Bucs fans were crossing their fingers that fan-favorite running back Cadillac Williams would return to the Bucs.

But apparently in a move that proves Bucs rock star general manger Mark Dominik is not afraid to turn a page, Rick Stroud of the St. Petersburg Times has Twittered that Chris Mortensen has word that Williams is finalizing a deal with St. Louis.

@NFLSTROUD Cadillac Williams finalizing deal with RAMS today, per Chris Mortensen, ESPN.

And so, if it happens, the Cadillac Williams era is over in Tampa Bay.

Joe hopes the much-heralded (by Dominik) Kregg Lumpkin, who Ted Thompson and the running back-poor Green Bay Packers let walk — is up to the task of replacing Cadillac.

By now most fans have learned there’s no salary cap floor in 2011. So the Bucs don’t have to spend another nickel in free agency this year. But with hundreds of players unsigned and hopefully Tim Crowder and Cadillac Williams still on their radar, Joe hopes they will.

So how far under the cap are the Bucs? Mike Florio, creator and curator of ProFootballTalk.com, says the Bucs join 10 other teams that are $20 million or more under the new cap.

Leading the way are the Bengals, with more than $41 million in cap room.  The Jaguars have more than $34 million.

And the bronze goes, surprisingly, to the Browns, with more than $30.4 million.

The others are:  the Buccaneers (more than $30.2 million); the 49ers (more than $30.0 million); the Chiefs (more than $28.7 million); the Broncos (more than $26.7 million); the Bills (more than $26.5 million); the Bears (more than $24 million); the Cardinals (more than $23.6 million); and the Seahawks (more than $21.2 million).

Joe reached out to Florio, who said the data is good through Monday night. The likely $1 million and change the Bucs are paying Adam Hayward in 2011, may or may not be included. Hayward signed Monday.

Joe knows some fans are surprised because they expected the Bucs to be sitting at rock bottom of this list. And Joe knows some fans are enraged that the Bucs are even on this list. Though calling the Seahawks a playoff team still sickens Joe, 25 percent of the NFL playoff teams are listed, which is worth noting.

Joe’s not an accountant, and Joe’s not excited by salary cap data, especially if there’s no floor and Rachel Watson isn’t sharing a spreadsheet with Joe in a hot tub. If there were a floor, then it would at least be somewhat interesting calculating how the Bucs would be forced to add to the roster or restructure contracts.

Winning in the NFL isn’t tied to payroll.

So what happens when a media member or outlet writes something preposterous about the Bucs? Are they punished or called out?

Sometimes yes. Sometimes no. And, of course, a response from the Bucs can take many forms. This is hardly unique to the Bucs. That kind of interaction runs throughout the sports world.

As Joe documented yesterday, Tom Balog, of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune ripped Raheem Morris in a column, essentially saying Raheem didn’t have Barrett Ruud’s back when his friend and quarterback of the defense needed him most. And Balog said that sent an ugly message to the rest of the team.

Well, at Monday’s news conference at One Buc Palace, Balog asked a question of Raheem. The head coach didn’t answer the question, told Balog he heard about the Ruud column and, with a smile on his face, said “I don’t read that garbage,” before moving on.

This calm, measured reaction from Raheem had former Bucs quarterback Shaun King doing on-air cartwheels yesterday during The King David Show on 1010 AM.

“The thing is, head coaches should roll up the local media. I don’t get this thing where, ok, the athlete is always accountable, but any time some dimwit that follows a local team writes something that’s completely wrong, they’re never held accountable for it,” King said. “He should be able to roll him up. Raheem Morris is probably the only guy over there that wanted to keep Barrett Ruud.”

“I am so sick and tired of the media not being held to the same standard as the athlete. How many guys write just bogus stuff? How many guys write stuff that’s completely wrong? How many times have you ever seen any of these guys come out and admit that ‘I was wrong?’ How many of them are held accountable?

“There should be some kind of standards and expectations that have punishments if it’s not met when it comes to people [who cover sports]. …”That’s the one thing I love about Belichick, they’re so afraid of Belichick rolling them up, they don’t even ask Belichick any weird questions.”

There are all kinds of great arguments to have when it comes to a coach’s — and a team’s —  relationship with the media. Joe’s can’t dive into all those here.

