While linebacker Barrett Ruud is not a reason to be concerned about the Bucs defense, his potential contract holdout is.

There are a lot of people who believe the Bucs defense won’t exactly be a shutdown unit this season as it has in years past. Add BSPN.com’s Vacation Man to the list.

A Bucs fan recently took him to task for his thoughts. The fan thinks like a fan: That the Bucs are great! Vacation Man spelled out his doubts.

Dylan in Las Vegas writes: Hey Pat, some of your comments indicate that you are concerned about the Bucs because you are not sure in what direction the organization is heading. It appears they have a solid offensive plan and have brought in players to implement it. Defensively they seem to be doing the same and giving some of their younger players a chance to step up, which is what Dungy eventually did with Barber, Lynch and others. So exactly what has you concerned about the Bucs?

Vacation Man: Hey, I don’t think I’m as pessimistic about the Bucs as a lot of people. I believe Raheem Morris and Mark Dominik know what they’re doing and I really like how the Bucs are set up on offense. But there’s uncertainty at quarterback and that’s a major issue. It might turn into a position of strength, but, right now, it’s not. Defensively, they’re going with a whole bunch of new starters and no one knows how it’s going to work out. I look at the interior of that defensive line and think back to how bad it was during last year’s collapse at the end of the season and I don’t see a lot of improvement.

Bingo. Though Joe likes what the Bucs did in the later rounds of the draft for the defensive line, to expect second day draft picks to be studs as rookies is asking a lot. Then there’s the elephant in the room people seem to be overlooking: Barrett Ruud’s contract holdout.