Super Bowl-winning coach Brian Billick hits the greaseboard to break down what the Bucs need in this spring’s NFL draft in this FoxSports.com video.

<a href="http://msn.foxsports.com/video/?vid=fc291df1-11c3-4c11-afd3-8b43598eacde&#038;from=IV2_en-us_foxsports_videocentral_player" target="_new" title="Billick: Buccaneers team needs">Video: Billick: Buccaneers team needs</a>

For those who missed the Ch. 8 multi-part feature interview with local head coaches Raheem Morris, Joe Maddon and Guy Boucher last week, it was pretty good stuff.

When Joe’s not feeling as lazy, he’ll link to all the segments on TBO.com.

The coaches gathered in a dimly lit room to sit on comfy chairs and answer all kinds of questions from good guy Dan Lucas. Raheem was asked about lockouts and drawing bigger crowds in the Tampa Bay market, and here was his response verbatim:

“We have a certain way down here. (looking at other coaches) We’re not going to make excuses about what we don’t spend. Myself, my management team, with Mark Dominik and our ownership, we got a vision. It’s to draft players. Do well in the draft. Get’em to come here and play. Remain young. Have a longevity of winning. And then re-sign our own players and make those guys play for us and be great,” Raheem said. “And we truly believe in that. And that’s how you generate a fan base. That’s how you get the fans to buy in. That’s how you get the fans to be a part of that family. And once that happens again, we’ll get that place filled. And I got all the confidence in the world.”

First, considering Joel Glazer said “money will never be an issue” when building the Buccaneers, and Raheem works for Team Glazer, why would Raheem even mention making excuses about spending? That sure seemed to come from left field for a coach who works for an organization that proudly proclaims it does everything possible to build a winner.

The more one listens to Raheem and Mark Dominik voice their philosophy (which continues to resist the mere mention of free agency), the more obvious it is that the Bucs will take one or two defensive ends high in the draft.

They’re desperate for the quarterback pressure, and they’re publicly disinterested in obtaining an established pass rusher. 

Dominik doesn’t think the Bucs should be pigeonholed by draft pundits, so he said last week, but by turning his nose at the biggest free agent class in history, Dominik’s all but asking to be pigeonholed.

Joe’s not sure if it’s all an elaborate series of smokescreens, or the Bucs are determined to not grab one impact free agent.

Among many other topics, draft guru Justin Pawlowski says keep an eye out for speedy Delone Carter, if you're looking for a mid-round impact running back.

It’s all things combine in this draft buzz podcast from NFL Draft guru Justin Pawlowski, of WDAE-AM 620.

If you weren’t paying attention to the NFL Scouting Combine on NFL Network or on NFL.com this weekend, then you can catch up quickly in this great breakdown.

Pawlowski’s been all over the combine, where every offensive player has completed their workouts.

Just click the arrow or download here. Joe hopes you’re enjoying the daily draft coverage on JoeBucsFan.com.

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Many Bucs fans seem to forget that prior to Team Glazer landing Chucky in a monumental transaction that resulted in a Lombardi Trophy sitting in the lobby of One Buc Palace “Mooch,” Steve Mariucci, then the coach of the San Francisco 49ers, turned down advances from Team Glazer to coach the Bucs.

A few months later, Mooch’s Niners got trampled by the Bucs at The CITS as the Bucs rolled toward Philadelphia and the NFC Championship a week later.

So it doesn’t come as much of a surprise that Mooch, now an analyst for the Man’s Channel, the NFL Network, is high on the Bucs.

(You know the type that doesn’t have the NFL Network: it’s the same kind of a low person who hosts Oscar parties and serves guests spinach dip and wine coolers and can pick some nondescript person called “James Franco” — whoever the hell that is — out of a crowd.)

Bucs intrepid multimedia maven Scott Smith is part of the Bucs contingent in Indianapolis at the glorified track practice NFL Combine and Smith grabbed Mooch for some thoughts on the Bucs.

“I like where the Bucs are headed. Raheem’s second year, they’ve made great progress. Systems are in place on both sides of the ball. They know what they want to do scheme-wise so they know what kind of kids fit their systems.”

Mooch said this is the case because the Bucs already have a franchise quarterback in Josh Freeman. As if reading from a script, Mooch said, “It all starts there.”

Where has Joe heard that before?

Maybe it’s a good thing for Smith that Mooch doesn’t like the Bucs as much as he does Marisa Miller.

In the next 24 hours, you can win top-shelf Rays Spring Training tickets in Dunedin on March 13!

