Micheal Spurlock is among the many Bucs seeking a free agent payday.

Yesterday Mark Dominik talked about his desire to make the Bucs a “homegrown” winner and re-sign their own free agents.

Conveniently, NFL writer eye-RAH! Kaufman of The Tampa Tribune provided a list of the Bucs’ soon-to-be unrestricted free agents a few days ago, along with some brief commentary.

CB Ronde Barber – Can continue playing if he desires
LB Quincy Black – Solid player, but market determines fate
DL Tim Crowder – Made $545,000 in 2010; gets paid in 2011
TE John Gilmore – Hard to beat his stability and dedication
LB Adam Hayward – Key special teams performer, solid backup
G Davin Joseph – Pro Bowl-caliber right guard
LB Niko Koutouvides – Solid special teams contributor
LB Barrett Ruud – Underappreciated or overrated?
WR Micheal Spurlock – Well-rounded and emerging threat
WR Maurice Stovall – Never made impact in passing game
T Jeremy Trueblood – Lost starting job during season
DE Stylez G. White – Bucs will be looking for upgrade
RB Cadillac Williams – Plans to test the market

Of course, Dominik said all the free agents are important to retain, but every fan knows some of these guys will be playing elsewhere next season, or perhaps blogging or golfing.

It’s a very interesting list. A durable work-rate guy like 25-year-old Crowder, who has 10.5 career sacks, is going to command interest on the market.

Spurlock also has loads of upside and Joe would suspect Spurlock would be courted around the NFL. He ranked seventh in the league among kickoff returners with more than 20 opportunities, and he was one of 16 guys in the NFL to return a kick for a touchdown. He also caught 17 balls, 14.7 yards per catch and two toucdowns. 

But Spurlock was very average on punt returns, with only two out of 28 returns more than 20 yards and some questionable decision-making. Joe wonders whether the Bucs might invest their money elsewhere and bank on Preston Parker and Sammie Stroughter filling Spurlock’s role.

Joe looks forward to overanalyzing this entire list through the offseason.

Obviously, the Bucs have landmark decisions to make with Ruud and Joseph.

Lots of offseason drama reviving for Rays fans with the Matt Garza rumors getting a shot in the arm today.

Are the Rays really serious about Manny Ramirez?

Rafael Soriano still has no team. Check it all out on JoeRaysFan.com, your daily source for all things Rays.

Outside of missing the playoffs, the thing that bummed Joe out the most about the 2010 season was that stud rookie wide receiver Arrelious Benn suffered a season-ending knee injury.

Earlier this week Benn had surgery on his torn ACL. Since, Benn has become somewhat of a Twittering fool, posting all sorts of interesting nuggets.

One of the things he promised his followers is that he would regularly update his fight to rehab his knee. So far, he is doing just that. Yesterday, Benn reports that his knee is fine, as fine as can be expected.

Knee is doing great guys! I ahead of schedule just been watching all the TV and playing video games in the world.!

Joe’s not sure how ahead of schedule it can be just a few days after surgery, but Joe’s glad to read it regardless.

Benn was just starting to blow up when he got hurt. Still turns Joe’s stomach a little on this chilly January morning.

There were a lot of reasons to like the Bucs, playoff-less despite 10 wins.

There was the emergence of quarterback Josh Freeman who seems to have ice water in his veins in the fourth quarter.

There was the play of ageless cornerback Ronde Barber.

There were the clutch catches by tight end Kellen Winslow.

But most of all was the play of the rookies, highlighted by 10 rookie starters, the most by a team with a winning record in the modern era of the NFL.

This was largely due to the eagle eye of rock star general manager Mark Dominik who Joe’s good friend Justin Pawlowski of WDAE-AM 620 and the host of the critically acclaimed “Blitz” sometimes heard on Saturdays, writes on his blog on WDAE’s website that Dominik has established himself as a master of the draft.

I learned that there was no general manager in football that took as much advantage of one of the deepest drafts in NFL history than Mark Dominik. I know everyone is up in arms over Raheem Morris winning coach of the year, but if Mark Dominik doesn’t win executive of the year in a landslide, I will be shocked. When you look at the players drafted by Dominik this year in Arrelious Benn, Myron Lewis, Gerald McCoy, Mike Williams, Dekota Watson, and Cody Grimm, you wonder if each of those players could be starting in 2011. Brian Price, one of the Bucs 2nd round picks, will also be back from injury and contributing at DT in year 2. When you add in undrafted free agents like Preston Parker, Ted Larson, and Derek Hardman, snatching Al Woods and Dezmon Briscoe off of opposing practice squads, and claiming one of the biggest sleepers in NFL history in Legarrette Blount, it’s tough to think there’s a front office that had a better year than the Bucs did this year. If this is a sign of things to come, Bucs fans should strap in for one hell of a ride. Mark Dominik has set the bar extremely high for himself… which is a very good thing.

