Is Gators speedster and leading 2013 receiver Solomon Patton on Lovie’s secret list?

This weekend’s Buccaneers rookie minicamp (Friday through Sunday) just got a lot more interesting.

Head coach Lovie Smith has said he expects “three or four” of the 11 newly signed undrafted free agents to make the final roster. (more…)

Lovie Smith doesn’t have a problem with the late start for rookies, as long as all teams are under the same schedule.

No, Joe cannot find a single solitary person that liked the draft being moved back to May. It was loathsome and it fostered and deepened Joe’s hatred of the mock draft industrial complex. This stain upon society should worry all red-blooded Americans.

But the May draft is here to stay. The ratings blew away any non-basketball association or NHL playoff game and dwarfed baseball this past weekend. We are a football society, the rest of the sports just hang around. (more…)

Lovie Smith explains his big-receivers philosophy, how the Bucs’ talent stacks up, his QB philosophy, and more.

Lovie went deep into his draft-day mindset and decisions this morning on WDAE-AM 620. Of course, the subject of quarterback came up, and it spelled doom for the burgeoning Brett Smith cheerleading section, and reinforced the Mike Glennon Mob euphoria.

“I just don’t think you need three good quarterbacks on the roster,” Lovie said. (more…)

The Texas A&M man who caught balls from Johnny Football and chased him in practice — and one of the few who could catch him — is now a Tampa Bay Buccaneeer.

That would be linebacker Nate Askew, the freakish converted wide receiver. (more…)

Stat nerds are quite high on Bucs CB Alterraun Verner.

From now until the end of July, all sorts of NFL media will roll out filler material to pass the time until training camps open, in between news from various team minicamps and OTAs.

So, get ready for a whole bunch of episodes of Top-100s, America’s Game, A Football Life and the 8,653rd rerun of “Top 10” on NFL Network, not to mention the dozens of daily assaults from that damned ice cream company and its friggin’ waffle cones. Joe is so absolutely sick of those commercials, you don’t know how badly he wants to drop a No. 2 in that woman’s waffle cone. (more…)

Not long ago, the Mike Glennon Mob was driven underground in shame, after the man who bears the group’s name led the Bucs to the 32nd-ranked offense and Lovie Smith signed and declared Josh McCown the starting quarterback. It was as if the MGM had run off into the woods.

But last weekend, emboldened by Lovie, they returned more vocal than ever when Lovie declared Glennon the “quarterback of the future.” (more…)

Bucs TE Luke Stocker’s job security took a hit when the Bucs drafted Washington TE Austin Seferian-Jenkins in the second round Friday.

Joe had thought that entering the draft, tight end was a deep position for the Bucs. No need for an upgrade.

In fact, Bucs general manager Jason Licht said as much after he drafted Austin Seferian-Jenkins out of Washington. But it was what Licht didn’t say that had Joe’s antennae perked up. (more…)

It’s official: Wyoming gunslinger speedster quarterback Brett Smith is a Buccaneer, fighting for a backup job.

The Bucs are now down to five tight ends after cutting Steve Maneri and Josh Baker today.

And the Bucs announced their 2014 undrafted free agent signings: (more…)

“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…)