Who led NFL rookies in tackles last year?

Budding superstar Von Miller? Nahh. It was Mason Foster (84 tackles).

Now a not-so-wise man once said “stats are for losers.” But Joe always disagreed with that sentiment, as numbers can be very telling sometimes.

Do the numbers mean much in the case of Foster? That could be argued in various directions. But hearing that stat made Joe take pause and remember how Foster did some good things in what was almost a no-win situation for him.

The man jumped from a late third-round draft pick into the lockout-shortened mess of an offseason and was flanked by Quincy Black, who turned in a historic disappointment of a season, and Geno Hayes, who might just be out of football at 24 years old. And top that off with a lousy defensive coordinator, an unproven linebackers coach and a defensive line that struggled mightily. Foster also fought through injuries in both ankles.

Maybe Foster put enough on tape to give Team Schiano solid confidence they can develop him into a good middle linebacker, perhaps one even better than Curtis Lofton or the other free agent linebacker flavors of 2012.

Foster still might be better as an outside linebacker, as Joe’s written many times, but it’s at least reasonable to believe he showed enough to keep his job and develop in it. The Bucs need help at linebacker, but Foster’s probably the least of their concerns at the position.

It’s almost ridiculous to think there’s a general manager in the NFL that would consider trading for Aqib Talib.

The man could be incarcerated or get a lengthy league suspension by summertime, plus he’s injury prone and only has a year left on his contract.

Mark Dominik: So we’re looking to move Talib. What will you cough up?
NFL GM: That’s a good one, Rockstar. That’s almost as funny as when you called last week shopping Quincy Black.

Joe’s painted this hypothetical picture because PewterReport.com guru Scott Reynolds is running with an anonymous-source story stating the Bucs are shopping Talib. Feel free to click through and read it.

Joe frowns on anonymous-source journalism in general. There’s just no point in most cases.  

Regardless, if Dominik is shopping Talib — or a third of the Bucs roster — Joe wouldn’t be surprised. That’s what GMs do after a crappy season and the entrance of a new regime.

It’s never too early for old fashioned bulletin board material to get one fired up for the season, and Joe might have some here.

Joe respects Carolina wideout Steve Smith, but Joe really is no fan of that guy. In fact, Joe hates everyone wearing that goofy panther on their helmet.

Speaking yesterday on the “Rich Eisen Podcast,” Smith talked about the Panthers’ early schedule — they open at Tampa Bay — and said of the Bucs, “They gotta prove a lot of things.”

Now who the hell is Steve Smith to be saying that about the Bucs.  The guy caught two balls with E.J. Biggers shadowing him throughout the first Bucs-Panthers game last year. Shutup, Smith. Worry about your own 6-10 team.

Interestingly, the Panthers play the Bucs, Saints, Falcons and Giants in their first four games. Smith says the schedule quickly will “establish who is in the better half of the NFC South.” It also could leave the Panthers at 0-4 and wondering what hit them. 

Of course, that would require a Bucs win on opening day, and Team Schiano figuring out how to keep the Panthers from chewing up massive chunks of yards running up the gut. Wouldn’t that be refreshing.

Joe’s incredible opening-night draft party on Thursday, April 26 at Pete & Shorty’s just got more exciting.

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Just email joe@joebucsfan.com with the subject line “DRAFT LIMO” and the following information: Name, Address, Size of your group.

 A winner will be randomly selected and notified via email on Friday, April 20. The winner will have 24 hours to respond and accept before JoeBucsFan.com will assign a new winner. Good luck.

Reports say Greg Schiano busted out a synchronized swimming analogy to his young defense yesterday.

One of the all-time great Raheem Morris quotes featured his take in 2010 on transitioning from OTAs and minicamps to the broiling heat and real live contact in training camp.

“Training camp is a little bit different. You know to me, that’s when you establish the men. You know you take off your underwear. You put on your big boy pads. And you put your face on people. And that’s what training camp is about.” — Raheem Morris

Joe admits that cracks him up every time, and reading it in print doesn’t do it justice. The video is a knockout.