Very true.

Raheem Morris did a wonderful job of coaching the young guys up. But it was Dominik who, in the famous works of Bill Parcells, picked the groceries.

One can train a mule for years to race in the Kentucky Derby but the animal will never succeed. Sure, Morris did a wonderful job this year. But the talent was there to work with.

Talent plucked by Dominik.

You’ll know where to find Joe on Saturday night. That would be at Derby Lane in St. Petersburg.

Joe’s going to watch top flight greyhound racing and the Jets-Colts game while he hopes to win one of five $500 cash givewaways at the greyhound track. Then, after many adult beverages, Joe will play low-stakes Texas Hold’em into the wee hours in the best card room around. All kinds of prizes in the card room Joe is hoping to win, including a new Ford F-150 and a trip to a “Big Game” in Dallas. …The action goes til 5 a.m. in Derby Lane card room.

What makes the Bucs so damn exciting right now is that they have successfully transformed the roster and have a enough talent to win a division title in 2011 and make a run at a Super Bowl next year.

That’s just the simple reality.

Sure it’s great that there’s a core group of young Bucs in place that could become iconic figures one day, but for Joe that’s just a bunch of la-la land, Lifetime network stuff.

This team, right now, can win next year in a big way with the right personnel upgrades in free agency or the draft. For Joe, that’s darn special. That’s an opportunity you don’t sit on in the name of anything. That’s one you go after like Joe attacks a hamburger after having a few beers.

Appearing on Pro Football Talk Live today, a new show hosted by ProFootballTalk.com guru Mike Florio, Bucs general manager was asked about gunning for a Super Bowl and adding free agents to put the Bucs over the top in 2011. Here’s the unedited exchange:

Mike Florio: Now that you’re building this team that was very successful, especially when considering the youth of the team, do you feel compelled to go out and try and get a key veteran free agent at a couple of different positions to maybe push the team over the top? And not just make it a playoff team but make it a Super Bowl contender?

Mark Dominik: Well I like what we started with two years ago. Again, it goes back to the plan that I really wanted to put in place that we really wanted to do in terms of how we built this team in the past and the way we want to build it now going forward.

I would say it’s really a homegrown type of football team. And really the first thing we’re going to do is obviously look at our own. We’ve got 12 guys that are really important to us that are going to become possibly unrestricted free agents that we really want to focus on.

But almost the most important for us, for us, is the fact that we want a team, and I think we have that, is a team that this town falls back in love with. You know we used to have 55 jerseys and 40 and 47 and 99s. Now we want our town to start buying 19 and 5 and 27 and 82 jerseys. That’s what’s important to us.

But again, the mindset is to win a championship. We’ve had a lot of success over the last two years with the NFL draft. We’re going to continue to focus towards that. But we’re going to continue to try to lock up our own players like we did Donald Penn as well.

Joe wasn’t quite sure how to read into Dominik’s response.

Now Joe knows this is all largely meaningless general manager chatter in January, and Dominik probably doesn’t want to — nor should he — tip his hand in any direction, but Joe found the answer interesting.

First Dominik says he likes what he started with two years ago, but back then he was targeting Albert Haynesworth. Then he references how the Bucs were built in the past is an important model, as is being a homegrown team. But the Bucs model of the past was to add big name veterans to the core of homegrown studs. So is that what’s coming down the pike now that Nos. 5, 27, 19 and 82 are in place?

In Joe’s heart, Joe believes Dominik and Raheem Morris know too well how difficult and rare it is to be knocking on the door of NFL immortality. Joe has to believe these emerging rock stars are going to pull out all the stops in 2011 and make moves with a Super Bowl in mind.

How could they not?

A massive issue facing every NFL team, if there is a lockout of players in March, will be keeping guys motivated and focused on football when they’re essentially free men.

When there’s no weight lifting at One Buc Palace. When there’s no rookie minicamp to report to. When there’s no OTA days for which to stay in shape. When a pile of guys are free agents.

Joe has visions of the Yankees letting Josh Freeman use one of their fields off Dale Mabry Hwy. for daily throwing sessions. He could probably make some serious money selling tickets to that.