Joe’s good friends at Paradise Worldwide Transportation give away great prizes to their Facebook friends. And now they’ve got a pair of awesome tickets behind the Rays dugout for the Rays at Blue Jays game on Sunday, March 13, at 1 p.m in Dunedin. 

To have a chance to win, all you have to do is “Like” Paradise Worldwide Transportation on Facebook. Just click right here to get it done.

The drawing is TOMORROW!

Unrest in the Middle East (boy, there’s an oxymoron), the skyrocketing cost of gas nor the plight of his cherished New Jersey Devils can tear away oatmeal-loving, popcorn-shoveling Peter King from fretting about his beloved National Football League.

In particular, King is losing sleep over the future of the Bucs.

The SI.com columnist, in his must-read Monday Morning Quarterback column, decided to pester a general manager of a team this weekend in Indianapolis at the great American track practice NFL Combine who King believes will be bruised by the coming NFL lockout.

That general manager was Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik.

(My, Dominik has become quite the media darling in recent days, hhmm? Just like Joe predicted he would.)

King is of the mind that the Bucs will be hurt by the lockout worse than any other team, hence why he shadowed Dominik this weekend.

But the Bucs are a good example of why fans should be worried about their team this offseason if there’s a prolonged work stoppage. They have one of the youngest teams in football and one of the most intriguing after a highly unexpected 10-win season; they’re the first team since 1990 to start 10 rookies in a game, which they did in a 2010 game. Dominik has had an excellent past two months inside his own building, locking up every assistant coach contractually through the 2013 season while the head man, Raheem Morris, is signed through 2012, and the Bucs will surely try to remedy that soon. Dominik has his scouting staff, led by underrated director of college scouting Dennis Hickey, signed for multiple years too.

“Honestly, with the coaches, instead of worrying about their next deal, I want them worrying about the next down,” said Dominik. “With the scouts, I want them to feel like we have faith in them. Look at the two Super Bowl teams this year, and what do you see? Stability. Green Bay and Pittsburgh are two of the teams in the league I think we all admire for their long-term approach. That’s what we want to build.”

This is the kind of team that needs a good offseason program, with players on a schedule and needing regularity. You don’t want young players, particularly young players with off-field issues in their past like wideout Mike Williams, being on their own for months at a time. I heard some teams fret over the weekend about offensive linemen possibly not working out much, and coming back woefully out of shape. There are all kinds of worries. But Dominik is a realist. If he’s worried, he’s not saying. And he’s not saying much.

King goes on the write how a number of NFL teams have put together memos and videos on how the teams should work out in the offseason, even simple stuff like what exercises to do and not to do in order not to hurt oneself, and the suits on Park Avenue in Roger Goodell’s war room have nixed each attempt, fearing a lawsuit.

This is just beyond silly. What’s to stop, say, Josh Freeman from picking x-high school to work out at, for argument’s sake, Jesuit, and Dominik or one of his minions telling Jesuit officials in person (sans, traceable evidence) what the Bucs should do and said school official relaying this information to Freeman?

Then, after the season resumes, Team Glazer makes a handsome donation to Jesuit for the school’s hassle.

No need to worry Peter, Joe has a hunch Freeman will take care of things.

The Bucs may be looking for a versatile defender like Buffalo's Arthur Moats.

When Chucky and Bruce Almighty were running the show, the duo did not want players that coaches couldn’t figure out where to play. In other words, no ‘Tweeners.

That edict has changed under Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik who is looking for football players no matter their size. As a result, per Rick Stroud of the St. Petersburg Times, that makes life easier for Bucs scouts.

But with coach Raheem Morris incorporating so many multiple fronts as defensive coordinator, including more 3-4 looks, those hybrid players are in play this year for Tampa Bay in the NFL draft.

“Raheem’s flexibility of what he wants to do has really helped our draft board be more fluid then most clubs I think,” general manager Mark Dominik said.

“It helps us now really open up the board more, and we love it. We’ve always had a hard time figuring out these tweener guys, and we just take them off our board and don’t get them. So it’s disappointing. This keeps those guys alive, and I feel like a lot more teams keep going back to the 3-4, which is great because it also opens up some of those (4-3) guys as well.”

Stroud points to Auther Moats of the Buffalo Bills as one of those types of players the Bucs are now targeting. Ryan Kerrigan is another name Stroud dropped.

And here’s a key element Stroud notes that may tip the Bucs’ hand: Dominik has often publically stated how he is fond of collegiate team captains because of their intangibles.

Kerrigan was a captain on his Purdue teams.

Joe’s back again wondering why Mark Dominik keeps publicly pronouncing his disinterest and distaste for free agency.

