Joe suspected former Bucs guard Ian Beckles would hit the ceiling after reading the comments of Mark Dominik penned by Roy Cummings of The Tampa Tribune.

As Joe documented yesterday, Dominik praised Barrett Ruud’s splash plays and improvement, and the GM said he wanted Ruud to return, among other comments.

Beckles routinely hammers Ruud for being a soft player and, during his daily Ron and Ian Show on WDAE-AM 620, multiple times Beckles has challenged anyone to break down film of Ruud and prove to Beckles that he’s a solid middle linebacker.

Today, Beckles said Dominik’s take on Ruud is tainted by lies.

“It’s a respect thing. He can’t believe it,” Beckles said of Dominik’s comments about Ruud.

Beckles scoffed at the suggestion that Ruud makes splash plays anywhere near the amount necessary for a good middle linebacker. And Beckles points to Ruud’s role in the Bucs’ porous run defense over the last 2 1/4 seasons.

Needless to say, Beckles says he’s certain Ruud won’t be back this season.

Yes, Joe’s a Rays nut, too. A real hardcore fan.

And that’s why you need to visit the can’t-miss JoeRaysFan.com on a daily basis. There’s a great breakdown there now of Rays payroll for 2011.  Put it in your favorites: JoeRaysFan.com.

You can talk Mel Kiper, Jr. all day long if you wish. You can babble about Todd McShay if the mood so strikes.

You can have them.

Though Joe truly enjoys listening to Kiper on sports radio, in Joe’s mind, there is no one that comes as close to the late, great Joel Buchsbaum as does NFL Network’s Mike Mayock.

Joe was listening to Mayock yesterday afternoon with Tim Ryan and Pat Kirwan as the trio could be heard live from the Senior Bowl practices in Mobile, Ala., on “Movin’ the Chains,” heard exclusively on Sirius NFL Radio.

That 15-minute segment was worth Joe’s subscription for the month of January. It was simply outstanding and enlightening.

In short, Joe learned that Texas A&M linebacker Von Miller is simply blowing up everyone and everything, Florida State offensive lineman Rodney Hudson can play either guard or center at a high level and that Boise State wide receiver Titus Young is the second coming of DeSean Jackson both on and off the field, which is both good and bad, among many other tidbits.

Mayock, per TBO.com, has broken out his top players at each position and interestingly, Mayock has Iowa’s Adrian Clayborn rated higher at defensive end than Purdue’s Ryan Kerrigan and has Georgia linebacker Justin Houston rated as the No. 3 linebacker.

Houston is a player Joe has tried to monitor as Joe believes he may be a target for Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik at No. 20.

Browse through Mayock’s rankings and give Joe your feedback. As Ryan is wont to say on his Sirius NFL Radio show, “Talk about it.”

Bucs fans cringe when reminded of the lack of pressure Bucs defensive ends put on opposing quarterbacks last season.

Save for a game against the 49ers when the Bucs suddenly thought they were the old New York Sack Exchange, most quarterbacks could surf adult websites they had so much time in the pocket.

Expect Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik to change that. First, defensive line coach Todd Wash was shipped Seattle. Second, while speaking to good guy Stephen Holder of the St. Petersburg Times at Senior Bowl practices this week in Mobile, Dominik all but told Holder the Bucs would draft a defensive end this April.

And the defensive building effort continues. The Bucs are confident the pass rushers in this draft offer an opportunity to address a key need. And they’re giving serious consideration to a number of ends. They anticipated the depth at end in this draft and waited to address that position.

“Before we go into any draft, we always talk to our scouts and say, ‘Okay, what’s 2012 going to look like?’ ” Dominik said. “It’s a heck of a group (in this year’s draft at defensive end). I don’t know how many are going to go in the first round, but it’s going to be a good number.”

Dominik could go several ways here. If there are several defensive ends that are good, don’t be surprised if Dominik loads up, like he did last spring on defensive tackles and wide receivers.

Also, if the defensive end pool is deep, Dominik may go after a linebacker in the first round if he believes he can get better quality defensive ends later in the draft than he could linebacker.

All in all, it sure looks like Dominik will load up on defensive ends and perhaps linebacker.

Per The Tampa Tribune, Mark Dominik doesn't want a new starting middle linebacker in 2011.

