Goodbye, Johnny. (more…)

Fans sound off

So it is finally here. The first round of the NFL draft. The painful, painful, painful wait has finally reached an end.

The wait was so long, Joe was actually more looking forward more to the return of “24” than the draft. Joe was mocked out. (more…)

The anchor of the 32nd-ranked offense last season, Bucs backup quarterback Mike Glennon, has a loud advocate (for now) at One Buc Palace. (more…)

A relaxed and slightly nervous Mike Evans, the new Bucs manbeast wide receiver from Texas A&M, just talked to the local pen and mic club at One Buc Palace. (more…)

Take a peek inside the Bucs war room with Bucs coach Lovie Smith and general manager Jason Licht in the early minutes of tonight’s first round of the NFL draft. There is no audio to the video. (Video courtesy of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.)

Joe’s live at One Buc Palace

Bucs general manager Jason Licht was flashing an ear-to-ear grin at One Buc Palace tonight. The Bucs “got their guy” in wide receiver Mike Evans, Licht told Joe and assembled media.

The Bucs now have two gargantuan No. 1 wide receivers, Vincent Jackson and Evans. Licht dropped a nickname on them, “The Twin Towers.” (more…)

If the Bucs want big-strike ability, then they should be able to do just that when the 2014 season kicks off. YAC, however, will be another matter.

First round draft pick Vincent Jackson Mike Evans put up crazy numbers last year. Of course, it helped that he may have had the greatest college quarterback since Roger Staubach to buy him time to get open. (more…)

Here is a highlight package of new Bucs wide receiver Mike Evans.

New Bucs WR Mike Evans.

With a quarterback for the ages ready to be selected while you have a quarterback that Peter King stated the team called a “one-year band-aid,” the Bucs decided to draft Vincent Jackson. (more…)

Roughly an hour after Peter King of theMMQB.com claimed the Bucs want Johnny Football but aren’t willing to burn a No. 7 pick to get him, the “Custodian of Canton,” eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune, took to the same airwaves to emphatically state any talk of Johnny Football coming to the Bucs is hogwash.

(more…)

“Blessings are coming, my son.”

Patriots beat writer Tom Curran is bringing word this evening that New England backup quarterback Ryan Mallett, who many view as potential starter material, is likely to be sent to Houston to reunite with Texans coach Bill O’Brien. (more…)

If all things were even, your new franchise quarterback for the Bucs would be none other than Johnny Football, says fight-instigating, barista-training, pedestrian-bumping, olive oil-lapping, popcorn-munching, coffee-slurping, fried-chicken-eating, oatmeal-loving, circle-jerking, beer-chugging, cricket-watching, scone-loathing, college football-naïve, baseball box score-reading Peter King of Sports Illustrated and NBC Sports fame.

The Bucs, said King, want Johnny Football. Problem is, they don’t want him that badly. (more…)

Dominik explained how draft day trades are rarely a last-minute deal, including the Bucs’ in 2012.

As many Bucs fans fantasize about who might be their next potential “franchise” quarterback, perhaps some still care who former Bucs rockstar general manager Mark Dominik thinks is worthy?

(Cue the boos.) (more…)

We all knew this was coming. Heck, Bucs general manager Jason Licht told Joe the covert analytics team at One Buc Palace is a key cog in the Tampa Bay scouting machine.

Now we learn from ESPN that the Browns paid six figures recently to study QB data, in addition to the millions already invested in their scouting department. (more…)

Missouri DE Kony Ealy is one of Peter King’s best available pass rushers in the draft.

If Bucs coach Lovie Smith picks true to his roots draft history, then he may select a pass rusher today or tomorrow. If he does that, it would speak volumes about the future of Adrian Clayborn and Da’Quan Bowers.

It wouldn’t shock Joe if this happened. So here’s fight-instigating, barista-training, pedestrian-bumping, olive oil-lapping, popcorn-munching, coffee-slurping, fried-chicken-eating, oatmeal-loving, circle-jerking, beer-chugging, cricket-watching, scone-loathing, college football-naïve, baseball box score-reading Peter King of Sports Illustrated and NBC Sports fame has a breakdown of the top pass rushers available – tonight! (more…)

Joe is thoroughly fed up with the bizarre debate/claims surrounding who has final say of the Buccaneers’ draft.

Joe thought that chatter died months ago, but it arose again yesterday courtesy of a local beat writer. (more…)

The Bucs draft-day chasing of defensive end Booker Reese accelerated their demise that approached two decades.

Joe remembers when, once upon a time, wearing the Creamsicles was like walking around with a “Kick Me” sign taped to your arse. They were a team that only Harry Dunne could embrace.

Such a sad sack organization the Bucs were. After coming off their second NFC Central title in three years, the 1982 Bucs couldn’t get their first-round draft pick right and picked the wrong guy, who actually was pretty decent, Penn State offensive lineman Sean Farrell.

The guy they wanted to draft, defensive end Booker Reese, the Bucs chased in the second round with a valuable ’83 first round pick, only to see Reese vanish soon after. (more…)

Shortly after Lovie Smith was hired, he delivered likely his most telling interview to date. Mike Florio, of Pro Football Talk Live, was peppering the Bucs’ head coach in January, and Lovie revealed the 2013 NFL teams that had his full attention and admiration.

Joe believes Lovie’s take provides a window into the Bucs’ pursuing Johnny Football and the rest of their 2014 draft philosophy. (more…)

(This is a repost of a previously published article Joe runs as an annual tradition for the morning of the first day of the NFL draft.)

Joe’s going to go slightly personal here, a rare, albeit tiny window into Joe’s background on this holiest of high football holidays. (more…)

The loudest Bucs-loving voice in the media, Hall of Famer Warren Sapp, used to be called the “QBKilla.”

As for Johnny Football, Sapp said tonight on NFL Network that the young quarterback is a great candidate to be a GMKilla. (more…)

Why would the NFL hold the draft in Orlando?

NFL warden commissioner Roger Goodell has floated the idea of moving the NFL Draft around to different cities other than New York. Joe isn’t sure if it would be all three days or only one day – or perhaps a new four-day draft, as has been speculated. There are no specifics. (more…)

Very interesting pre-draft nuggets in this WDAE-AM 620 interview of longtime NFL Insider Chris Mortensen.

The ESPN talking head broke the story of Josh Freeman being drug tested, and now “Mort” explains he’s learned that potential Bucs target Johnny Football has scored extremely high marks in extensive psychological testing that NFL teams rely on heavily. (more…)

Might the Bucs want to trade down and grab LSU WR Odell Beckham?

The two positions where the Bucs are hurting worse than a herniated disk as the draft approaches are guard and wide receiver. The talent pool is deep and rich for a wide receiver, and shallow for guard, but it wouldn’t be a shock if the Bucs drafted a flashy receiver in the first round.

But drafting wide receivers is a perilous road to travel. Recently, the Charlotte Observer did a study of the top 40 wide receivers in the NFL and compiled a list of how they were acquired. The results were eye-opening. (more…)