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]

Warren Sapp was his usual opinionated self during Super Bowl festivities. Joe got a chance to sit down with Sapp in frozen Newark to talk about a variety of topics. Joe’s already shared Sapp’s Hall of Fame takes, changed Xs-and-Os view of defense, and Sapp’s thumbs-down on Mike Glennon.

Today, Joe is sharing a Sapp take on the Buccaneers’ pass rush. [read more]

Joe can’t wait for all the afternoon fun Monday, Presidents’ Day, at Derby Lane. Live action greyhound racing, poker and free cash. Now that’s a great day! Click above or below to learn more.

Today marks the start of franchise-tag season, as well as the season for other tags related to NFL rules on retaining players and paying them big cash.

The Bucs, however, don’t have those concerns now. in part because leaky, sleepy Josh Freeman was benched and never became a guy the Bucs wanted to retain. [read more]

Could the Bucs use a WR like LSU’s Jarvis Landry?

Yes, the NFL Scouting Combine begins later this week. While Joe puts little value in the combine from a football talent perspective — it’s a glorified indoor track meet — it is excellent for evaluating prospects medically and interviewing potential players. 

Joe also loves the nonstop assembly line of NFL coaches and front office people, not to mention hundreds of top college players, available to be interviewed by the fourth estate. (Yes, Joe will be in Indianapolis gathering intelligence.)

Former NFL scout and current NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah is working overtime. He just published his top three draft needs for each NFL team. Below are his Bucs’ needs.

[read more]

Now Joe is attempting to do something dangerous here. Trying to be objective with numbers.

Joe knows the Mike Glennon Mob likes to point to his fellow rookie quarterback starters EJ Manuel and Geno Smith and say Glennon’s numbers were far better. That may be, but Chase Stuart of FootballPerspective.com pulled the onion skin back on the numbers, and while in some respects Glennon was better than Manuel and Smith, in other ways he was worse or similar to Smith. [read more]

In case you didn’t see this excellent story by vaunted NFL scribe John McClain on Johnny Football in the Houston Chronicle over the weekend, anyone who is remotely interested in football should take a peek at it.

Yes, it is about how Johnny Football wants to transform from college wunderkind to NFL stud. He’s working out in San Diego with a guy who has helped mold Ben Roethlisberger, Cam Newton and Andrew Luck. But as much as Johnny is working at being a quarterback, he is trying to rework his party-boy, skirt-chasing, liquor-swilling persona. [read more]

Joe knows many Bucs fans are thoroughly aroused by Mike Glennon’s numbers. They’ll trumpet his 19 touchdowns versus nine interceptions all day long.

Joe doesn’t get it. The stats obsession is mind-boggling, though understandable in our fantasy football culture. [read more]

Among the greatest in the league in 2014?

Joe knows Bucs fans tried to numb their anger with untold gallons of vodka last year over their disgust, and few subjects made them reach for a bottle of Tums more than the tight end position. It wasn’t so much who was playing the position, it was how the coaching staff of then-commander Greg Schiano approached it.

Yes, you’ve read here how the Bucs have the fourth-best quarterback in a four-team division (this won’t change with Michael Vick). [read more]

Since the dismal 2013 season ended, Bucs fans are trying their best to forget what turned out to be one of the more tumultuous and drama-filed seasons in franchise history.

First there was the MRSA outbreak and a kicker’s wife blaming the Bucs for what ailed her husband, never mind he was getting paid a nice chunk of change to sit on his couch. Then there was the implosion of leaky Rip Van Freeman who tossed enough Molotov cocktails in the Bucs locker room to first get benched and then get run from his team. [read more]

The fearless leader of the NFL’s 32nd-ranked offense, Mike Glennon, was lumped into a group of quarterbacks that may be best suited to hold clipboards and get loads of preseason snaps.

Glennon did not get much love from former Jets personnel chief and linebackers coach Pat Kirwan in a recent look at quarterbacks for CBSSports.com. [read more]

In recent weeks, numbers crunchers at Pro Football Focus have spent hours playing with their Excel spreadsheets and watching recorded TV broadcasts of games to cobble together a comprehensive look at the Bucs. And one thing the spreadsheeters don’t like is Dashon “The Hawk” Goldson.

The hard-hitting safety who gives NFL suits irritable bowel syndrome is not the same stud many saw play for the 49ers a couple of years ago. So much so that Khaled Elsayed believes Goldson is below average. [read more]

Your new Bucs tight end

Joe can’t get all hot in the pants about the Bucs’ latest signings announced this afternoon: tight end Steve Maneri and cornerback D.J. Moore, though both probably have a decent shot to land on the bottom of the opening-day roster.

Moore is a Lovie Smith guy. Maneri’s connection to the Bucs, if any, is unclear. Here’s the info. the team released: 

Maneri (6-7, 280) comes to the Buccaneers after playing four games with Chicago in 2013, including one start. Maneri entered the NFL as a college free agent with Houston in 2010, before joining Kansas City’s active roster for the 2011 and 2012 seasons. While with the Chiefs, Maneri played in 19 games with nine starts, recording six receptions for 52 yards. Maneri played collegiately at Temple.

Moore (5-9, 190) originally entered the league as a fourth-round pick (119th overall) of Chicago in 2009. Moore played in 45 games, with two starts in four seasons with the Bears (2009-12), totaling 115 tackles, 22 passes defensed, one sack, one forced fumble, and 10 interceptions returned for 128 yards and two touchdowns. Moore, who played collegiately at Vanderbilt, played in two games with the Carolina Panthers in 2013.

The sheer size of Maneri is impressive. Joe wonders what Maneri’s former Chiefs teammate Anthony Becht, the former Bucs tight end, will have to say about him.

UPDATE: Becht has weighed in to Joe via Twitter saying, “Maneri is tough as nails. He’ll punch u in the mouth. Short route guy. Good Italian kid. I groomed him well. ;)”

Could Lovie mold Notre Dame DE Stephon Truitt into a 43 end?

Yes, the Bucs need a pass rush. But do they draft a defensive end in the first round? That’s the question.

Sure, everyone this side of Steve Spurrier seems to be riding the jock of Jadeveon Clowney, a manbeast from South Carolina. It sort of irked Joe that when he was asked about the whispers — that Spurrier seemed all too willing not to deny — that he took off plays in college, Clowney dodged the question basically saying people who asked the question never played football.

Smells like a little bit of a wide receiver diva there, doesn’t it? [read more]

Detroit media says the Bucs are in the mix

Joe’s going to take you inside NFL Media 101 this afternoon.

Here’s a Detroit Free-Press story about Lions wide receiver and fan favorite Nate Burleson, who was cut yesterday. Yes, he’s the same guy who returned from eight weeks off following a pizza-induced injury to catch seven balls (one touchdown) against the Buccaneers last season. [read more]

Since the Super Bowl, every last prominent NFL analyst has had little to do but dive into film study of potential free agents and draft picks.

Of course, that is drawing a massive spotlight to the 2014 quarterbacks class. [read more]