One has to wonder why a general manager consumed with building a Super Bowl winner and a lasting contender is seemingly averse to studying every free agent and determining which one in this massive free agent class — with money never being an issue — could help his team.

Sure, Joe gets the whole stated build-through-the-draft philosophy of the Bucs. But Dominik talks as if free agency is not a tool loaded and ready in his arsenal.  Here’s Dominik’s response to a recent question at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, per Buccaneers.com video:

Reporter: Does the uncertainty of free agency change the dynamics of this draft?

Mark Dominik: “Not how we approach it. Obviously in Tampa, it’s cliché, a lot of us like to sit up here and say, ‘We want to build through the draft.’ We’re absolutely going to do it that way. And that’s the way we’ve been going. Clearly the two teams that just played the Super Bowl have the same mindset, which is an encouraging blueprint to where we want to be. So we’ll stay the course. It doesn’t affect us. Not the way that we’re looking at it. I don’t want it to.”

Again, Joe gets the Bucs’ plan. But Joe’s talking more semantics and public relations here. There was a time when Dominik and Raheem Morris would chatter about how they would comb the earth and leave no stone unturned to improve the Bucs. Now it seems they’d do anything — except an expensive free agent. (Joe will have a recent comment from Raheem tomorrow.)

It’s an interesting shift in presentation. Don’t ask Joe why.

Now Joe’s not about to believe Dominik and Raheem aren’t interested in free agency and doing their due diligence. That is their job.

Of course, that doesn’t mean they would actually pull the trigger on one.

The NFL Combine, aside from being a glorified track practice (does it really matter just how far a quarterback can long jump; has a Super Bowl been won because a quarterback can jump high?) and a winter conclave for NFL types, is a hive of espionage where teams and agents alike, taking advantage of the hordes of media which flocked to the Indianapolis, plant lies and innuendo so a client/player/team might better themselves somehow.

It seems one of the many rumors floating around central Indiana now is that the Bucs don’t care about character because they drafted/signed Mike Williams and LeGarrette Blount last year.

Speaking to Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune, Dominik dismissed this notion.

Though no one has said so publicly, some around the league have begun to wonder if the Bucs have started to cut corners when it comes to character. Dominik has heard the rumblings, and he swears no corners have been cut.

“I don’t believe we have (cut any corners) at all on character,” said Dominik, who is especially upset with those who believe he may have lowered the Bucs’ standard for character by bringing Williams and Blount onboard.

“I’m proud of both of those guys and what they’ve accomplished so far,” he said. “I don’t view them as character issues or concerns, (either) on our team (or) in our locker room. I’m glad they’re members of our team.”

Dominik again Sunday had a sitdown live on Sirius NFL Radio, which Joe will have transcribed by tomorrow, and Dominik again emphasized nothing is more important to him than character.

It’s because Dominik and his scouts did so much research is why Dominik felt comfortable in acquiring Williams and Blount. It appears teams that have put in less work are trying to sully Dominik’s reputation as some form of covering for themselves.

Never short of an opinion, popcorn shoveling, oatmeal guzzling Peter King of Sports Illustrated is spouting off opinions about the Bucs again.

No, he hasn’t picked them to win two games like he did last year. Now he’s talking about the Bucs possibly snatching running back Mark Ingram in the first round of the draft, if he’s available. Good guy Scott Smith, video maven for the Buccaneers organization, caught up with King at the NFL Scouting combine.

King’s point was that the Bucs might be looking at an insurance policy at running back with an eye toward the future and Ingram would be great “value” for the Bucs at No. 20 in the first round.

Joe’s initial reaction was Greg Olson hardly needs more reasons not to give LeGarrette Blount the rock. He didn’t get it nearly enough for Joe’s taste last year. Plus, the Bucs should be able to find capable complement to Blount in later rounds, if they have the desire.

Joe’s final reaction was that King should stick to doom and gloom takes on the NFL labor situation and stop playing Bucs GM.

It’s a gorgeous day for car shopping. So head to Brandon Auto Mall by Ed Morse or shop online. Stop putting it off!

Ahh, the professional draft spin and posturing are in full swing. Joe loves all the gamesmanship.

Speaking before a gaggle of reporters at the NFL Scouting Combine the other day (shown on Buccaneers.com), Mark Dominik said many have wrongly “pigeonholed” the Bucs regarding their focus is entering the 2011 draft.

“I don’t think a lot of people thought we’d take two defensive tackles back to back. We’re going to use the draft and stay true to our board and make sure we can take the best player who can help us. And it may not be the position that everbody thinks we’re supposed to take first, but it’s going to be the best one that we think’s going to help our football team, not only in 2011 but going forward.”

