizona’s pick while stockpiling more Cardinals draft picks.

Out at One Buc Palace today, Joe had a chance to ask rockstar general manager Mark Dominik whether he felt pressure to draft a running back given there are only two on the roster and the Bucs want to pound the football.

As part of Dominik’s answer, he said a third running back would be signed by the end of the day, a young man that “really impressed” him this week.

Dominik didn’t offer a name, but Joe has learned the player is Robert Hughes, who was on the Bears practice squad last season and was undrafted out of Notre Dame in 2011. Hughes is listed at 5-11, 245 pounds.  

Hughes played tailback and fullback for the Fighting Irish. Joe doesn’t expect the signing will make Bucs fans feel at ease about the running back position, but undrafted backfield gems are discovered every year around the league.

The thin Bucs defense just got officially thinner today when what was expected for months came true.

Geno Hayes is an ex-Bucs player.

This morning, Hayes, who was a starting Bucs outside linebacker for three seasons, signed with the Bears, so reports Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune.

Hayes worked out at Halas Hall earlier this week and was among a group of experienced players the team brought in for a look. Hayes, 6-foot-1, 226 pounds, doesn’t turn 25 until August. He’s made 42 starts over the previous three seasons for the Bucs. He made 64 tackles with two forced fumbles and one interception last season.

The Bears could put Hayes in a position to compete with strong-side starter Nick Roach, who has performed well. Or they could have him in a reserve role. The team didn’t have much in the way of experienced backups last season and was fortunate to make it through the season without serious needs because of injuries.

Yeah, Joe understands the Bucs lost a starting linebacker, but as ghastly as this defense was last year, is that really a loss?

The inherent problem with any form of print media is that quotes typically aren’t delivered with any hint as to the subject’s tone of voice, attitude, facial expressions, etc. — the things that help a reader know what message the subject was really trying to send. Words are also taken out of context, at times.

LeGarrette Blount apparently learned that lesson April 3, when he told CBSSports.com that he would not be a fan of the Bucs drafting a running back, presumably Trent Richardson, as CBSSports.com made clear in its story.

Speaking to Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times yesterday, Blount advised everyone not to take his comments the wrong way.

“Like I said, it was just a comment,” Blount said. “There’s nothing for anybody to read too deep into. You know, there’s not nothing I would want to explain. It was just a comment and I left it at that.

“Of course. I’d welcome [Trent Richardson] as a teammate. I’ve met the guy before. He’s not a bad kid, but at the same time, like I said, I’d welcome anything that helps the team get better. I’d welcome anybody as a teammate, it doesn’t matter who it is.’’

In a bizzare twist today, CBSSports.com reporter Will Brinson, who penned the initial story about Blount, wrote about Blount’s new comments and felt the need write this paragraph:

Blount’s comments at the time weren’t directed specifically at Richardson anyway; Blount was just saying that he would be taken aback if the Buccaneers felt the need to draft another running back. 

That’s a bizarre take considering the headline of the original CBSSports.com headline read as follows: LeGarrette Blount on Trent Richardson: ‘I would not like that pick’, and Brinson’s opening paragraph set the Richardson stage.

So which is it, CBS?

Joe realizes Brinson likely didn’t write the headline, but Joe can’t wrap his head around why Brinson would have written that paragraph above today, claiming the quote wasn’t about Richardson. That’s fishy.

Regardless, it was a dumb thing for Blount to utter at the time and Blount is now saying the right things. But Joe’s feeling like Blount got chop-blocked by CBS.

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 locally via his company,America’s Best Quarterback. Plus, he’s a really cool dude.

By JEFF CARLSON
JoeBucsFan.com analyst

Before his first draft adds new faces to the Buccaneers, Greg Schiano is getting a good look this week at his veteran roster with the first minicamp of the team he inherited from Raheem Morris. 

The Bucs recently cut ties with who I think was the poster boy for what went wrong last season. Not the only one to be sure, but it was a significant statement to the team.

Why was Tanard Jackson the apex of the problem? Even though publicly they welcomed him back with open arms, human nature makes for serious resentment. They let him take a year off (a league banishment of his own making) and then let him walk back in and enter the starting lineup immediately with barely a single practice under his belt. Not only that, they doubled his salary within a couple of weeks. 

Don’t you think the other 52 guys on the roster that went through training camp would have liked their salary doubled? Jackson didn’t sweat a drop with his team during training camp or the first five weeks of the season, but with a winning record accomplished with the players already in the locker room, he moved right back into the starting lineup without earning it back. Coincidentally, they didn’t win another game after his contract extension.

