Though Joe surely wouldn’t wager on it happening, Joe wouldn’t be completely stunned if the Bucs drafted super safety Eric Berry out of Tennessee with their No. 3 overall pick, or traded down to grab him and snatched another pick in the process.

Defensive backs guru Raheem The Dream probably soothes himself at night just by the thought of drafting Berry.

If Joe were betting, he’d cautiously lay a $20 bill on Berry being Raheem The Dream’s preferred pick, which is one reason Joe gives it a slim chance of happening.

Of course, the Bucs could use Berry (insert goat noise). And if they have him rated extraordinarily high, he’s probably as close to a can’t-miss pick as they could make.

Probably wearing knickers and a beret, and fresh off the Outback Pro-Am golf course in Lutz, Ronde Barber spoke with Joe Smith, of the St. Pete Times, about the draft on Friday. And Mr. Barber all but gave Mark Dominik the green light to draft Berry.

And while Barber didn’t reference Tennessee safety Eric Berry by name, he said teams shouldn’t rule out any specific position with their top picks. “Good players are good players,” Barber said. “If you find Ed Reed at No. 3, take him. Just because he’s a safety, doesn’t mean you wait until after the top-10 picks because it’s a safety.”

But Barber, a former third-round pick (in 1997) out of Virginia, said what also could make this draft for the Bucs is the middle-round guys.

“You have 11 picks, you build your team, like (GM) Mark (Dominik) says, from the bottom up,” Barber said. “Not always your first rounder, the guys that make up the bulk of the rosters are in rounds 3-4-5, maybe some of the free agents that nobody’s really paying attention to. With the number of picks we have, we need to find those guys this year and we need them to contribute.”

Joe wonders whether Barber has shared that same Ed Reed line with Raheem The Dream, or whether the head coach told it to him.