The reason Joe brings up that Raheem gem is because Joe can’t bring himself to overanalyze anything the Bucs did yesterday in an April underwear practice at One Buc Palace, the first of the offseason for Greg Schiano and staff. Of course, Joe realizes this entire website is devoted to overanalyzing everything the Bucs do, but Joe has to stop the madness once in a while. Raheem’s message did have a lot of truth to it.

The media got to watch 30 minutes of yesterday’s workout — much of that time was stretching and running — and then chat with Schiano a couple hours later. Good guy Craig Smith, of WHBO-AM, has an excellent, thorough summary on ESPNFlorida.com.

Yeah, Ronde Barber ran around at safety a little. No big surprise. And Quincy Black got the opportunity to bark out the defense. That doesn’t mean anything in reality other than Schiano wants Black, among others, to get some of that experience in his new system.

As Joe wrote about earlier, what’s really meaningful from these practices, aside from learning the playbook, is Schiano changing the culture and discipline within the organization. Smith touched on that in his summary.

However, the voice you could hear over all coaches was Schiano’s.  At one point, Schiano was working with a full defense and made an interesting reference.  He compared eleven defenders working together to synchronized swimming.  To hit his point home, he had the defense line up and sprint sideline to sideline after imaginary “ballcarriers” in an effort to emphasize gang tackling, which is something this defense certainly lacked in 2011.

Apparently everyone showed up for the voluntary practice except for Connor Barth. And the Bucs will be back at it today and Thursday.

Look for Joe to get back to obsessing about practice, but for now Joe’s just going to look at yesterday for what it was — an underwear day at the start of a long offseason process.

Looking at the Buccaneers schedule below, a few things stand out to Joe.

In no particular order:

*Sensibility has returned with the Bucs playing 4:15 home games in September — Panthers on opening day followed by the Redskins on Sept. 30. It’s brainless to play 1 o’clock games in Florida in September. Maybe, just maybe, this will help Bucs attendance a bit.

*Unfortunately, the Bucs didn’t get the Saints early; their first meeting is Week 7. There’s going to be some suspensions and various disarray with the Saints early, but the Bucs won’t catch it.

*Only one national night game, Thursday, Oct. 25, against the Vikings on NFL Network. Adrian Peterson should be back 100 percent by then, which is probably why the NFL paired the Bucs and Vikings, so the fantasy geeks with Peterson will drive ratings for a likely low-demand game.

*At the Broncos and Peyton Manning on Dec. 2. Ugh. Anything in December in Denver is not a pretty picture.

*Michael Vick and the Eagles on Dec. 9 in Tampa. Has Vick ever played before a non-soldout stadium?

*The bye in Week 5 is a good thing. The Bucs and Greg Schiano get four games under their belt and time off to kick more ass  re-evaluate. Hopefully, the Bucs are sitting on at least a 2-2 record.

Here it is boys and girls, Joe has the regular season schedule for your Tampa Bay Bucs.

(All games 1 p.m. kickoff unless otherwise noted. All times Eastern.)

Sept. 9 Panthers, 4:15 p.m.
Sept. 16 at Giants.
Sept. 23 at Cowboys
Sept. 30 Redskins, 4:15 p.m.
Oct. 7 (bye)
Oct. 14 Chiefs
Oct. 21 Saints
Oct. 25 (Thursday) at Vikings, 8:20 p.m.
Nov. 4 at Raiders, 4 p.m.
Nov. 11 Chargers
Nov. 18 at Panthers
Nov. 25 Falcons
Dec. 2 at Broncos, 4 p.m.
Dec. 9 Eagles
Dec. 16 at Saints
Dec. 23 Rams
Dec. 30 at Falcons

There you have it Bucs fans. React!

Many fans envisioned today’s first no-pads, no offense-vs-defense voluntary practice today for the Greg Schiano regime at One Buc Palace would feature Schiano setting an on-field tone of discipline not seen in Tampa for years.

That seems to be the case.

The media got to watch 30 minutes of action (inaction), and local ESPN Radio affiliate Bucs reporter Craig Smith Twittered out a peek at the new approach.