In team sports, coaches preach competition and earning your position through blood, sweat and tears. Dissention comes when players are treated differently in the area of workload. Raheem Morris watched and learned to treat players differently during his years with Jon Gruden, who I think lost his team’s ear as well, just not as impressively as last year.

Allowing players to have individual practice schedules, including pre-determined days off each and every week, causes the other players that carry their extra practice load to get a little jaded and builds resentment in the locker room. It also undermines so many of the coach’s sermons on hard work and players earning their playing time, and players start tuning them out.

In the great football movie about race relations and a state championship run in Remember The Titans, the star linebacker confronts his friend and kicks him off the team for not blocking for a black teammate. This unites the team as the players see that certain players will not get special treatment. The scene became the driving factor for them coming together as one and winning the state title.

Based on last year’s performance, Schiano would probably like to wipe the entire roster clean and start again, but he is limited in just how many changes he can actually make in a single year, so it may be up to players like Josh Freeman to stand up to a couple of guys and tell them that they need to practice like the rest of the team and that their body language and attitudes of last season are unacceptable moving forward and won’t be tolerated.

Getting this part of the team squared away will be the biggest reason the Bucs go from worst to first — eventually.

Tuesday must have been a rude awakening for Bucs players when they stepped onto the practice fields of One Buc Palace.

In recent years past, they were likely welcomed, patted on the back, joked with and met by rap music.

This year, rap music was replaced by the barking, direct orders of new Bucs coach Greg Schiano.

In many ways it is a culture shock if not a culture change. And it seems Bucs defensive tackle Gerald McCoy is right with the move, so he explained to eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune.

“He’s definitely re-established order,” McCoy said. “You can kind of tell we lost a little discipline and order around here, but he’s re-established it very well and he’s made it very clear that there will be order. Nobody in the building is exempt. If we’re going to turn this thing around, it has to be the whole organization, not just players and coaches.”

GMC went on to add Schiano’s intense focus on every tiny detail is the same as his old college coach Bob Stoops.

Now Joe is not applauding the New Schiano Order at One Buc Palace just because Schiano was hollering in the wind at the first workout. Hell, anyone can yell and scream. That’s not the point.

Schiano wanted even the most trivial things following properly; there was no task too small, even how to place one’s feet on a sideline chalk.

Doing the little things the right way, a habitual trait, means the big things will take care of themselves. There are clips of Vince Lombardi saying this, George Allen too.

Even a clip of Father Dungy with the creamsicle Bucs, clapping his hands for effect as players warmed up in the foreground, saying, “We do the little things the right way all the time.”

OK, this is just getting weird for Joe.

There have been all sorts of rumors claiming why Bucs wide receiver Dezmon Briscoe went AWOL on the Bucs this week, which doesn’t appear to have won him many favors with new law-and-order Bucs coach Greg Schiano.

The Bucs classified Briscoe’s absence, after the team investigated why he was not at One Buc Palace this week, as “personal issues.”

Well, if one has enough time to piece together all the Internet rumors, it’s a helluva lot more detailed than “personal issues.”

Apparently realizing that by his absence he jeopardized his tenure with the team (since the signing of Vincent Jackson, Briscoe is likely No. 5 on the depth chart), Briscoe took to Twitter tonight to try to explain himself to Bucs fans.

@DezBriscoe89: As far as me not being at camp. There are personal reasons. I love my teammates and I’ll be back at workouts Monday #bucnation … I could of handled the situation better. I’m still wrong and I wanna apologize to @Roycelr because she don’t deserve that. Love you … I’m done now. Looking forward to being with my teammates Monday. Everyone that knows me know I’ma team player till I die. No individuals

As to the details of Briscoe’s absense, from best Joe can tell Briscoe is in the middle of a sordid love triangle involving his baby mama, NBA player Dwight Howard’s baby mama, some NBA groupie, a reality show on VH1, and a quickie marriage.

At this point, Joe is just simply confused and hopes Briscoe makes it back to One Buc Palace ASAP rather than AWOL.

Only two practices into Ronde Barber taking significant reps at safety — on a team woefully short of experienced safeties — and the measured Greg Schiano isn’t afraid to glow about the way his Hall of Famer looks in the role.

Today Schiano described, in general, how Barber approached a typical play in practice with the focus and energy of a rookie trying to impress his coaches.

“I like what I see out there. I don’t know if that’s where he’ll stay or not. But I really like the way he’s attacking it and I think he can do it,” Schiano said of Barber’ work at safety.” You know, in the scheme we play, I think he can do it. Some would worry about his size. I don’t worry about it.”

