Hello from warm (yes, for February in central Indiana, warm, pushing 60!), rainy, windy, gloomy Indianapolis, where Joe is typing from Lucas Oil Stadium as the 2014 NFL Scouting Combine is about to start.

Things kick off with a bang with Dolphins head coach Joe Philbin talking at 9:45 a.m. Gee, wonder what he will be asked about?

Bucs coach Lovie Smith takes the podium (one of three here) at 1:15 p.m. and Bucs general manager Jason Licht arrives at 2.

Over the next four days, check back early and often. Joe will try to overwhelm you with news from Bucs people and, of course, the hundreds of players the NFL will trot out for us beer-swilling, free-food-scarfing scribes to pester.

Joe is looking forward to this and hopes you are too.

Caution: Reporters do not have access to the stuff on the field during the NFL’s glorified indoor track practice (well, very limited access). Readers who want to know times, etc., will see much more on the NFL Network than Joe will see at Lucas Oil Stadium.

Monument Circle in downtown Indianapolis. The view from Joe’s hotel room shot Wednesday after a harrowing day of flight and airport hopping.

Throw away the spreadsheets and Mike Glennon’s easily-spinnable-in-any-direction statistics, this young quarterback is a standout leader.

Those are the words of a man who was up close and personal with Glennon all last season. [read more]

Here’s the audio of Joe’s popular Wednesday hour with the dean of Tampa Bay sports radio, Steve Duemig, of WDAE-AM 620.

Despite what some Bucs fans will have you believe, the draft is the foundation of a team. If you stink at drafting, then you will almost always be watching other teams play football in January. If a team is draft savvy, it will deliver lasting success.

Jason Licht, come on down.

Today the NFL Combine begins in not too chilly Indianapolis (February in the Midwest can be so much worse that the 50s) and this will basically be Licht’s first day on the job in a matter of speaking. [read more]

How much will size matter for the nation’s top defensive end? The Bucs called attention to him this week.

When you’re coming off a 13-sack senior season and your dad had 100+ NFL sacks and is a professional defensive line coach, lots of NFL Draft analysts are going to pay attention.

But despite the awareness of defensive end Jackson Jeffcoat out of the University of Texas, there’s no consensus on where he’ll land in the draft. [read more]

Joe needed a mop to soak up all the irony on this one: the Bucs have signed former Rutgers linebacker Damaso Munoz out of the Canadian Football League. [read more]

Could Michigan OT Taylor Lewan freefall to the second round because of disturbing off-the-field nonsense?

Joe doesn’t understand why some Bucs fans are abhorrent to drafting a tackle. The Bucs’ offensive line last year wasn’t anything close to the Oakland Raiders’ of the 1970s.

That why Joe is OK with drafting a tackle. Yeah, Joe agrees drafting a guard at No. 7 is a big-time reach.

No, Joe is not jumping on the Donald Penn-is-all-that-is-wrong-with-the-world bandwagon. He played OK last year. Could he play better? Sure. Penn was hardly the problem with the Bucs offensive line. There may not be a better dude on the Bucs than Demar Dotson. He’s one of Joe’s favorites, but he’s a marginal player. Too often he gets bull-rushed like a blocking sled. [read more]

A fresh example emerges

Fans and media have heard of the immense respect players across the NFL have for Lovie Smith.

Now there’s fresh evidence from a guy Lovie benched and shunned a second time. [read more]

Joe has read many, many, many mock drafts by learned NFL analysts suggesting the Bucs draft an outside linebacker, specifically Khalil Mack of Buffalo.

Joe simply did not understand this. First, there is simply, no way the Bucs are looking to replace Lavonte David. Mack is not a middle linebacker. And on the other side, Dekoda Watson and Johnathan Casillas only manned the position for roughly 40 percent of the defensive snaps. [read more]

Lovie has experience in Canton and may be a driving force

The buzz on the street says the Buccaneers are a prime candidate to open the NFL preseason schedule in the annual Hall of Fame game in Canton, Ohio, on Sunday night, Aug. 3.

It’s a game familiar to Lovie Smith, and one the Bucs very well may be lobbying to play. [read more]

One of Jeff Tedford’s ex-players says his guru ways should not be underestimated

Earlier today, Joe referenced Jeff Garcia confidently stating that Jeff Tedford’s system is significantly better than anything Mike Glennon experienced under the New Schiano Order. 

That raised an eyebrow for Joe because the Bucs’ offensive coordinator’s NFL offense is a complete mystery, and he was a coach who often adapted in college. [read more]

Now the Bucs’ old helmet?

Bucs Hall of Fame defensive tackle Warren Sapp has been dropping hints that there is big Bucs news coming this week. The news has arrived: the Bucs are getting a new helmet with a new twist to their logo.

It’s all spelled out at Buccaneers.com. But you’ll have to watch NFL Network on Thursday at 8 p.m. for the unveiling.

Gerald McCoy will join Sapp for the big moment.

[read more]

A former Bucs QB is confident

Supposedly, Mike Glennon was a tailor-made fit for Mike Sullivan’s offense, the same offense that was ranked ninth in the NFL in 2012 with Josh Freeman in charge. Greg Schiano thought Glennon was the right man, but Glennon captained the NFL’s worst offense last season.

Don’t worry, says former Bucs quarterback Jeff Garcia. [read more]

Now roughly three weeks from the NFL free agent dinner bell ringing on March 11 at 4 p.m., no one short of Houston is certain who they will draft in the first round.

There are seven positions that Joe could see the Bucs drafting with the seventh overall pick (or before). That’s not to say Joe believes the Bucs should go all those routes, but Joe wouldn’t fall over backwards on the night of the first round if Joe heard NFL warden commissioner Roger Goodell go one of those directions. [read more]

Canton-bound Bucs?

You know what the worst part of the NFL is? Preseason games. Joe can totally understand how paying customers throughout the continental United States feel like they got mugged on 42nd Street in midtown Manhattan when buying tickets to these games.

[read more]

Could Will Gholston be a starting DE for the Bucs?

Last year when (now former) Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik drafted defensive lineman Will Gholston on the third day of the draft, Joe thought the Bucs may have got a bargain. The guy had the physical tools. The issue was, could he be coached up?

He was.

Gholston told Joe he learned plenty from former front-7 coach Bryan Cox. Initially, it seemed Gholston may have been a September casualty of the final cuts. [read more]