In theory a prolonged lockout should be a huge problem for the Buccaneers, who have a young roster of guys that might need a little more guidance than other clubs. And most Bucs are only in the beginning of their development as professionals and benefit greatly from OTA days and even loose supervision. 

Speaking on WDAE-AM 620 yesterday as a co-host with Steve Duemig, Bucs icon Derrick Brooks expressed great concern about guys not being able to use the Bucs’ facilities to keep them connected with the team.

When Raheem Morris called in to chat, Brooks asked him about his young Bucs staying motivated. Raheem said the successful next-man-up 2010 season will keep his guys hungry and fearful.

“Having the ability to play as many people as we did, everybody on the team kinda knows, ‘Man, there are a bunch of guys around here that can play. So if I want to get my spot back I better get back into the room and get back into the lab and figure out how I can get better,'” Raheem said. “We don’t necessarily have a Derrick Brooks or a Warren Sapp, which is unbelievable players that are going to go out there and get it done no matter what. Even though I watched [Brooks] come here every day in the offseason. These guys are going to want to keep competing.”

Joe suspects only a select handful of Buccaneers will feel job security entering 2011.

Joe hopes Raheem is right about his players’ drive and focus, but a prolonged lockout, if it happens, seemingly would be a greater handicap for the Bucs versus their more veteran rivals in Atlanta  and New Orleans.

Today is The Epiphany,  but for many an Epiphany came about the past few weeks.

Bucs fans just a few short months ago were an irritable lot. Much of the angst came from the knowledge that few, if any, not even a hardcore cheerleader like Jaime Hanna, believed the Bucs had a prayer of reaching 10 wins.

Upon hearing Adam Schein pronounce the Bucs to be the leading candidate for the top overall pick in the 2011 draft and Bucs coach Raheem Morris referred to as “overmatched,” Bucs fans nearly drove into the Hillsborough River as they pounded their dashboards in rage.

While at work, Bucs fans shouted obscenities so loud they disturbed their non-NFL Network watching coworkers (women) who were immersed in the latest edition of ELLE while pondering the comings and goings of OctoMom and Kate Plus Eight Cake Donuts, upon reading Peter King explain on SI.com that the Bucs would win but two games this season.

What really sent Bucs fans over the edge, on the verge of canceling their internet accounts, was reading the creator, curator and overall guru of ProFootballTalk.com, Mike Florio, suggest the Bucs may only win seven games in three years.

But those in the national media have undergone an epiphany. Now the Bucs, finished with their race-to-10 but being playoff-less, are the toast of the NFL.

Schein loudly proclaims, as he reiterated with Morris again Tuesday, that Morris is the NFL coach of the year.

King believes the Bucs are the ninth best team in the NFL and gushes over Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman more than a nubile, scantily-clad college lass grinding into the wee hours of the morning amid thumping music at The Venue.

Earlier this week Florio referred to the Bucs as “great” and now Mark Dominik has convinced Florio that Morris should be the coach of the year. Below is a clip of Florio’s interview with Dominik today, and this link is an NBCSports.com video of the interview in its entirety, courtesy of Florio and ProFootballTalk.com.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Picture LeGarrette Blount feasting in a One Buc Palace mess hall with a bunch of other young college guys in Tampa for pre-draft interviews by the Bucs.

Then Blount is the only one who gets up and walks to the back of the room to thank the banquet staff and chef, and peek his head into the kitchen to toss a thumbs up at the dishwashers.

Mark Dominik told this story on ProFootballTalk live today to host Mike Florio.

Dominik explained that a staff chef alerted Dominik of Blount’s appreciative gesture, and Dominik said it was a glimpse into Blount’s character that really stuck with the general manager. The Bucs were the only team, Dominik said, to put in a waiver claim for Blount.

Just a great story about No. 27.

Joe will have more from Dominik’s interview later.

Alex Magee had a huge hand in the Bucs' 10th win

Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik reiterated his top three priorities for building a football team this morning on The Ron and Ian Show on WDAE-AM 620.

Step 1: Get a franchise quarterback
Step 2: Keep him upright via blocking and a good running game
Step 3: Get after the QB on defense

Hmmm. Step 1 and Step 2 are in damn fine shape. It’s got to be on to Step 3 this offseason.

After drafting two defensive tackles last year and finding serviceable Al Woods and Frank Okam, it seems that the inevitable next step for Dominik is at defensive end.

Former anointed starter Kyle Moore is still waiting on his first NFL sack after 16 games played, a nearly impossible feat in Joe’s mind. And Stylez White’s 4.5 sacks in 2010 surely didn’t make anyone believe he’s a returning starter. 