Pouring over game tape incessantly, as he is known to do, Bucs general manager Mark Dominik has reached a conclusion that he wants Barrett Ruud in the middle of his 2011 Bucs defense.

This news, sure to drive some Bucs fans to near insanity, comes courtesy of Tampa Tribune Bucs beat writer Woody Cummings, who chatted with the rock star general manager at the Senior Bowl festivities today.

“Barrett had another good season for us,” Dominik said. “He led our team in tackles again and he had more splash plays for us this year than he did the year before, which was good. Now we just have to sit down with his agent.

“And as these things always go, there’s always two sides to it. Just because you say you want to sign him and because they say they want to be back, that doesn’t mean that’s how it’s going to work out.”

As Joe wrote on New Year’s Day, Raheem Morris likely doesn’t want to part with his stated “quarterback of the defense,” even if he’s not on his way to a Pro Bowl anytime soon.

If there’s really an open checkbook from Team Glazer and a real drive to go for a Super Bowl now, then maybe Raheem wants the comfort level of Ruud in the middle and would rather invest in the positions around him.

Of course, there’s no guarantee Ruud and the Bucs will find common ground on cash.

Considering the possibility of a lost offseason program due to a lockout, Joe imagines that bringing in a rookie or outsider into the center of the defense would present a challenging task to get the guy up to speed in limited time.  

Should be a fascinating series of negotiations. Joe just can’t believe the two sides will be close together.

Over at TBO.com, NFL writer eye-RAH! Kaufman penned a story to remind everyone that today marks an important anniversary. A day that should send chills through every reader of these here pages.

On January 26, 2003, the Chucky-led Bucs won the Super Bowl by making the Raiders look like the 2010 Lions. … (Joe wonders whether Raheem Morris and Mark Dominik ever play with their Super Bowl rings in some sort of bizarre Wonder Twins–like ritual.)

The folks at Hulu.com, in conjunction with the NFL, offer up a glorious video reminder. “Feel the electricity,” says Gene Deckerhoff. Enjoy!

It seems Gerald McCoy hasn’t taken off to San Diego yet for the final phase of his rehabilitation. The guy the Bucs hope will anchor the defensive line for the next 10 years was in Manatee County yesterday talking to young kids about healthy lifestyles.

The Bradenton Herald followed him there and delivered a write-up of his “Play 60” appearance, part of the NFL’s effort to make you watch the same damn Falcons-on the school bus commercial get kids exercising.

McCoy said he became involved as soon as he was drafted.

“I have a passion for kids, so anything to do to help,” he said. “Kids are our future, and the kids I just spoke to will be us in a few years. … If I would have known this type of thing when I was younger, I probably would have been healthier a lot sooner.”

Last year on The Gerald McCoy Show on WDAE-AM 620, McCoy shared a story of how he was an extremely overweight kid whose father helped him focus on dedicating himself to becoming an elite athlete.

Joe wonders if any of the kids asked him what he thinks the Bucs will do about only having 10.5 sacks from all their defensive ends last season.

Fielding a call from a Bucs fan Tuesday, Pat Kirwan and Tim Ryan, co-hosts of “Movin’ the Chains” heard exclusively on Sirius NFL Radio, came across as the co-chairmen of the Barrett Ruud fan club.

The caller suggested that the Bucs greatest need this offseason is to acquire, whether by trade, free agency (once the CBA is signed) or by draft, a middle linebacker, and the Bucs should let Ruud walk away.

Kirwan and Ryan reacted as if they were just served room temperature beer.

Ryan quickly interrupted the caller before the poor fellow had a chance to finish a sentence, extorting, “No… no… no… ” before telling the caller the Bucs had far greater needs than replacing Ruud.

“Who is going to be the quarterback of your defense then? Who is going to call the plays on defense?” Ryan asked.

When the caller attempted to explain to Ryan that Ruud too often got run over by lesser running backs, Ryan would have none of it.

Kirwan added, “Barrett Ruud is not going to be Brian Urlacher in the Tampa-2. He’s not going to be Ray Lewis. He never will be. If I had to grade him on his play this year, I’d give him an A-minus.”

