• Buc ‘Em has a short piece on all the Bucs with Twitter accounts.  Twitter seems to be blowing up by the day so if you enjoy following your favorite players, check this link out.
• John Romano of the St Pete Times lays into the ownership of the Bucs because of their lack of spending.  He quotes a number from NFL.com that states that the Bucs have spent less in the last 5 years on player salaries and bonuses than any team in the league.
• My friends over at BucStats lay into the Glazers even more with a little deeper analysis of John Romano’s piece.
• SI.Com tabs the Bucs as having the worst offseason of any NFL team.
• The new regime still has grandiose plans for future Hall of Famer Ronde Barber.

There isn’t much going on during this time of the year, so I figured I’d let you guys get a look around the talkosphere about your Buccaneers.

I had to make the picture huge, just for all those that forgot what our uni’s used to look like when we were the Yucks, or the Sucks, or the Yuckaneers or the worst, the Suckaneers.  They were creamsicle, we know!!! Most people around the country hate them, and always seem to mention them as one of the worst sports uni’s ever (I personally go with the Nuggets cityscape jerseys of the 90’s).   There are plenty of fans around the Bay Area who you see walking around with the throwback Lee Roy Selmon, the one metioned in the picture above.

There has been talk for two years that we migth run with the retro jerseys in one of our home games, ala San Diego and Buffalo who routinely bring out their retro jerseys.  Buffalo and Saint Diego’s retros though maybe my two favorite jerseys of all time…ours are creamsicle.  Pewter Report is saying today that although they have no official announcement from the team, they have “learned” that the Bucs will bring out the retro’s vs the Packers on November 8th, 2009 at Ray Jay.

It has been over 13 years since the Bucs last rocked these Testaverde proof fits, and I can’t lie, I’m excited.

Rick Stroud of the St Petersburg Times was just featured on ESPN’s NFL Live and was quoted as saying that Josh Freeman is now the QB to beat going into training camp.

I’m not sure whether this says how good he has looked thusfar in OTA’s and Mini-Camps or how average both Byron Leftwich and Luke McCown have looked.  Freeman has been getting the majority of the snaps with the third team offense and primarily against the third team defense, so even if he was impressive, it had to be taken with a grain of salt.  On the other hand if both Leftwich and McCown have looked subpar to average, the coaching staff might just have a WTF type of call on their hands.

“We did talk last week, and when I say we, I’m talking about everyone in the building from the G.M., the head coach, Doug Williams — other people were involved and we just discussed the Josh Freeman plan,” Olson said.  “We decided we’ll go through the summer, we’ll go probably a week into training camp and we’ll revisited [sic] it again . . . we may expedite what he’s doing.

“Early when he first got here, he was forcing the football too much,” Olson said.  “If he can show he’s progressing as far as the decision-making goes, then shoot, why not?  He’s comfortable in there, he throws a great ball, he’s accurate and if he’s not turning the ball over, then gosh, maybe he will be ready to play.”

With training camp just a few weeks away, the Buccaneers QB situation is still an unknown to even those that follow the team the closest.  I have had fervent conversations with die hard Bucs fans over the past few weeks, and all seem to be split on who they want to be the starting QB for the Bucs in the 09 season.

Personally, I’m pining for QB Luke McCown.  I think that McCown’s legs are quite underated and his arm strength is ideal for Jeff Jagodzinski’s new offense.  Of course, Byron Leftwich has similar arm strength to McCown, but a much slower release and Sluggo obviously is lacking in the wheels department.  The one thing Sluggo has on all the QB’s on the roster sans Brian Griese (who wants to be released) is his experience.

Today, Head Coach Raheem Morris might have given us the first glimpse of who has a leg up on the competition.

On Byron Leftwich’s experience in relation to his competition for the starting QB position -

“You’ve got to say it’s an edge, because there is experience, but it’s all going to be determined in the preseason,” said Buccaneers Head Coach Raheem Morris, on which the final decision rests. “These guys have got to go out and do it here. We want to see what have you done for me lately, to be honest with you, so we’ve got to get them out there on the field, let those guys go out and compete in the preseason and be ready to go.”