Michael Bennett and Tim Crowder are talented young guys who seem well suited as role players. Alex Magee flashed some great stuff and two sacks in flimsy minutes.

But the Bucs’ defensive ends cranked out just 10.5 sacks as a unit. Frankly, that’s ugly.

Joe wonders whether Dominik will snatch a free agent defensive end and draft one as well. Looking at how he’s addressed receivers and defensive tackles, Dominik’s not afraid to do things in pairs.

Outside the braintrust parked inside One Buc Palace, Raheem Morris has key advisors helping to shape his core beliefs and game preparation.

It’s a big-name threesome working independently to mentor and stimulate the head coach to be his best self, so Raheem explained during his surprise call-in interview to The Dan Sileo Show on WDAE-AM 620 on Tuesday.

Sileo asked Raheem who he reaches out to during the season for advice.

“You’ll be shocked, man,” Raheem said. “I got three that I don’t know if I reach out to them, but we stay in touch with each other.

“Derrick Brooks is one of my biggest supporters. He calls me behind the scenes probably once a week. We talk about things. We talk about the team. We talk about development. You know, it’s kind of ironic. Derrick’s still a part of this family. He still helps me out tremendously through texts, through conversations on the phone, through whatever we need. You know, whether it’s fixing something on defense or just talking about the style of play. We do that all the time.

“Coach Maddon over at the Rays, phenomenal advice, phenomenal when it comes to talking to me about planning and how you’re going to attack the media and the message, and all the things that he gives his team through examples. It’s been unbelievable.

“Mike Tomlin, we talk every Monday. And we kind of go across whatever situation may happen. …And we dream about meeting in Dallas this year. Unfortunately that won’t happen.

“I gotta nice base of people that call me. I gotta nice base of people that I call and reach out to. And not necessarily to be, ‘Oh, woe is me.’ But it’s just about mental toughness and us developing what we want to be and how we want to do it.”

So to summarize:

Brooks helps fix the defense.
Maddon helps package the messaging to the media and the team.
Tomlin acts as a sounding board and offers situational advice.

Not a bad trilogy, Raheem.

Joe hopes the Bucs image/marketing gurus serve up Raheem to the local and national business publications of the world and get a feature story written about the young coach’s management approach. There are so many boring young CEO stories written out there, it’s almost criminal to keep the Raheem way under wraps.

Might even sell some tickets and stimulate confidence among those coveted corporate club-seat buyers.

As for Joe Maddon giving advice, Raheem months ago explained that Madden advised him to push the “Race to 10” message boldly and publicly. Turned out to be sound advice.

Joe hopes Raheem returns the favor and advises Madden not to return B.J. Upton to the leadoff spot anytime soon.

"Oh, Joe. I just love when you play computer genius."

In an effort to fight off constant attacks from hackers and keep JoeBucsFan.com a fast loading website serving many tens of thousands of visitors every week, Joe’s going to be doing some IT work tonight.

Joe has assembled his team of computer nerds, gathered some some attractive women for inspiration, picked up some beer and will be getting down to business.

So sometime after 11 p.m. this site will be offline for a brief while. It will return looking a little weird for about 10 minutes, and then everything will be back to normal quite quickly.

No need to e-mail Joe in a panic, pound your keyboard in frustration or look for another Bucs website. Joe thanks you in advance for your patience and understanding.

Joe finds it unsettling that Ronde Barber has already taped a guest TV spot for Onion SportsDome on Comedy Central, which airs on Tuesday. When did he find time for that?

In this video below, Ronde can be seen on the set wearing a suit worth more than Joe’s car and trying to pull off some comedy. Joe’s getting sick to his stomach wondering whether Ronde is making a fast play to join Joe in the media and bail on the Bucs.

Say it ain’t so, Ronde. Tampa Tribune TV maven Walt Belcher informed his readers yesterday.

Joe sure hopes Barber is just testing the waters. Here’s a snippet of his appearance: (Warning: unfunny video.)

A photo of Arrelious Benn's surgically repaired knee. Benn made the picture available via his Twitter account.

Joe has no concrete medical information on Arrelious Benn’s ACL knee surgery yesterday, but No. 17 has started Tweeting again, so it seems he’s alive and not kicking.

Benn snapped a photo of his repaired left knee and shared it with his Twitter followers today. Not exactly appropriate dinnertime viewing, but Joe brings it to you nonetheless.