Now Joe has stated over and over he’s trying to keep an open mind about Ruud and basically Joe has come to two points about this subject:

Kirwan, as many have stated, claims that Ruud is only playing the way Bucs coach Raheem Morris is asking him to play. If that is the case, and the Bucs’ run defense in the middle is so soft, would it not be fair to suggest that either Morris is misusing Ruud or that Ruud is playing a glorified safety position and not middle linebacker?

If Ruud is nothing more than a glorified safety, than the public perception of his play would greatly change if his position was listed as “safety” and not “middle linebacker.”

Now Joe understands that, in theory, in the Tampa-2 defense a middle linebacker is not supposed to be the stereotypical run-stuffing, bone-rattling, teeth-jarring linebacker, that such an honor is usually given to the weakside linebacker.

This worked perfectly when Derrick Brooks was on the field for the Bucs but this just in: Derrick Brooks is not coming through the Bucs’ locker room door wearing his treasured double-nickel.

Again, Joe will write that when an old man of a cornerback and a rookie seventh round draft pick of a safety makes more splash plays in the box against the run than a guy who carries the mantle of middle linebacker, then there is a problem somewhere and it could be as simple as the defense being played, in truth, has no middle linebacker position.

Kirwan ended the conversation with the caller saying just the fact the Bucs will have Gerald McCoy and Brian Price healthy for next season that the Bucs’ rush defense will significantly improve.

Joe often checks in with his beat writer brethren to talk Bucs football and kick around the latest buzz. Some of these guys are actually pretty cool. The esteemed Woody Cummings, of the The Tampa Tribune and TBO.com, was gracious enough to let Joe hit him up for a Q & A exclusively for JoeBucsFan.com readers. Below is Part II to enjoy. If you missed Part I, then you’re outta luck then you can check it out here. 

Joe: Not trying to wade into the Barrett Ruud debate, but how much of  a need is it for Dominik to upgrade the linebacker corps? Or are Dominik and/or Rah content with Ruud, Hayes and Quincy Black?

Tampa Tribune beat writer Roy “Woody” Cummings: I don’t think the Bucs feel as good about that trio as they did a year ago at this time, and the difference there is the play of  Hayes and Black. The Bucs were feeling pretty good about those two at the end of the 2009 season, but neither performed at a consistently high level in 2010. They’re still young but I think the Bucs will definitely look for upgrades for at least one of them this year. As for Ruud, I’m a believer. No, he’s not real physical, but  he always has the defense in the right play and that’s his  first  priority.

As for his tackling, he’s a second-level defender.  That’s why most of his tackles are made 5-7 yards downfield. He starts almost every play there and his first duty following the snap is often to fall back a step in coverage. The Bucs don’t ask their MLB  to attack the line of scrimmage or the quarterback. In fact, they never have. That’s why I don’t understand why everybody wants Ruud  to be something the Bucs don’t want him to be. That’s proven to be  the case, though. Guess fans just have to have  somebody to pick on. 

As for re-signing him, I don’t think that will come down to money as much as many others do. Again, I cite the team’s stated goals of drafting, developing and re-signing its own players as reason No. 1. The biggest factor that will play into whether the Bucs re-sign Ruud will be the availability of another MLB whose as good as he is. If they think they can find someone as good or better than Ruud either  in free agency, the draft or on their roster (Black?) they may let him go. If not, they’ve got to re-sign him.

Joe: Obviously, after the CBA expires the Bucs won’t be able to work out at One Buc Palace. Listening to coaches on Sirius NFL Radio like  Pete Carroll, who are basically making plans for what players should do on their own time in the event of a work stoppage, are you hearing whispers of Freeman (or someone else) already organizing  workouts at a high school or some place for the players to get  together on their own away from One Buc Palace?

Cummings: We asked Josh about that the Monday after the season and his  response was, ‘Don’t worry, we’ll make sure we’re ready when the  season starts.’ That tells me that Freeman will do whatever he has to do to get in daily workouts with his receivers, running backs and centers.

Joe: When the lockout/work stoppage happens, guys like Arrelious Benn will not be allowed to rehab at One Buc Palace. What are guys like Benn, Cody Grimm and the rest of the Bucs wounded supposed to do?

Cummings: The Bucs will have a rehab program laid out for them and they’ll  just have to follow it. The program will probably include regular  visits for checkups to doctors and physicians that the team knows and trusts. It’s going to be a strange time for those guys, but I can promise you that those who really care will find a way to stay  
in touch with the team’s trainers and stay on top of their rehab.