“You’ve seen why he was a starter in this league,” said Morris. “What he’s done is come in here, he’s got a good grasp of the offense. He knows how to control the huddle. He has some of the intangibles that some of our other guys don’t have without that experience. So that’s what he does bring to the table. He has that swagger, to bring some of that stuff from playing that all of our guys don’t have. That’s what we thought, and that’s what we got. We got a veteran, a young veteran, so we’re happy about it.”

I don’t have much to this post other than just reading something that had me cracking up.  I’m out of town in Louisville so this was said the other day by QB coach Greg Olson, but I had to put it up for everyone’s amusement.

“Byron (Leftwich) has great experience, and he throws a great deep ball,” said Olson. “He sees the field very, very well. But he’s an awful athlete. He claims he scored 59 points in a basketball game, but I want to see the boxscore. We call him the slug. He’s got slow feet, a slow delivery … all those things you beat him up on.”

Apparently, Josh Freeman made a pass in today’s OTA that had a lot of those watching as well as those on the field in awe.  It was a downfield bomb that was perfectly spiraled and perfectly on the money.  It’s hard to take too much from this time of the year, but the few things that have been leaking out of the OTA’s about Freeman thusfar have been impressive.

“You saw a big-time throw by the guy,” acknowledged Head Coach Raheem Morris just a few minutes later. “That’s what we knew he could do. That’s what you’ve got to ask him to do when you get a guy like that. He just had to make a good decision and he made a great decision. It was a big-time throw and it was a big-time completion, and that kind of stuff fires you up.”

“His understanding of the offense, his ability to make better decisions [has progressed],” said Morris. “I’ve seen his footwork get better, I’ve seen his pocket presence become better. I’ve seen him move up and not be such a stand-there guy and expect the protection to work for you so much.

Fifth round selection Xavier Fulton, a T out of the University of Illinois is the first Buccaneer of the 2009 Buccaneers draft class to sign a deal.

Fulton’s signing early might work in his favor.  With the possibility still looming that Aaron Sears is not medically cleared to play, and Jeremy Zuttah therefore taking over his spot, the backup Tackle positions on both sides would seemingly be wide open for competition.  Couple that with the regression from Jeremy Trueblood last year, and there is a possibility that Fulton could even be battling for the RT spot.  He drew only two penalties for the Illini last year on 393 pass plays, and amazingly only allowed two QB pressures.

More than likely he will backup both T spots in 09.

Pewter Report reported last week that Bucs LG Aaron Sears still has not been medically cleared to play due to at least one concussion suffered last season.  

This post is not intended to be callous and disregard Sears health, because that is obviously the first concern, but the impact to the Bucs would be fairly large.  Sears was begining to look like one of the best young gaurds in the game.  Combined with Davin Joseph, you would be hard pressed to find me a better young tandem in the league as far as potential and current ability are concerned.  

If Sears is not able to play, swing lineman Jeremy Zuttah would definitely step into Sears’ place.  Zuttah was a 3nd round draft pick 2007 and has been a very nice fill in for Sears and for Joseph during times of injuries.   I have even speculated this offseason that Zuttah might have gotten a chance to overtake the penalty prone Jeremy Trueblood in Jeff Jagodzinski’s new offense.  He is a very solid player, and will fill in just fine for Sears if it were to come down to that.  

The biggest issue would then be the depth on the offensive line.  Zuttah played every position except Center on the line in college, so having him as a backup is quite a luxury.  The Bucs are really only forced to carry two backup lineman as long as Zuttah is one of those two.  If he is forced to start, Sean Mahan would be the backup interior lineman and one of the few tackles on the roster currently, or a player on someone elses practice squad would have to come in and backup the T spots.  It is possible that depending on the versatility of said player, two T’s might need to be brought in, one to man each side.  This will have a direct correlation on the roster as we might not have the luxury of carrying 4 pure running backs, or 6 wide receivers or 7 or 8 defensive lineman.  

So not only does Sears injury effect the overall product moving forward, the potential for him to be out could have a devastating effect on the final 53 man roster.

