Tampa Bay Buccaneers Weekly Recap: 2/4/13 – 2/8/13

Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

This week has seen a few minor changes, additions, and events happen in Tampa Bay, so let’s take some time and look back at the post-Super Bowl week that was with some links and thoughts on important happenings.

• The Buccaneers have announced the staff for the 2013 NFL Season. The Pewter Plank has kept you up to date with most changes as they’ve been reported, but the team made the changes official, and announced a couple of surprises, this week. The change you might not have been aware of is the promotion of Bob Fraser to assistant defensive coordinator, and the hiring of Robb Smith to replace Fraser’s former position as linebackers coach. Both Fraser and Smith are former assistants under head coach Greg Schiano at Rutgers, so the head coach must feel comfortable that his Rutgers staff was made up of lots of NFL-ready coaching talent. There are quite a few coaches on the staff now, so hopefully there isn’t a case of too many hands trying to stir the pot. Schiano certainly rules with some variety of iron fist, so if anyone can manage a larger staff, it’s probably him.
• It appears the Bucs have a virtually clean bill of health, as any injured players are progressing well towards a full return in 2013. Guards Davin Joseph and Carl Nicks are the biggest concerns, as they will fill a crucial role in the 2013 offense. We’ve already discussed Joseph, but what about his counterpart on the other side of the center? According to Mark Dominik, he’s on track to be ready for training camp. Only Quincy Black’s future remains in doubt.
• This offseason will see the debut of the new free agency lead in period, and it could be a big deal for the Buccaneers. Mark Dominik will have cash to spend, and he’ll have a fair shot at sitting down with any free agent he wants to give that money to. There will be a 3-day window for teams to talk to free agents preceding the traditional signing period, but they will not be allowed to sign any deals until the window is over. So if the Buccaneers aren’t the first or second team to meet with a key free agent, they still get a chance to sit down and tell them why they should be a Buccaneer. Let’s see how this new rule changes the free agency process.

On top of all this, there was a Twitter spat between Hall-of-Famer Warren Sapp and morning talk show host Michael Strahan. I think Mike should leave the football talk to the legends, and stick to the weather and movie reviews.

(I’m obviously being sarcastic, Strahan is a clear cut Hall of Fame player.)