One of Joe’s favorite Bucs is Antonio Bryant. Joe can’t help but shake his head wondering what the Bucs’ draft position would have been if Bryant wasn’t around last year.

Joe’s very good friend Justin Pawlowski, of WDAE-AM, likes to remind Joe that Joe predicted on his first appearance with Justin live on the air last season that the longer the season went, the better Bryant would be.

But with a likely juggling of quarterbacks, and given the fact Bryant will be a free agent (again) after next season, will Bryant be happy if he can’t develop a rhythm with whoever is playing quarterback?

Michael Fabiano of NFL.com sort of hints between the lines that may happen.

Bryant, who put up career numbers in what was a contract year last season, has been franchised by the Buccaneers and will have to “sing for his supper” in 2010 and beyond. While the motivation for a rich, long-term contract is evident, changes at the quarterback position and Bryant’s lack of consistent seasonal production in his career limits his value.

Joe knows that he heard Bryant on Sirius NFL Radio over the winter bragging up Luke McCown as if the guy was the next Steve Young. Bryant boasted — his words; not Joe’s — that he caught McCown’s first NFL touchdown pass (likely in a preseason game).

Maybe the reason Bryant was jocking McCown so hard was, in the end, it will be more financially beneficial for Bryant if McCown starts at quarterback and not bust-in-waiting Josh Freeman or journeyman Byron Leftwich?