So outside of quarterback and defensive tackle, Dominik would have Bucs fans believe he’ll take the best player available when the bell rings for Tampa Bay in the first round.

Maybe that’s true?

If oatmeal expert Peter King was the voice of doom and gloom about the 2011 season, suggesting it would only be 13 games yesterday, then John Clayton, of BSPN, has to be the voice of optimism.

Speaking on ESPN Radio tonight from the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, Clayton was asked to give the odds of a lockout on March 4, when the current labor agreement expires.

Clayton replied he believed there was a “60 percent chance of no lockout” next week. He said his take on what he’s been following is that the owners and players will agree to continue the current labor agreement two more weeks in order to keep negotatiating with urgency during that time.

Clayton didn’t offer an opinion on whether that meant free agency would kick off as scheduled after the 4th.

Rock star Bucs general manager Mark Dominik continues to imply that free agency is a destructive path based on his recent comments in Indianapolis, (Joe will have more on that Sunday), but if Clayton is right than the Barrett Ruud question could have a quick answer.

Frankly, Joe wouldn’t be stunned by this development. Joe has to think that the owners would prefer to have a free agency period before the draft, especially given the massive free agent crop and the fact that some teams don’t believe free agency is part of the axis of evil — warm beer and ugly cheerleaders completing the trifecta.

How tall is Ahmad Black? The wrong answer could put him in a freefall.

Who needs the beach when you can watch football? Well, it’s not quite football, but it’s the NFL Scouting Combine on NFL Network. The drills kicked off today with offensive linemen.

Joe loves watching all the manbeasts do all kinds of things they’ll never have to do on the field.

Just arriving at the combine today are safeties and cornerbacks.

Do the Bucs need a safety? Might they grab a “luxury pick” at cornerback if the right guy is available?

NFL Draft guru Justin Pawlowski, of WDAE-AM 620, shares some secondary names to watch combine in this podcast exclusively for JoeBucsFan.com.

Who says there’s no football this time of year!

Just click the arrow below or click here to download.

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Some of the dark forecasters dealing with the looming NFL lockout dare to suggest there may not be a 2011 season.

Peter King believes there will be a season, albeit a shortened season.

Speaking before a thirsty throng in a downtown Indianapolis watering hole Friday night at one of King’s wildly popular Tweetups, the SI.com columnist has determined how many games will be played this season, per Izzy Gould of AL.com.

Along with some other NFL experts in a back room of Scottie’s Brewhouse, who writes for Sports Illustrated, also forecast a lockout next season.

That seem to upset most of the standing-room-only crowd. So did his prediction of a 13-game season in 2011.

King’s Tweetup was basically a group of NFL fans stuffed in a room firing questions at King & Co., everything from if King has done a keg stand (he has not) to his thoughts on Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick.

Well, Joe guesses 13 NFL games are better than none.

Now Joe is going to veer off into chatter about football, technology, social media, journalism and the 21st century.

Gould is a former colleague of Joe’s and until roughly a year ago covered high school sports in Pasco County for the St. Petersburg Times. Joe always got along with Gould, thinks the word of him and marveled as his tireless work ethic. Trust Joe, when you do something you love, it’s not work, it’s a passion, just like this blog is for Joe.

Gould now covers the Crimson Tide for AL.com and for anyone who considers himself a football fan and craves any and all football information, Gould is a must-follow on Twitter. His handle is @IzzyGould so follow him.

Now last night Gould may have broken new ground on sports coverage, at least in Joe’s eyes. We all know what a live blog is — something that was foreign to all just a decade ago. Now, it’s a credible source to gain information from people.

Well, Gould took that concept last night and pulled off a first, at least for Joe: Gould did a live Tweetup on Twitter.

For those unaware, a Tweetup (God, Joe loathes that word “Tweet”) is a gathering of people who are a family or group of sorts on Twitter. King has hundreds of thousands of followers and periodically he will host a Tweetup at a pub along with fellow NFL scribes where fans can gather, swill ale, and pepper King and his associates with all manner of questions.

Nothing is off limits.

Last night on his Twitter feed, Gould gave live updates of the questions and answers King fielded, sort of what Joe is calling a “live Tweetup.” Per Joe, ever the media and technology geek, it was fascinating and Joe gives mad props to Gould for coming up with the concept.

Joe remembers the late, great GOB, Chris Thomas, mock those who watched too much football in his eyes. If Joe recalls correctly, Thomas said often if one watches more than 12 hours of football in a week, that person needs professional counseling.