Joe has no problem with Raheem sending a public message like he did Monday. Would Raheem call out a national figure from BSPN or NFL Network in the same way? Doubtful, but possible. Regardless, Raheem is easily one of the most media-friendly head coaches in the NFL and it ain’t always going to be smooth sailing.

Has Joe ever been confronted/punished by the Bucs regarding a post during Joe’s three seasons of covering the team? Absolutely. It’s all part of the game.

Joe’s glad, though, that he runs this site in a way so it makes no difference whether the Bucs embrace him or treat him like Jeff Jagodzinski.  

Yeah, Joe already touched on this but Joe has a different perspective on the issue.

With the departure of Bucs leading tackler and middle linebacker Barrett Ruud, Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik has all but handed the open position to rookie Mason Foster.

In answering a question from former Bucs offensive guard and current WDAE-AM 620 sports personality Ian Beckles Monday, Dominik was confident Foster — who played outside linebacker last year at Washington — could handle calling plays in an NFL defense at middle linebacker.

Joe’s a big fan of Dominik, obviously, but Joe also has to be fair and balanced and while Foster with a little grooming very well could make Bucs fans forget Ruud, to expect a rookie with zero OTAs or minicamps to learn an NFL defense and opposing offensive tendencies in five weeks simply scares the hell out of Joe, and should any sober fan.

But as the great Lee Corso would say, “Not so fast my friends.”

There’s this Bucs linebacker by the name of Tyrone McKenzie who, reading the tea leaves this summer that Ruud was done with the Bucs (or more precise, the Bucs were done with Ruud), McKenzie flew to Ruud’s native Omaha and Ruud and McKenzie pored over game tape to help get McKenzie get up to speed on the Bucs defense, so Joe’s good friend Jenna Laine of NFL.com detailed.

With no film room to work with in the off-season, McKenzie flew up to Nebraska to meet with Ruud. The two went over tape in a hotel lobby. The former New England practice squad member says he’s ready to take over the defense, if asked.

“That was huge. Getting out there really helped me out,” says McKenzie, who now calls the plays for the defense. “Barrett is just a great guy. Just to sit down there and talk football with him, after this whole off-season, not talking football with anybody but myself, it was great to out there with him and talk football.”

Go ahead and scream that Ruud couldn’t shed a block in the Lingerie League if it makes you feel more of a man. But Ruud had to know his days as a Bucs linebacker were over or damned near over. Yet he took the time to help groom a soon-to-be former teammate take over his old job.

That my friends is a class act.

One reason Joe so enjoys reading the reports of Tom Balog of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune from One Buc Palace is that Balog is not afraid to tackle a subject, no matter how sensitive it may be.

In a recent blog posting by Balog, he went so far as to infer that Bucs coach Raheem Morris was an NFL version of Judas Iscariot.

Balog notes how often Morris proclaimed how he was a close friend of the departed Bucs leading tackler and middle linebacker and that Morris was known to hang out at upscale hotspots with Ruud and share an adult beverage or two.

It is because of this, Balog suggests, that Morris turned his back on Ruud when he could have saved Ruud’s job with the Bucs.

The translation for the rest of the Buccaneers: Despite however much Morris tries to be close to you now, someday, at contract time, he will not be there for you. He will disown you, just like he apparently did Ruud.

As a head coach, Morris certainly was not there for Ruud. And if he was not there for Ruud, who is he going to be there for?

The upshot of all this, is that it undermines the people-person image of Morris, who is by nature a good guy.

Now Joe loves reading Balog and probably enjoys talking football with Balog even more. Joe can see how Balog, logically, could connect the dots on this but Joe isn’t swallowing Balog’s premise. Here’s why:

Let’s say, for the sake of argument, Morris would regularly throw his weight around One Buc Palace saving roster spots or employment positions solely to people he was close with? Does anyone believe Morris would still be employed by the Bucs?

Morris is a close family friend of Jim Bates, the former Bucs defensive coordinator and architect of the heinous Jim Bates Experience, a franchise-worst defense. The defense under Bates collapsed so horribly (one could argue it was the beginning of the end of Ruud), that Morris defrocked his family friend of his coaching duties and shortly thereafter jettisoned Bates from the franchise.

Had Morris let emotions get in the way of common sense, the Bucs defense in 2009 would have been so horrific, it would have made Rosie O’Donnell look like Kathy Ireland in her prime.

