D.J. Moore appears to be the front-runner at nickelback.

Of course it is early. Despite Joe watching baseball at night, he can feel it in the air. The heat of the Florida day, the brutal sunshine. Yes, it all means summer.

And summer means training camp is the light at the end of the tunnel. It starts next month and, before you know it, the kickoff of the regular season will be here.

Yes, the Bucs, like all NFL teams, are still playing underwear football. For those who have never seen it, NFL underwear football is really glorified seven-on-seven flag football, touch football. There is no hitting, limited blocking, zero blitzing. The only thing one can really glean from these practices is how the passing game is doing.

Of course, defensive backs can hound receivers, break up passes and pick balls off, too. And thus far in underwear football season, D.J. Moore has an edge on incumbent Leonard Johnson at nickelback, noted Bucs defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier yesterday.

“With D.J.’s experience, he’s been in this system and has had a lot of success in it in Chicago,” Frazier said. “And then Leonard is learning the system and he is fighting to earn a spot, and he’s a good special teams player as well. We’ve let Danny Gorrer gets some reps at that position as well. We’ve got some competition. But D.J., his history and his background, kind of gives him a leg up right now.”

Again, it is early. Underwear football only provides a snapshot of what could be later on. When the pads are put on, and players are hitting each other in practice and playing under the glow of the preseason game lights, things can and will change.

It seems, given Frazier’s references to Moore’s experience with Lovie in Chicago, that Johnson has work to do to overtake Moore as the top nickelback.