Well, if GOB’s premise was correct, Joe needs to be institutionalized.

Joe sat down once and figured it out: Between Thursday night football, high school football Friday nights, the smorgasbord of noon-to-midnight college football on Saturday, NFL Sundays and Monday night football, it’s not unreasonable at all for Joe to absorb 24 hours of football in a week without trying.

In short, if you are an Alabama fan, an SEC fan. a college football fan or simply just a red-blooded American male like Joe who hungers for football information, Gould is a must-follow on Twitter. He’s good; he’s solid; he’s cutting edge.

And technology and information in the 21st century seems to break new ground virtually each week.

As Joe learned long ago, one can keep up and embrace technology, or fight it and get buried.

Can the Bucs count on Arrelious Benn for the 2011 season? No.

Might Benn be ready? Sure, but it’s hardly certain after tearing his ACL in December.

Esteemed NFL writer eye-RAH Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune thinks the Bucs might be interested in a Grade A insurance policy for Benn — fist-flailing, potential Hall of Fame receiver Steve Smith of the Panthers, so Kaufman wrote on TBO.com.

If the Bucs can pry Smith loose for a third-round draft choice, Dominik and head coach Raheem Morris will have to consider their options. Arrelious Benn is coming off a torn ACL and the Bucs lack proven wide receivers beyond Williams.

Smith is under contract with the Panthers, and he didn’t have much of a season last year. But with Jimmy Clausen and Matt Moore throwing him the ball, he sure wasn’t working with much.

Smith having a solid season in Tampa could be enough to push the Bucs into the playoffs. For that reason alone he might be worth the gamble. But with Smith’s history of attacking teammates, Joe’s not sure he’d be the best fit with Aqib Talib covering him in practice.

The Bucs need to do what they can to make sure Talib isn’t tempted to swing his helmet in practice again.  

Pay attention, Bucs fans, reporting to the NFL Scouting Combine today are linebackers and defensive linemen.

Boy, the Bucs could use a couple of blue chip studs from this crop.

NFL Draft guru Justin Pawlowksi, of WDAE-AM 620, shares insight on a lot of these guys, including a chat he had with Dave Wannstadt about University of Pittsburgh end Greg Romeus. Pawlowski is a radio analyst for USF Football games and typically has incredible insight into Big East players long before anyone else.

About this time last year, Pawlowski was banging the drum on these here pages for Mike Williams.

Click the arrow below to enjoy, or click here to download. A must listen.

And remember, Joe brings the Bucs/draft coverage every day. Keep coming back all weekend long.

On rare occasion Joe strays from Bucs-related stuff to get something off his chest.

While Joe secretly prays for a lockout to never happen, Joe wonders at the same time who’s going to make money from the lockout. And Joe confesses to thinking about how he could cash in – if a lockout really arrives.

Perhaps a “Lockout Tour” from Paradise Worldwide Transportation? Joe’s kidding about the Lockout Tour, of course, but Joe has some great ideas.  

One entity that surely has a plan in place is BSPN. And Joe wants to be the first on record saying a Jon Gruden Lockout Camp has to be in their plans.

Camera-loving Chucky has got to be salivating over a shot to mingle with all those hundreds of NFL players he proclaims to love so much and always wanted to coach. A lockout would free them up because they’d be disconnected from their teams.

“Jimminy Fuc*ing Christmas. You mean I can get on a field with Bruce Gradkowski again? Sh*t, I’d give Mike Vick my dog to coach him up for an afternoon.”

Joe can see Chucky inviting all kinds of quarterbacks for a two-day camp in his hometown Tampa with the BSPN cameras rolling. Maybe separate camps for each offensive position.

Chucky is too much of a football junkie to pass on the opportunity to mingle with players, and he’s enough of a media whore to let BSPN in on the party.

“Look, Mr. Executive Producer, you want to see fuc*n ratings? You get a shot of me praying with Tim Tebow before practice or teaching Peyton Hillis how to protect the football and promo that sh*t all week. I’ll guarantee bigger numbers than a perfect game on Sunday Night Baseball.”

Plus Chucky gets to give a backhanded audition for his next coaching job. It’s just too easy, especially with a players association surely eager to cooperate.

Plaxico Burress is even set to get out of jail in June, a perfect co-star for Chucky’s summer spectacle.

“Look, Plax. I don’t care what the hell kind of routes you ran in the prison yard, but I just called a D-bag, X-box, I-Pad, G-Spot, F-bomb Go. And you didn’t know what the fu*k you were doing. You keep making me look bad and you’ll wish you got shot in the leg again.”

Let’s hope there’s no lockout.