Morris was also close with Derrick Brooks. What happened to him? How could anyone not like Warrick Dunn? What happened to him?

The NFL, as we are reminded time and again, is a business. If, as an NFL head coach, one doesn’t look out for No. 1, you won’t be employed for very long.

Ruud is an intelligent soul. Surely he had to know that no matter how close Morris was with him, that if Morris kept Ruud on the roster because they liked to throw down a pint or two now and then, that Morris would be torpedoing his own job security, if the coach actually believed Ruud’s presence on the roster was not in the Bucs’ best interest.

Shoot, as far as we know, the Titans could have paid Ruud more than the Bucs offered. If that is true, how exactly would that be a stab in the back?

While Joe can clearly see Balog working here and how he can draw the conclusion that Morris sold out his friend, Joe doesn’t believe that to be the case.

"I dare you to write something bad about me, Joe."

A couple of former Bucs receivers will get to extend their disappointing careers: Maurice Stovall and blocking icon Michael Clayton.

Stovall signed with the Lions, per the Detroit newspapers, and Clayton is back with the New York Giants, so says the NFL Network ticker.

Joe still can’t forgive Stovall for the worst special teams non-tackle in modern history that led to the Bucs stunning home collapse against Atlanta in December.

As for the blocking icon, Joe fully expects him to light up the preseason at the Meadowlands.

In a rare video interview that’s not a deposition,  Aqib Talib joined Adam Kohler of Bright House Sports Network to talk all things Bucs. 

Talib offers great insight as he swats at the gnats in his face at training camp.

Click here to watch.

(It figures that the sasistic cable outfit that denies its customers NFL Network would not offer embed codes.)

Joe’s glad Talib illustrates the point of new defensive line coach Keith Millard’s infectious energy. It’s good to see it’s spreading throughout the team.

Perhaps the only media type in the galaxy to predict a winning season for the Bucs in 2010 — and offer detailed logic behind it —  former Bucs QB Shaun King liked what he saw from the Bucs offense last night in their first practice in pads. But King says there’s a missing piece.

That would be what he called “a more athletic option” on third down, King said today on the King David Show on 1010 AM.

King lamented the Bucs’ loss/non-pursuit of Reggie Bush and tossed a bunch of cold water on young wide receiver Dezmon Briscoe. Publicly, the Bucs are high on the 21-year-old, who caught four balls in New Orleans last year to close the season.

“I wasn’t really impresssed with him getting in and out of his breaks,” King said of Briscoe’s work last night.

On the flip side, King was speechless watching Mike Williams. “I don’t even know what to say. Outstanding,” King said.

A proponent of the Bucs scoring Sidney Rice in free agency — he’s in Seattle now — King said he doesn’t have a name to offer Bucs fans, but he can tell they need another piece to reach an elite level on offense.

Joe’s all for the Bucs bringing in another receiver, but primarily because of Arellious Benn’s status. As good as Benn might look, the guy had ACL surgery seven months ago.

Raheem Morris’ tone got serious when talking about his safeties yesterday.

Good serious.

Raheem didn’t even let a reporter finish asking a question about the chemistry and communication between Cody Grimm and Sean Jones before the head coach/secondary guru cut him off and called their teamwork “ridiculous.”

“I was really marveling over that in a walkthrough. Just watching those guys disguise and use different packages, and when Freeman checks they move to a different look,” Raheem said while shaking his head in admiration. “They have a great feel for the defense.”

Just another position where the Bucs should be a step better in 2011, assuming Grimm can hit 100 percent health in 5 1/2 weeks. Jones was new to the team last year and Grimm was wet behind the ears and dropped into the starting lineup thanks to Tanard Jackson’s urine.

Now these guys are building on real chemistry, and Raheem called Grimm a “clear-cut starter.”

Grimm’s an extraordinarily critical cog, if for no other reason than he nearly single-handedly kept the Bucs’ run defense from reaching historic marks for futility. They need him out there drilling his hat into holes. Hopefully, he’ll get a little more help with that this year.

Joe’s channeling his math skillls here. Take a look:

2 carries + 4 catches = 27 year old RB Kregg Lumpkin.

It’s this equation showing Lumpkin’s career stats that has Joe scratching his head wondering why rockstar general manager Mark Dominik is so high on the guy.

