“We need to get our new general manager in here, but just as a general rule, you know there’s a reason why there is a salary cap.  And we want to use all of our resources to get as many good football players in here. It’s kind of as simple as that … We want to be right up; we don’t want to have a lot of money in reserves. No one does. I mean you want to use money to get as many good football players. And it takes money to get good football players in here. So that’s our approach.” Lovie Smith, January 2014. (more…)

Now it’s Tedford time

Legions of BSPN lovers and Bucs fans care what helmet hair draft guru Mel Kiper has to say in his ever-changing mock drafts.

But do they care what Kiper thinks post-draft? Apparently they do. (more…)

BSPN predicted prior to the draft new Bucs RB Charles Sims would be a potential steal.

Joe knows a lot of Bucs fans shook their heads, and maybe dropped their beers, when the Bucs selected running back Charles Sims in the third round Friday night.

Wait a minute? A running back? The deepest unit on the team and you add a running back?

Well, prior to the draft, BSPN’s Big XII blogger Max Olson predicted Sims would be a potential steal for any team because of his receiving skills. (more…)

Former Bucs QB Shaun King talks Mike Glennon.

Former Bucs quarterback Shaun King was a busy man this weekend. The NFL analyst for NBC Sports Network, which you enjoy weeknights with the creator, curator and overall guru of ProFootballTalk.com, the great Mike Florio, was at Radio City Music Hall.

As he returned to Tampa today, King, only one of three quarterbacks to lead the Bucs to an NFC Championship game, took some time to discuss football, including the Bucs, on Ron and Ian, heard locally on WDAE-AM 620. (more…)

Former Bucs, Jets, Chiefs, Cardinals and Rams tight end Anthony Becht, now heard on the Buccaneers Radio Network, is all fired up after Tampa Bay drafted tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins in the second round.

Becht, speaking on WDAE-AM 620 today, said his film study on Seferian-Jenkins revealed a 6-6 tight end with the “biggest upside” in the draft. (more…)

The Bucs have yet to make their undrafted free agent signings and rookie camp invitees officially known, but it appears only one defensive tackle was signed.

Joe thinks the Bucs must have pretty high hopes for the guy, considering Gerald McCoy really has no backup on the roster. (more…)

The Bucs drafted two fifth-round guards this weekend on the heels of signing two starting offensive linemen in free agency who are best known for pass blocking.

Lovie Smith and Jason Licht also snagged a rookie running back, Charles Sims, whose value is in his receiving hands, with the 69th overall pick. (more…)

“Your future is secure, my son.”

Man, the weekend at One Buc Palace sure was interesting, and not just because of the players the Bucs picked. It was the subplot of the status of backup quarterback Mike Glennon. It went on for days, and even Bucs coach Lovie Smith acknowledged as much Saturday.

The bombshell of the weekend was when Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times reported Saturday evening that six teams had inquired about Glennon, and each team’s advances were shunned by Bucs general manager Jason Licht. (more…)

There was one draftee this weekend that got Lovie interested in offense.

Bucs coach Lovie Smith joked yesterday that after his team drafted nothing but offensive players in his first draft with the Bucs, that it proved to fans they had him pegged all wrong. That actions speak louder than words and showed he really does like offense.

Bucs general manager Jason Licht once joked that in meetings, whenever the discussion focused on offensive linemen, Lovie would lean back in his chair and become disinterested if not bored, twiddling his thumbs and looking at the ceiling and artwork on the walls trying to pass the time. (more…)

New Bucs guard Kadeem Edwards has heard it all before. He’s not good enough to play big boy football, even though he is big. He can’t play in the SEC, the ACC, hell, even the Big Ten.

So Edwards goes to Division I-AA (Joe has never gotten used to this FBC FCS FBS nonsense) Tennessee State. Even there, while dominating, he was all but told he may want to think of a life outside of football. (more…)

Are fortunes pointing up for the Bucs like they did last year for Andy Reid and the Chiefs?

Two years ago there were few franchises in a downward spiral worse than the Chiefs’. Their general manager, though he drafted well, had alienated just about everyone in the front office with his brazen Nixonian paranoid ways. That’s OK if you win, but once the losses start, you are doomed and Scott Pioli was. (more…)

The Bucs have been widely celebrated over the past handful of years for being “big winners” in the NFL Draft versus their counterparts.

That hasn’t translated into much beyond some feel-good spring moments. (more…)

What should be a sure thing about the Bucs’ offense is the nausea and vomiting it will induce in opposing defensive coordinators.

How would you try to match up against Vincent Jackson and Mike Evans split wide and a double tight end set of Tim Wright and gargantuan rookie speedster Austin Seferian-Jenkins, with Charles Sims? Doug Martin in the backfield? (more…)

Jason Licht has mentioned that Lovie Smith has a special place in his heart and great respect for undrafted free agents, the true longshots of the NFL.

Per NFL.com, the Bucs have signed the following over the past 12 hours in what’s known as the second draft. (more…)

How dare anyone around the NFL think the Bucs would trade Lovie Smith’s “quarterback of the future!”

But that’s what happened over the past 48 hours, reports Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times. (more…)

“Who said I don’t like offense?”

So in the first draft of the Lovie Smith era for the shot-caller of the Bucs, the defensive-minded Bucs coach oversaw a draft that consisted of nothing but offensive players.

Now that might say something about the prowess of former Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik, or the inability of former Bucs commander Greg Schiano to coach up a defense. (more…)

Bucs GM Jason Licht talks offensive line after the Bucs finished their drafting Saturday.

One element why the Bucs traded up into the fifth-round to draft Purdue tackle Kevin Pampphile was that he possessed a desired trait of the “Dunkaneers,” in that he was a stud high school basketball player and a good football player.

Being an athlete (a basketball athlete?) apparently means the player is also versatile in the eyes of the current Bucs brass. (more…)

If you’re just waking up from an all-night, Friday-night bender, the Bucs’ 2014 NFL Draft is over.

They snatched six offensive players and not one defensive player.

Guys on the Bucs’ defensive bubble are breathing a whole lot easier today, guys like cornerbacks Leonard Johnson and Rashaan Melvin, as well as every Bucs defensive end not named Michael Johnson, given Lovie Smith’s history.

All these rookies will head to Tampa for rookie minicamp in less than a week. Joe will be there, of course, and stick with Joe through the rest of today for much more on the draft.

Here’s a look at new Bucs wide receiver Robert Herron, the pride of woeful Wyoming, torching the University of Texas, and more from the Bucs’ 2014 sixth-round pick.

Labeled “untouchable”

Hey, finally a draft pick Joe was eyeballing months ago has joined the Buccaneers: The Bucs have drafted Wyoming wide receiver and tailor-made slot guy Robert Herron in the sixth round.

And he’s not even tall! (more…)

Bucs offensive lineman Kadeem Edwards talks pants.

While on paper it seems the Bucs may have a steal in fifth-round-pick guard Kadeem Edwards, the native of Sanford won’t be blocking accountants or biologists in the NFL.

Edwards was named All-American at Division I-AA Tennessee State of the Ohio Valley Conference (same conference as Eastern Illinois and Jimmy Garoppolo). There, Edwards started four years. (more…)