Hopefully, Benn will be ready for opening day, but eight months is probably pushing it.

Chatting on WDAE-AM 620 this afternoon with Steve Duemig and Derrick Brooks, Raheem Morris talked about how Brooks is one of his trusted, regular advisors behind the scenes.

It was something Raheem talked about in more detail on WDAE-AM on Tuesday morning with host Dan Sileo. (Joe will have more on that tomorrow morning).

But interestingly today Raheem called Brooks his “secret agent” and nearly challenged Brooks to come join his staff.

“When Derrick wants to be employed by me, he knows where to come,” Raheem said.

Although it’s ancient history at this point, all this love for Brooks makes it hard to believe Raheem was on board with removing Brooks from the building after the 2008 season. Interesting.

Joe wonders whether Brooks might be more intrigued about joining the Bucs in a coaching role after such a strong season and the likelihood of the team bringing in some fresh talent at linebacker.

Obviously, Brooks would be an incredible acquisition on all fronts for the organization.

Brooks said he wants to be a “transition piece” for the current Bucs and he believes they are as good as their record.

The Bucs crossed the race-to-10 finish line but for the first time in years, a 10-win team is watching the NFL playoffs from a couch, just like Joe.

Every team, even a Super Bowl champ, can use an upgrade here or there. The Bucs are no different.

In this TBO Bucs vlog, video star Anwar Richardson, wearing a unique Budweiser Select shirt, and his Tampa Tribune colleague Woody Cummings, discuss what positions rock star general manager Mark Dominik will target for the 2011 Bucs.

Joe strongly encourages you to monitor the video and give Joe your feedback. Some interesting nuggets of information can be found in the clip, including a reference to “lightning rod” Barrett Ruud.

"We're going to throw in lifetime museum passes, a Ryan Giggs jersey and rights to the Houlihan's name."

Break out the covert video cameras, 80’s porn star sweatshirts and disdain for the media, Raheem Morris wants to be like Bill Belichick.

Of course, Joe is kidding for the most part. But the Bucs head coach said he does aspire to be among the NFL’s coaching elite, specifically Belichick, when it comes to media treatment of himself, his players and staff.

In a surprise call-in/love session to The Dan Sileo Show yesterday on WDAE-AM 620, Raheem scoffed at Sileo asking him about his contract status.

“You know, I’m a football coach, man. And alll that stuff is family business. What happens with myself and my ownership.I don’t worry about those things. I want to be like Bill Belichick. I’ve never heard Belichick being asked about his contract situation and what’s going on with it. It’s just kind of assumed, you know,” Morris said.

“And I want that to happen here for our players. I want that to happen for myself. I want that to happen for our coaching staff. And really, for me, that’s a mentally weak approach when you’re sitting around thinking about your contract. You know, I’ve never been that way. I’ve always done my job to the best of my abilities and it’s paid off so far. And I just want to keep that same type of mentality.”

That all sounds great. And Joe appreciates and respects Raheem’s healthy attitude. But if Raheem does not get a contract extension beyond Team Glazer exercising its reported one-year option for 2011, it would have to be nearly impossible for Raheem not to wonder what he’s got to do to get a raise and a couple more years of security.

Now that he’s Coach of the Year, Raheem Morris has no plans to step back from his defensive coordinator duties and play only the role of CEO/spiritual leader/miracle worker of the Bucs.

Speaking on WDAE-AM 620 on Monday evening, Raheem explained his feelings in no uncertain terms in response to a fan question.

“I probably will at some point be able to name some type of defensive coordinator. But, you know, as far as calling it, and the gameday procedures, I don’t think I’d want to head coach and not do that right now. You know at some point maybe I’ll be JoPa, and I’ll be able to stand on the sidelines and go back to my management days. But right now I’m enjoying it too much. We’re having way too much fun with putting our plans together and going out there and really executing what we want to get done,” Raheem said.

“We got so much room for improvement and so many things we can do to get better. … I wish I could play tomorrow. … I look forward to getting some of these guys back off IR and really being excited about it again.”

Of course, Raheem’s defense was gashed in the running game this season and rarely got pressure on the quarterback without a blitz, but still it managed to finish ninth in the NFL in points allowed at 19.9. Bodes very well for next season, assuming the many wounded Bucs heal well and Ronde Barber returns.

Joe has to take a moment to pat Raheem on the back for having the guts to take calls from fans on live radio for the second consecutive season. Although calls are screened (but seemingly not too heavily this season) very few NFL coaches open themselves up to that kind of thing.

Kudos to the anti-Chucky.