On the heels of Schiano glowing about Aqib Talib earlier in the news conference, and hopefully the Bucs eventually scoring Morris Claiborne in the draft, the reality is Barber likely will need to play safety to get him on the field for significant snaps — or at least what he’s accustomed to.

If the Bucs roll into the season with Talib, Claiborne, Barber and Eric Wright, there’s going to be some serious competition and versatility.

It seems like Greg Schiano wanted to be extra clear that he wants Aqib Talib on his defense, so he told the Bucs’ media throng today.

No, Schiano wasn’t watching film of E.J. Biggers and Myron Lewis. He was responding to a rumor floated by Scott Reynolds of PewterReport.com that rockstar general manager Mark Dominik was looking to trade troubled No. 25.

ESPN.com Pat Yasinskas took notes as the Bucs’ new leader made it clear he embraces Talib.

“I want him to be a Buc,’’ Schiano said. “I understand there’s been issues before I arrived. I’m not naive to that. And I understand that some of those are a heck of a lot bigger than playing football. But I am really hopeful that that clears itself up. Since I met him for the first time, he’s done everything I’ve asked. He’s practiced well and he’s prepared well. I try not to judge people other than (by) how they treat me, and he’s treated me well.”

Before that, per Joe’s notes, Schiano said of the rumor, “there’s absolutely zero thinking on our part as far as wanting to [trade Talib].”

Schiano’s comments remind Joe of Kevin Carter’s when talking about Talib.

“I’d see him and it was always, Hi, Mr. Carter. He was respectful,’” said Carter, adding that Talib put in long hours at One Buc Place. “He worked his butt off.”

Carter said the Bucs have invested so much in Talib they should keep him and “take your chances that he’ll grow up.”

Clearly Talib knows how to behave. Doing it consistently, of course, is his problem.

Joe’s enjoying the “insider” looks at this week’s practices, the Buccaneers.com glimpses into the early hours of the Greg Schiano regime.

In this video posted earlier today, Joe was intrigued by the very fit looks sported by LeGarrette Blount and Josh Freeman as they stand front and center before Schiano. Clearly these guys have put in serious offseason work.

Also, we get to see Greg Schiano screaming, “Leadership leads. Get there. Get there.”

One thing Joe is absolutely, totally geeked about with new Bucs coach Greg Schiano is he is giving the Bucs a come-to-Jesus experience.

Video many TV stations aired, along with reports from multiple Bucs beat writers at the scene at One Buc Palace revealed Schiano screaming about “details.”

This, ladies and gentlemen, is a football coach. It’s all about the details. If you do the little, often trivial details, well, the big things will take care of themselves.

In other words, this is what is referred to as “fundamentals.”

Schiano, afterwards, noted that all but one person expected to be at the voluntary workouts was not there. Naturally, Schiano wouldn’t release the player’s name. But Joe has found out who the culprit was, by way of Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune who named the offending player on Twitter.

@RCummingsTrib: The no-show for the Bucs first minicamp workout under new coach Greg Schiano on Tuesday was WR Dez Briscoe. We’ll see if he shows today.

Uh, oh. Not smart Dezmon. Joe likes Dezmon a lot, both his talent and he’s a nice guy too. But with the addition of Vincent Jackson in the offseason, at best, Briscoe is a No. 4 receiver, maybe No. 5 behind Preston Parker who had more playing time than Briscoe last year.

For a guy on the low rung of a roster, not showing up to a workout under a brand new law-and-order coach who is trying to weed out the bad eggs, that’s simply not a wise move on Briscoe’s part.

Not surprisingly, after Scott Reynolds of PewterReport.com suggested the Bucs had troubled cornerback Aqib Talib featured on the NFL’s trading block, Joe suspected that there would be dissenting opinions and they are already flying in.

One would be from NFL Network’s Jason La Canfora who all but said a trade of Talib will not take place any time soon.

@JasonLaCanfora: Would be very surprised if the Bucs did shop CB Aqib Talib. They love his play and have stood by him despite off field issues.

This is the way Joe looks at it: First, with Talib facing a suspension from NFL warden commissioner Roger Goodell, if not a prison sentence in a Texas penitentiary, just what general manager would give the Bucs a decent draft pick for the guy?

Remember, a player of far more impact who had a demonstrated ability to make big plays in the biggest of games, Santonio Holmes, could only fetch a fifth round pick. Why? Partially because he was facing a suspension (not a potential prison sentence).

So to expect the Bucs to get anything better than that is, well, Joe believes, wishful thinking.

Does Joe believe Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik to be gauging other general managers if there is interest in Talib? Sure.

But interest and draft picks are two different things.