@CraiginTampa: Schiano screaming: football is a game of details! Toes up on that edge! They are going through warm up stretching, people. … Players running everywhere, coaches screaming like drill sergeants. Schiano’s voice carrying over all of them. Incredibly intense

Smith’s Twittering, and others’, reveals that Aqib Talib and Kellen Winlslow are in attendance, along with Cody Grimm and the Bucs’ new crop of high-priced free agents are there feeling out their coaching staff.

It’s a new day in Tampa Bay.

Yeah, Joe’s a football guy through and through. NFL Network, SiriusXM NFL Radio, this here site on the interwebs… there simply is not a day that goes by that Joe does not consume NFL content in some form. And Joe’s not even going to discuss his sometimes unhealthy addiction to college football, either.

But that doesn’t mean he believes other sports are poison.

Joe’s a baseball guy too and even has MLB Extra Innings available on his computer and Droid RAZR Maxx.

Sunday was Jackie Robinson Day, a day where — at the demands of Bud “Bad Haircut” Selig — there is an awful, pandering gimmick where every player of every team must wear Robinson’s No. 42.

(Imagine if, one game a year, every NFL player was required to wear Marion Motley’s No. 76. That would be pretty asinine, no?)

If Selig really wanted to honor Robinson, he’d invoke a Rooney Rule-type of program in baseball to ensure men and women of color have front office jobs. But of course, style always trumps substance in Selig’s world — “Hey, we care about Jackie Robinson’s heritage: Every player has to wear his number once a year.”

Anyway, Robinson was truly a remarkable man. For all the absolute s(p)it that man had to tolerate on a daily basis for years, and turn the other cheek, Joe knows of no better of a man.

If ever there was a man of character, it was Robinson.

This brings Joe to Adam Dell, columnist for the Bradenton Herald. He wrote recently how the Bucs should channel Robinson’s qualities and totally clean house after next week’s NFL draft.

There have been quite a few reports that the low-character guys were among the most popular people in the Bucs locker room last year.

Schiano is trying to eradicate the cancer from his clubhouse.

Dell goes on to name names of who should walk the plank, no matter their talent. Dell is of the mind that the players he names (click the link above) will do more to undermine new Bucs coach Greg Schiano than to help get the Bucs to winning ways.

Dell lauds Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik for throwing oft-suspended Tanard Jackson overboard. But, Dell suggests, he and Schiano shouldn’t stop there.

It’s what Jackie Robinson would do, Dell believes.

Former Cleveland Browns scout turned senior draft guru for The Sporting News and a noted author, Russ Lande, delivered powerful commentary yesterday during an interview with Todd Wright on WQYK-AM 1010.

Lande very much captured the raging passion of the Morris Claiborne vs. Trent Richardson debate.

While saying Richardson is “the best running back I ever graded” since he began evaluating the entire league in 1994, when asked by Wright to play Bucs GM and pick for Tampa Bay, Lande said, “you have to look elsewhere” and not pick Richardson.

Lande was struck by Richardson’s greatness and NFL-readiness on all levels and raved about his blocking, but he cited too many teams having success with running backs grabbed in later rounds. Cornerback and offensive tackle are positions Lande has no problem drafting with the fifth overall pick.

Joe remains focused on the Bucs at cornerback and Morris Claiborne. Having at least one great cornerback is critical, especially in the NFC South. Ronde Barber and Aqib Talib likely are gone in 2013, and Eric Wright is not a great cornerback. Myron Lewis and E.J. Biggers are not superstars-in-waiting, so Joe would find it impossible to not snatch Claiborne if he’s sitting there at No. 5.

Will Larry Asante be able to take advantage of a golden opportunity?

As minicamp opens for the Bucs today, there is probably no bigger hole than at safety.

Sure, one could argue the Bucs linebackers are worse off, and Joe wouldn’t really disagree. But at least the Bucs have a pair of starting linebackers returning, Mason Foster and Quincy Black.

If ever there was an opportunity handed over on a golden platter for Bucs backup safeties Larry Asante and Ahmad Black, it is this week, notes cool cat Scott Purks of CBSSports.com.