Joe: It seems pretty clear now that Ronde Barber’s return will come down to money. Can you envision a scenario in which the Bucs let him test the free agent market?

Cummings: No, I really don’t, because I don’t think Barber has any interest in playing anywhere else. And don’t get all worked up about  Raheem saying Barber’s coming back as his starting right corner. Barber is coming back under that pretense and that presumption will  be the basis of any contract negotiation that takes place. Look, Mark Dominik all but said the same thing the Monday after the season ended. No one is prepared to permanently move Ronde to slot corner just yet. He may wind up playing all his snaps there at some point in time, but someone is going to have to outplay him at RCB first.

Good guy Stephen Holder discusses a position that Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik, Bucs coach Raheem Morris and his coaching staff will study the closest in this St. Petersburg Times video. Hint: linebackers.

So what’s a quality 27-year-old right guard worth when he’s been hurt two of the past three seasons and isn’t much of a zone blocker?

The Bucs are going to find out when Davin Joseph hits the free agent market, believes Stephen Holder of the St. Pete Times.

“They do want him back. Can they afford him? That’s the problem. We don’t know the cost,” Holder told draft guru Justin Pawlowski on WDAE-AM 620 on Saturday.  “Price tag is the issue.”

Of course, the Bucs could drop the franchise tag on Joseph, effectively taking him off the market and paying him a massive one-year deal to see if he can stay healthy. But it’s unclear how franchising players will play out with the labor strife. Joe doubts the Bucs would go the franchise route with Joseph anyway, but it wouldn’t be shocking.

This, as Joe has written before, is a brutally tough call for the Bucs: How much do you value a guy that’s missed nine games in three years with foot issues when you have capable Derek Hardman and Jeremy Zuttah behind him on the depth chart?

Maybe it’s better to invest in a more durable dude.

There is no question in anyone’s mind who watched the Bucs at all this year that the team is more in need of a defensive end than Joe needs quality time with Rachel Watson.

Iowa defensive end Adrian Clayborn has been on Joe’s radar since he single-handedly destroyed Penn State in Happy Valley on a Saturday night in 2009, and later that season wreaked holy havoc upon Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl.

For whatever reasons, Clayborn did not have a spectacular senior season, though that’s not to say Clayborn was not effective. He was, just not the superstar as some expected.

As a result, he may slip to the Bucs at No. 20 so claims draftnik Todd McShay of BSPN, via Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune.

So what does McShay believe the Bucs will do? Well he has them taking a defensive end just like Kiper, but with Kerrigan gone he sees them filling the need for a dominant pass rusher by claiming Adrian Clayborn of Iowa.

“Tampa Bay has a lot of needs along the defensive front seven but there’s not a traditional 4-3 linebacker worth taking here, so Clayborn makes sense with his strength,’’ McShay wrote. “He would team with DTs Gerald McCoy and Brian Price to form one of the best young defensive lines in the league.’’

One of the reasons some believe Clayborn will slide down the draft ranks, outside of his less than Superman-like play this past fall, is because Clayborn had a run-in with the law.

Whst makes Clayborn attractive to Joe is his hands. Full disclosure: Joe enjoys watching Big Ten games in the afternoon (especially if Courtney the Bartender is pouring drinks) and getting lubricated for an SEC game later in the day.

Joe can’t remember the opponent — it was either Wisconsin or Ohio State — but Clayborn had beaten his man to the right, to the quarterback’s blind side. The left tackle recovered nicely and shoved Clayborn past the quarterback. As Clayborn was a step past the quarterback, Clayborn reached behind his own shoulder with his left hand and flicked the ball out of the quarterback’s hand.

That was what you call not just quick hands, but fantastic hand-to-eye coordination and that cannot be coached.

Good, quick hands are invaluable for a defensive end.

Gerald McCoy, with his surgically-repaired bicep and $40 million+ guaranteed contract, is heading to San Diego for rehabilitation.

No. 93 will join forces with renowned fitness guru Todd Durkin, so reports Woody Cummings of The Tampa Tribune, as he mingles with heavy hitters and slimy agents at the Senior Bowl.

This Durkin dude works with all kinds of big names in sports, and Joe’s glad to see McCoy is going to subject himself to an ultra-high level of training. The Bucs need him to come back an animal.