Lumpkin had multiple injuries in college, went undrafted, and found the Packers’ IR list in his rookie season. Then he landed on Green Bay’s practice squad in 2009, before he was cut just before the 2010 season and joined the Bucs.

Dominik gave Lumpkin love on national radio last month and talked about Lumpkin’s experience Monday on the Ron and Ian Show on WDAE-AM 620. Asked about who will line up in the backfield on third down, this was part of Dominik’s answer:

“Earnest Graham, I think, is going to have a chance to play some of that third-down role. Obviously, Kregg Lumpkin’s coming in here doing a good job and he has a lot of history with Green Bay and then with us all last year in that role  …,” Dominik said.

Joe likes most of the rockstar’s songs, but Joe’s not downloading the latest Lumpkin ballad to his iPad anytime soon. Joe sees Lumpkin as an older back with no experience and not an upgrade from Cadillac Williams.

Joe would take durable Cadillac — yep, after you play two years in a row without an injury, you’re durable — and his blocking talent, leadership and production over Lumpkin any day.

In 2010, Cadillac caught 46 balls, blocked like a champ, protected the football, and rushed for a whopping 6.4 yards per carry in the second half of the season (33 carries for 212 yards) when the Bucs put him in the third-down-back role that suits him.

Why should the Bucs gamble that Lumpkin can do any of that?

"We'll get you a new toy next year, Olie."

There are hundreds of cliches around football.

“It all starts up front” is certainly in the top 10 of all time. Joe’s never heard an argument against that one-liner. What’s to argue?

Speaking on WDAE-AM 620 yesterday, Raheem Morris stressed that the old adage has been key to the Bucs’ offseason priorities as part of their master plan.

“We talked about building our team through our lines. And, you know, we got a chance to build our team through the draft on defense. And we had a chance to re-sign some of our free agents that we had out there on offense.  We want to build those guys to protect and rush passers,” Raheem said. “It starts up front. That’ll never change about the game of football. And we certainly believe in that around here.”

With possibly the highest paid offensive line in football, and snatching four defensive linemen over the first two rounds of the 2010 and 2011 draft, the Bucs have invested mightily in the lines.

Hard to go wrong there.

If the D-line can only find a way to climb to the ranks of average in 2011, the Bucs should win a hell of a lot of ball games.

Day Four of Bucs training camp, including the first practice in pads, is in the books. Derek “Old School” Fournier of WhatTheBuc.net breaks down what he saw.

Strip away all the chatter about the 2011 season to the core and you’re left with the the ultimate question for fans of the young Buccaneers, especially as they look up at the Saints and Falcons in the NFC South:

Are the Bucs ready to make a Super Bowl run?

In Joe’s mind, the Bucs absoloutely have to be ready because when you come off a 10-win season, what the hell is left?

Especially when you have a stud quarterback and enough pieces in place at skill positions. Call Joe cynical, but banking on Freeman and others staying healthy more than one year at a time is a dangerous path. Hell, the odds of Ronde Barber and Aqib Talib being out of the league in 2012 are pretty good.

Plus, the Bucs’ stated goal is to win the division. And, of course, if you can win the nasty NFC South, then you’re certainly good enough to get to the Super Bowl.

All that written, Joe understands why the organization is acting like it’s at least a year away. Maybe that’s smart, since they probably help themselves more in the long run by sticking with young, emerging players over free agents. And Joe gets that a lot of fans agree.

Steve Duemig, the dean of Tampa Bay sports radio, weighed in on the ultimate question today on WDAE-AM 620. Speaking about the Bucs’ disinterest in signing a big-name free agent from outside the organization this offseason, Duemig emphatically said the Bucs will do it when they are ready for a Super Bowl run.

“This team isn’t ready to go over the top,”  Duemig pleaded.

Now Joe’s hardly saying the Bucs should have signed a big name free agent in the past week, but don’t put Joe in the camp that says the Bucs aren’t ready to win now.

Joe keeps coming back to finishing 10-6 with Josh Freeman and plenty of talent, and the jilted Coach of the Year candidate. 

Win now, fellas. No excuses.

Alex Van Pelt spent a pile of years behind Jim Kelly in Buffalo

Rockstar general manager Mark Dominik talked about the Bucs having veteran leaders in place for his young players today, but Dominik wasn’t talking about guys in pads, he was talking about coaches.

