Finally some fresh news on Bucs third-year guard Arron Sears.

He’s the guy who seemed to be on a Pro Bowl path but then walked away from the Bucs for undisclosed personal reasons before the season. In July, a St. Pete Times report revealed Sears was in seclusion back is his small Alabama hometown.

Speaking on 1010 AM Friday night, Bucs center Jeff Faine shed the first real public light on Sears since the many secretive “private matter” quotes from Raheem The Dream and Mark Dominik this summer.

Jeff Faine on Arron Sears: “He’s been kind of doing his own thing. From what I understand he’s back in tampa. It’s definitely a good thing. He really can’t be around the facility right now [because of] these funny, fishy rules in the NFL. What it is if he comes to the facility his time starts because you know he has a time where he’s physically unable to play. You have a grace period where you’ve got to IR him. So once he comes to the facility his time starts. There’s a bunch of crazy rules in the NFL that really don’t make any sense. Let’s let the guy in here. Help him get back on track and help him get back into things. But that’s just not the case. It’s something we can’t do.”

Sears is now listed on the Bucs roster as reserve/did not report. Joe believes this means the Bucs aren’t paying Sears and are not punishing him either. He’s just in limbo.

But it sounds to Joe, based on Faine’s comments, that Sears is going to be back on the Bucs’ roster. It’s unknown what kind of shape he’s in, but perhaps he joins the team and begins to learn the new offense during the bye week later this month.

It is Joe’s understanding that Sears must be activated 30 days prior to the Bucs’ final game in order to play this season. Joe assumes members of the MSM or the great Mike Florio, curator and guru of ProFootBallTalk.com, will clarify after reading this post.