In this video, Durkin works with one of Joe’s all-time favorite, Tanya Rivero of ABC. Joe recommends her “squat jumps” midway through.

It’s difficult to imagine that the Bucs would look to upgrade a strength in the coming months, but that’s just what Woody Cummings believes the Bucs are going to do.

Kellen Winslow was the Bucs’ leading receiver last year and a go-to guy for quarterback Josh Freeman.

But because of his gimpy knee, Cummings believes the Bucs will go after a tight end, if not high in the draft, perhaps via the free agency route, so he wrote in The Tampa Tribune.

The problem is Winslow will forever spend the majority of the week leading up to a game preparing to play on what amounts to one good leg, the result of an almost countless number of surgeries to his right knee.

That makes the situation at tight end rather precarious for the Bucs, especially after backup Jerramy Stevens was let go after his drug-related arrest in October. Throw in the fact backup John Gilmore soon will become a free agent and turns 32 right about the time the 2011 season starts and you probably can see where this is headed.

Quite simply, the Bucs need a tight end.

It’s not a dumb move. Winslow was a virtual no-show in preseason games because of his knee. Then again, he didn’t need to get beat up for preseason games and was able to answer the bell once the 2010 season began.

But a solid backup to Winslow is not a bad idea. Works for the Steelers.

Is it possible that the man charged with keeping Josh Freeman’s uniform clean and being the Bucs’ Mr. Everything on third down could be cast aside for a rookie?

Bucs beat writer Stephen Holder thinks the Bucs could do just that. Holder called soon-to-be-free-agent Cadillac Williams “somewhat replaceable in the draft,” during an interview Saturday on WDAE-AM 620 with Justin Pawlowski.

On the surface, Joe finds this ridiculous. 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. The Bucs can’t realistically expect to duplicate that production from a draft pick next season.

But Holder’s comment is not out in left field, especially if you’re in the camp that believes the Bucs can afford to wait on crafting a team to make a deep run in the playoffs. 

Hey, if you’re not thinking Super Bowl for next season after a 10-6 record, then sure, Cadillac is replaceable in the draft.

Joe doesn’t fall into that camp of Bucs fans; Joe sees Cadillac as a critical piece of the puzzle to win big in 2011.

Joe would hardly complain if the Bucs drafted a lightning fast, change-of-pace back outside the first round. But regardless, Cadillac has proven to be durable — imagine that — and valuable.

Mark Dominik surely can work miracles, but why risk it if you want to make a deep playoff run? The price tag on Cadillac can’t be that high.

Joe hopes the play that clinched another Super Bowl trip for the Steelers last night made its mark on Raheem Morris.

The minute the Steelers pulled it off, Joe had painful flashbacks to the Bucs getting overly conservative at home against the Lions and choking the game away after Raheem decided to not let Josh Freeman throw for a critical first down or have LeGarrette Blount continue to pound Detroit.

Raheem instead opted to run the ball up the middle three times with Cadillac Williams twice and Freeman on a quarterback keeper (his “ball-security” plan) to set up a field goal and give the rock back to Detroit with 1:39 left.

Conversely, leading by five points with 2:00 remaining and a 3rd-and-6 on the Jets’ 40, the Steelers gave horny, sleazy Ben Roethlisberger a chance to put the game away. And he did. The Steelers went for the kill shot; The Bucs castrated themselves.

Yeah, Joe thought he was over it, but he’s still agonizing about the Bucs missing the playoffs because of that needless zebra-assisted loss to the Lions — one of the great what-ifs of the 2010 season.

Hopefully leaving his grass skirt at home, Donald Penn will fly out to Honolulu this week to play in his first Pro Bowl, so reports Stephen Holder of the St. Pete Times. Penn will replace Green Bay tackle Chad Clifton.

Joe’s real happy for Penn, who is most deserving of the honor. The guy’s made 60 consecutive starts for the Bucs and been a stud for nearly every one. He’ll be the only Buccaneers player on the NFC roster.

Joe remembers Davin Joseph chatting about his trip to the Pro Bowl after the 2008 season. Joseph said he paid to bring along Jeremy Trueblood, Aaron Sears and Penn along with him. 

In line to earn $7.2 million next season plus incentives, one would think Penn will be a good man and return the favor.

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