WR Michael Clayton

On the heels of the draft, the Tampa Bay Bucs are doing some roster trimming; looking to part ways with two defensive tackles and a receiver.

Per Rick Stroud, who covers the team for the St. Petersburg Times, DT’s Chris Hovan and Ryan Sims, in addition to wide receiver Michael Clayton, are trying to be unloaded by the Bucs.

Unfortunately for Tampa Bay, they’re not having any success doing so.

Having solidified their defensive line — for years to come — with the selections of Gerald McCoy and Brian Price, they can trim some of the fat by dumping the aging Hovan and the disappointing Sims.

They, again, replaced another starting position with a rookie by taking WR Arrellious Benn no. 35 overall.

Michael Clayton is more or less considered a bust, never living up to his first-round billing. In the last five seasons, he’s only visited the end-zone three times. It gets worse — Clayton only caught 13 passes last season.

Raider Nation just cringed…  Jimmy Clausen and Colt McCoy are on the board. JaMarcus Russell is somewhere in Vegas eating at a buffet. Would the Raiders do it? I can’t see it happening.

And a trade! The Raiders trade the 39th to the Bucs for 42nd and a 5th round pick.

Back from commercial to see WR Arrelious Benn out of Illinois with a Bucs cap on. A great basketball recruit out of high school, but blossomed into a football player in college. Big size, can be a return man as well.

Is it me or is the energy MUCH lower today than compared to yesterday. Mel Kiper’s tie is going to blind me before the day is over.

The Bucs select Brian Price, DT out of UCLA. A smattering a boo’s are heard in the background. The Bucs were expected to go for a WR, so the reviews on this pick are a bit mixed.

The Bucs take DT Gerald McCoy out of Oklahoma as the third pick in the draft.

Tears in his eyes. Genuine gratitude and happiness. Love to see that. They work hard, but they are very blessed. Holding up his jersey in honor of his mother who passed away when he was 19. She never got to see him play at Oklahoma. And Goodell gets a big bear hug from Gerald. Great moment.

Crazy day around the league…trades, signings, and prominent players being shopped around.

In the day’s second trade, Pittsburgh has traded a seventh-round draft pick to Tampa Bay for quarterback Byron Leftwich.

The Steelers get themselves more depth at the position, and they couldn’t have enough; with Big Ben’s looming suspension and all.

As Schefter notes, the Bucs now own 12 picks going into Thursday’s draft, which is tied with New England for most in the league.

Head Coach Raheem Morris and Staff

It’s not been a typical NFL move. Organizations have historically kept analytics in house. However, sometimes the best move in ANY company is to bring in an informed and objective outsider to review the status quo and report. That’s exactly what the Bucs have done by hiring NFL journeyman Bill Rees as a Draft Consultant. Rees started his duties a few months back by evaluating the current roster, identifying strengths, weaknesses and holes without the bias often placed on personnel by existing Administration. There is no crystal ball image of “what could be”, only the identifying of what is. Rees isn’t involved in team Draft meetings, and won’t be involved in selections or transactions. He’s strictly there to watch and report.

As some teams seem stuck in a revolving door, churning out the same mediocrity on a NFL shaped platter, this approach to Draft day might happen with more frequency. It might help jolt some teams out of the same drafting and personnel tendencies. Let’s keep an eye on TB and see how their Draft adds up.

Sean Jones will be on his third team in three years.

After leaving Cleveland and signing for one year with the Philadelphia Eagles last season, the hard-hitting safety now will play in Tampa as Jones and the Bucs have agreed to a two-year contract.

Jones, like I mentioned above, is a hard-hitter; the classic thumper safety who lives down in the box. But last season he seemingly struggled when asked to maintain his coverages and Philly didn’t want to bring him back.

Tampa gets a safety to pair with budding star Tanard Jackson who’s a certified beast. With Jones at age 28 and Jackson only 25 (by the time the season starts), this has the potential to be a solid long-term duo at the position.

Brett Favre’s agent, Bus Cook, has said that a deal with the Bucs is close to materializing and could be done soon. This was reported on NFL Network.

Now we all know that this story has flip-flopped about 100 times already, but if it’s coming from his agent, it’s gotta be atleast semi reliable.

It also appears as if the Jets just got played hard. Favre’s “interest” in playing in NY was simply used as a bargaining tool used to get Tampa to drive their offer up, since it was reported that the Jets had the better offer.

It could finally be over.

ESPN’s Wendi Nix, reporting on NFL Live, reports that a trade involving Brett Favre could happen anytime now. The Packers remain reluctant to trade him within the division, so it could be the Bucs, Jets, or an unknown surprise team. A couple of things to note here:

• Bucs GM Bruce Allen was mysteriously missing from practice today, something that is apparently “very rare”. He could be working out a trade scenario for Favre.
• Favre has said on multiple occasions that he doesn’t want to play for the Jets and has no interest in playing in New York in general. It was a remote chance from the start, anyway.
• Packers coach Mike McCarthy has a news conference scheduled around 6:00 PM EST today.
• ESPN’s Ed Werder is reporting and confirming that the Bucs and Packers are working on a trade. What happens to Jeff Garcia now? I’d expect him to be pissed off to the max.

It’s getting closer, people. The end of Favre-gate could be soon.

During a commercial break of the Home Run Derby on ESPN, there was a cut-in to an interview with John Clayton, from the 6PM Sportscenter, who shed some light on the potential suitors for Brett Favre, if he becomes available.

According to Clayton, the only teams that he thinks could make a play for the Packers QB would be the Dolphins, Ravens, and Bucs. Although Tampa Bay has been the hot name lately, he went on to say that he doesn’t think the Dolphins would make a trade, especially when they have two young unknowns in John Beck and Chad Henne. The Ravens just invested a high pick into Joe Flacco, but he’s another unknown at this point and they could be of interest for Favre.

That’s all Clayton had to say about that. Minnesota is another name that’s been thrown around, but there’s no way they’d trade the greatest player in Packers history to a divisional rival, who they’d have to face twice a year.

More Favre updates to come!