Grilled on all things Bucs on the Ron and Ian Show on WDAE-AM 620, Dominik was quick to respond when asked by former Bucs guard Ian Beckles whether the team would look for veterans in the latter phases of free agency to mentor the young players and show them what “championship football” habits look like.

Dominik explained that Alex Van Pelt was not just a strong QB coach last year for Josh Freeman, but a veteran of the NFL who could fill the role of mentor for Freeman. Same for Eric Yarber with the wide receivers, and with new defensive line coach Keith Millard.

“Millard kind of brings that same thing. He’s been there. He’s done that. He’s played in the National Football League. He was one of the best at his position. And I think that’s the same kind of leadership. So it’s coming from our coaching staff,” Dominik said.

No doubt there are tremendous coaches who never played in the league. It’s no pre-requisite for anything. Hell, Raheem Morris was arguably the best secondary coach in the league and he was a 1-AA player who jumped into coaching after college.

Joe gets Dominik’s point about having coaches who played in the league so their voices carry more weight, and those guys have the resume and communication skills to fill the mentor role.

But Joe’s not buying that 100 percent. They’re still coaches, not players. It’s a different relationship.

In a perfect world, the Bucs would have at least a serviceable, teaching veteran at every position — to bad Kevin Carter is done — but it’s not a perfect world and the Bucs went 10-6 last year.

Maybe the whole player mentor thing is overblown.

Cadillac Williams fans can keep holding their breath.

Rockstar general manager Mark Dominik didn’t shed much light on the Bucs’ desire to keep the blocking icon but didn’t rule it out during an interview today.

“Cadillac Williams is a guy, with Ben Dogra as an agent, they know where we stand,” Dominik said on the Ron and Ian Show on WDAE-AM 620 today. “And right now our focus is kind of like seeing these young players on this football team, see what they can do, give them the opportunity, and stay in contact with Cadillac and stay in contact with his agent.”

As Joe has written many times before, and the St. Pete Times touched on in a story yesterday with quotes from Greg Olson, the Bucs have Cadillac’s able — and more versatile — replacement on the roster: Earnest Graham.

Dominik talked about Erik Lorig’s development as a big reason why Graham could be available to fill the third-down role.

Cadillac’s only a third-down back at this point. But he would help the Bucs with what could be critical depth. Joe’s not about to discount that, especially when it goes to protecting No. 5.

As Joe has written before, Joe can’t get enough of watching defensive line coach Keith Millard. The intensity, the raspy voice and knowing that the guy holds an NFL sack record is a magnetic combination.

Dude is just into it. And he’s very personable and quotable, which Joe always appreciates.

Speaking to eye-RAH! Kaufman, NFL writer for The Tampa Tribune, Millard talked about his affection for Adrian Clayborn.

It took only a few practice sessions for Millard to size up Clayborn.

“I love him, man,” Millard said. “Quick, violent, good hands, natural bender. At Iowa, they wanted their guys to play tight to the blockers, but we need Adrian to get outside to use that quickness.”

So what’s a “natural bender” that Millard referred to? Joe checked in with former Bucs DE Steve White (1996-2001) for a definition. “It means he has good pad level and he bends at his knees rather than his waist,” White said.

Joe suggests you read the entire Kaufman article linked above. Interesting stuff.

Joe’s not expecting miracles from the D-line this year, but Joe suspects it won’t be because the coaches don’t get everything out of them.

Breathe easy, Bucs fans.

The Bucs no longer have to play an inexperienced middle linebacker if they don’t want to. Barrett Ruud’s backup will be around a while.

Free agent linebacker/special teams ace Adam Hayward has inked a new three-year contract, the Bucs announced today.

Is Hayward good enough to be a starter? Maybe.

Might he be better than Mason Foster or Tyrone McKenzie? That could be a definite yes.

If nothing else, Hayward sure seems like a great role model. Joe saw him work extensively on technique with Mason Foster at Josh Freeman’s minicamp in Bradenton last month, and Hayward is a great community servant who several times talked about how much he’s learned from Derrick Brooks.

At least the Bucs have another option to fill their greatest hole.

Sorry to those who had trouble using JoeBucsFan.com this morning. The site nearly crashed, but didn’t, after a ridiculously unexpected overload.

Good problems for Joe, but pretty damn lousy for those who wasted a bunch of time refreshing, re-visiting, etc.