After linebacker, the other position under a great deal of scrutiny to start voluntary mini camp is safety. With the dismissal last week of S Tanard Jackson, two players — S Larry Asante and S Ahmad Black — suddenly step to the forefront. Neither Asante or Black, drafted in the fifth round out of Florida, has started an NFL game.

It seemed virtually every game last year Asante, who came out of Nebraska highly-thought of, was inactive. Black was more often than not hurt, first hobbled in training camp.

There is no guarantee that Cody Grimm will come back 100 percent. Having suffered season-ending leg injuries in each of his first two seasons, it almost stands to reason Grimm may have lost a step as a result, and he wasn’t that fleet of foot to begin with.

Additionally, Corey Lynch, who is a fantastic special teams player but seems to struggle as a starting safety, is an unrestricted free agent.

Opportunity is knocking for Asante and Black. Will they be able to answer the door?

Yesterday, a man from Iowa who went by the handle “Hollywood” called to talk Bucs on “The Blitz,” co-hosted by former Super Bowl quarterback Rich Gannon and popular sports radio personality Adam Schein, heard exclusively on SiriusXM NFL Radio.

“Hollywood” explained how he felt Greg Schiano was a breath of fresh air for Bucs fans and scolded Gannon and Schein for softballing questions to jettisoned Bucs coach Raheem Morris in Morris’ weekly appearances with the duo last season.

“Hollywood” added how “sick” he was of what he deemed Morris’ excuses for losing when Gannon cut him off to defend Morris.

Rich Gannon: It was hard for Raheem Morris to come on here each week, team losing 10 in a row, it was hard. You feel bad for the coach. He has to address his team. He has to address the local media. He has to address the national media on our show each week about what went wrong. After five or six in a row, it’s not only tough on the coach; it’s tough for the guys on the other end of the microphone. It’s tough trying to find something positive during that interview.

Adam Schein: In eight years, the two toughest spots we’ve had on this show, “The Blitz,” where a team was absolutely spiraling, was Raheem Morris and Dom Capers in his last year in Houston, the last year he was there, but particularly Raheem because the team quit on him, the team just did not play hard for the man. He always talked about how he liked the tempo in practice and we love Raheem, but he didn’t have any answers.

Gannon: It is hard on these men, they are family men. This is their profession and the losing pained these men. Then you feel bad because you have to ask him tough questions and then you ask Raheem if the team quit on him and he says, ‘No, no.” But you know deep down in his heart he knew that. He watched the same tape everybody else did. There is no way he felt that way. That team clearly quit on him last year. There was a lack of leadership. You talk about what they have to do forward, the biggest challenge this season for Greg Schiano is to implement a new system and to find and develop leadership on both sides of the ball for Tampa Bay.

This is why Joe applauded the dismissal of oft-suspended Tanard Jackson. Not only could the guy not be trusted, it was time for Schiano to weed out the bad influences and take control of a team that not only woefully lacked discipline, but took advantage of their head coach far, far too often.

Joe believes those days are coming to a screeching halt beginning this morning at practice, if the law wasn’t already laid down.

Now here’s a roundabout way of saying Bucs left tackle Donald Penn is indirectly swaying not only who the Bucs will draft next week, but how Minnesota may draft.

Yeah, Joe knows this is a bit crazy on face value, but bear with him.

One reason, so says Mike Florio, the creator, curator and overall guru of ProFootballTalk.com, that the Vikings will/should draft USC tackle Matt Kalil with the third overall pick is that a left tackle can only be found in the draft “unless he falls out of the sky after the Vikings cut him.”

That’s exactly what has happened here, twice.

Yeah, last year the Vikings cut Bryant McKinnie, who was a fixture on the Vikings’ left side of the offensive line for a decade.

But not only did the Vikings cut McKinnie, they also put Donald Penn on their practice squad before he was snatched by Bucs soon-to-be rock star general Mark Dominik in 2006. It was Dominik who had scouted Penn heavily in college and twisted the arm of then-Bucs general manager Bruce Almighty to pick up Penn.

Since, Penn has been mostly dominating right-side pass rushers.

So, yeah, the only way one can get a left tackle not from the draft is if the Vikings cut him. Just ask the Bucs (and Ravens).