Yahoo Sports yesterday, published a report that the Buccaneers were one of two teams to contact Plaxico Burress this week.  The Yahoo report describes the phone call as exploratory and was mainly to “check on Burress’ well being.”  The checking in on his well being part is quite laughable, but we’ll for this excercise take the phone call as a serious inquiry into signing Burress.  

First and foremost, the legal issues that Plaxico faces from gun charges in NY are the most important factor in any team signing him, the Bucs or anyone else for that matter.  I have read lately that his lawyers are trying to reach a plea deal with the district attorney’s office.  Let us also assume for this that Plaxico ends up with a probation and community service type of plea bargain and serves no actual jail time. 

Regardless of his eventual deal with the state/district attorney’s office, Plax is almost certain to face some punishment from Commisioner Roger Goodell.  Burress is most likely looking at somewhere in between 4 and 8 games.  Let’s say he ends up with an 8 game suspension, stays on good behavior and gets his suspension cut to 6 games.  

The availability of a player who had such an impact on a team winning the Super Bowl two years ago is something that every team would be looking at if Burress wasn’t such a head case.  He is though, and that is something that every team, including the Bucs would need to take into consideration if they were to sign him.  His production on the field though, can not be disputed.  In 3 full seasons with the NY Giants, him and Eli Manning connected for 29 touchdowns.  Everyone just assumed that Eli Manning had become a great quarterback during this time, but with Burress out last year, Manning looked average, and in my opinion, that’s is just what he is.  Burress ability to stretch the defense vertically on go routes, run routes to perfection, catch just about anything thrown his way and mostly his ability to be a huge redzone target was key to the so called “progression” of Eli Manning.  

If the Bucs plan is to let Luke McCown or Byron Leftwich handle the QB duties this year while rookie Josh Freeman learns the ropes, than signing Burress to me seems to be a no brainer.  The tandem of Antonio Bryant and Burress coupled with the arm strength of both McCown and Leftwich would make our offense downright scary.  Add in the deep running back corps, Kellen Winslow and our young impressive line, and the Bucs would have the chance to be a top tier offensive team.   I think everyone is overexaggerating the loss of the older players on our defense, because if I remember correctly, most of the pundits felt this was our downfall defensively last season.  We have old guys and we are too old, we get rid of them, and now most people think we have no defense.  Our secondary is one of the young bright secondaries in the league.  Barrett Ruud, Quincy Black/Angelo Crowell and Jermaine Phillips/Geno Hayes is a more than competent group of linebackers and if the defensive line can get some more pressure on the QB we have the chance to be as good as we have at any point during the last decade. People forget that until we lost to the Panthers in Week 14, the Bucs were the number 2 ranked defense in the league.  

On the other hand, if the plan is for Freeman to play, I think this would be a terrible signing by us.  I loved how Antonio Bryant behaved last year, but the combination of Bryant, Winslow and Burress is a frightening thought for me in regards to a rookie QB and his psyche.  Three guys who demand the ball and aren’t afraid to act out when they don’t get their way isn’t really the way you want to “raise” a quarterback in this league.  

It’s an interesting pickle for our team in all honesty, and one if it were to happen, will probably tell you the direction in which the front office and the new coaching staff feel this team is headed for the upcoming season.

I have heard through the grapevine (as I am in Connecticut) that talk radio and some local media members in Tampa are a little perturbed by the fact that newly signed TE Kellen Winslow was a no-show for the teams first OTA.  He apparently was in the process of  ”moving” his stuff from his old home to his new home.  

While this might seem ridiculous to some people, there is a chance that this excuse was a valid one and the new regime didn’t have an issue with it.  

I don’t neccesarily have an issue with the actual excuse itself, its the act of not showing to the teams first OTA after receiving a contract that made him the highest paid TE in NFL history.  Let’s be real here, Winslow is not exactly a choir boy.  There was a lot of talk amongst, well, the talking heads, that the main reason that the Browns decided to ship Winslow to the Bucs was because they were apprehensive about giving a head case a big fat contract.  This is not exactly the way for Winslow to quiet any of those critics.  

Even moreso, is the act of an excused no-show to an OTA even a big deal?  Like to get your guys feedback on this.