So now, less than two weeks from the draft, the fact the Vikings no longer have Penn on the roster, will likely influence who lands at the Bucs with the fifth overall pick.

Popcorn-munching,coffee-slurping, fried chicken-eating, oatmeal-loving, beer-chugging Peter King got heavy into the uncertainty near the top of the 2012 draft today in his must-read Monday Morning Quarterback column on SI.com.

To summarize, King believes the Vikings will take Matt Kalil, though he doesn’t completely rule out them taking Morris Claiborne at No. 3, and King also claims his sources tell him the Browns are deciding between Justin Blackmon and Ryan Tannehill at No. 4.

That’s where it gets interesting for Bucs fans.

5. Jeff Fisher loves Trent Richardson, and the impact of the Rams ending up with the Alabama running back would be huge. First, the Rams would presumably either trade or release Steve Jackson if this happens. I don’t see them paying Jackson $7 million in 2012 to share the job with a player certain to eclipse him soon. And that big number takes some logical teams (Steelers, Giants) out of the running for Jackson. Now, I view this scenario as unlikely anyway, because the Rams simply have to get receiver help for Sam Bradford. But if Justin Blackmon is gone here and Richardson’s still there, he’s logical for the Rams. Of course, Cleveland likes Richardson a lot, and rookie Tampa coach Greg Schiano does too, so I don’t see Richardson making it to six.

That’s intriguing to Joe. Suppose Trent Richardson is there at No. 5 when the Bucs are on the clock. Might the Rams (at No. 6) get nervous and call rockstar general manager Mark Dominik with a trade-up offer so Jeff Fisher can snag Richardson?

If so, Joe could see the Rams offering the Bucs their No. 6 pick and Stephen Jackson (as King above says he would be traded to make room for Richardson) for the Bucs’ No. 5 pick.

That would be pretty a wild offer. The Bucs could then pair Jackson with LeGarrette Blount for a truly lethal, versatile running game and still grab Morris Claiborne at No. 6. 

The Bucs have the salary cap room for Jackson. And it’s awfully fun to imagine that backfield.

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Ronde Barber, not one to exaggerate, offered insight into the value of Gerald McCoy.

Painting vivid pictures on the 1010 AM radio airwaves with J.P. Peterson on Friday, Bucs icon Ronde Barber offered an image of his teammates hanging their heads when Gerald McCoy had his 2011 season ended in Week 9, on the heels of McCoy missing 2+ games with an ankle injury.

“Put it this way, when he got hurt last year we knew we were going to struggle. We knew right away,” Barber said. “We knew right away that, man, we don’t have a guy that can do that.”

Barber shared his excitement about McCoy’s talent level along with that of other Bucs defensive linemen. Barber also made it clear that after the Bucs’ 10-6 season in 2010, he thought he’d play two more years and be retiring “with multiple conference championships.” And it’s that remaining talent and new additions that led him to return in 2012.

“I know that front four we have there, they’re young, so it’s hard to say they’re great players, but they’re going to be great. I mean Gerald, man, Gerald’s had two great preseasons and followed it up by being hurt. So again, it’s not realized, we don’t know how good he can be. You see it in practice,” Barber said.

Barber went on to praise Brian Price, called Clayborn “a stud,” and said DaQuan Bowers “played his butt off at the end of last year.”

“It’s there,” Barber said of Bowers’ ability.

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Joe’s got a lot of respect of longtime NFL reporter and analyst Howard Balzer, who joined Bobby Fenton this morning on WDAE-AM 620.

Like Joe, Balzer is hardly sold on the alleged given that the Vikings will select offensive tackle Matt Kalil with the third overall pick, if they can’t trade down.

“Have you seen their cornerbacks?” Balzer asked rhetorically.

The more Joe listens to SiriusXM NFL Radio, the more Joe also thinks the Vikings might not take Kalil as many think. Bill Polian loves to talk about how every OT struggles in his first year, no matter how great.

Sure, the Vikings could use a stud left tackle prospect, but they also need another playmaker on defense — for their defensive head coach, a former cornerback himself, who’s trying to save his job.

Joe might just weep if the Bucs can’t draft Morris Claiborne.