Brett Favre has told the Packers that he does not want to talk about going to another team, but it appears apparent that he will have to play in another uniform in 2008 if he wants to take the field. The two teams that reportedly want to talk to Favre the most are the New York Jets and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Chris Mortensen of ESPN says that the Jets have been given permission to talk to Favre, while it’s not known if the Bucs have been given the same permission.

Favre spoke to Packers GM Ted Thompson on Thursday, and told him that he is planning on being at Packers training camp over the weekend. He will have to officially apply for reinstatement before he shows up at the camp, and to date he has yet to do that, meaning he may not stroll in till Monday or Tuesday. The Packers will look for a trading partner for Brett, but the other team they make a deal with will have to have already spoke to Favre to make sure he wants to play for them.

The Vikings, along with Tampa Bay, the Bears and Jets have appeared from day one to be the front runners for the QB, and there was also some thoughts to the Panthers being in the mix as well.

By Andy Benoit, www.NFLTouchdown.com

Predicted: 3^rd

2007 Record: 9-7 (1^st NFC South)

Head Coach: Jon Gruden (7^th year)

*rookie

**new veteran

Roster Quick View

Offense

QB: Jeff Garcia Thirty-eight and coming off a Pro Bowl alternate season. In the final year of his contract and demanding a new deal.

RB: Earnest Graham Compact, low-to-the-ground running style makes him tough to bring down. Was also looking for a new contract, and got one.

FB: B.J. Askew Wants to handle the ball. Capable of handling the ball. Bucs won’t give him the ball. They love his blocking though. (Team player––he understands.)

WR: Joey Galloway How can a guy this old still be this fast? Critics say he’s slowing down. His 1,019 yards and 17.6 ypc suggest otherwise.

WR: Ike Hilliard This guy’s old, too. And he is slowing down (just a hair). Can still be effective in this West Coast system.

TE: Alex Smith Excellent athlete and bright individual. Hard to explain why his numbers have decreased each of the past three years.

LT: Luke Petitgout Injuries––major injuries––have been an issue. Serviceable when healthy.

LG: Aaron Sears Earth-rattling power as a run-blocker, but technique is nowhere near where it needs to be. Talent is there; Bucs need to keep working with him.

C: Jeff Faine** Recently became the highest-paid C in history (excluding those who play basketball, of course). Nowhere near that good, but gritty and tough.

RG: Davin Joseph Same story as Aaron Sears, only with an additional year of experience under his belt. Strong hands make him a future Pro Bowler (if he continues his development).

RT: Jeremy Trueblood Has survived his first two years as a starter, but just barely. Lacks nastiness and really struggles in pass protection.

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QB: Luke McCown Admit it….you don’t know the difference between him and his brother Josh. Both are athletic backups. This one will vie with Brian Griese for the No. 2 job.

RB: Warrick Dunn** Has lost some of his burst, sure. But excellent pass-blocking and dependable hands make him a good fit on third downs.

WR: Michael Clayton Let’s just say the movie is better.

WR: Maurice Stovall Maurice, you’re 6’5’, 220. Why, exactly, did you catch only 10 passes last season?

OL: Anthony Davis Swing tackle who can also fill in at G. Excellent auxiliary tool off the bench.

Defense

LDE: Marques Douglas** Led all NFL D-linemen in tackles behind the line of scrimmage last season. Will share time with Kevin Carter, Jimmy Wilkerson and Greg White.

DT: Chris Hovan High-energy player who can exhibit power and quickness. Scratches and claws his way through each play.

DT: Jovan Haye Had his good and bad moments as a rookie. Can become a good starter if he corrects some fundamental flaws.

RDE: Gaines Adams Led all rookies with 6 sacks despite a somewhat tepid start. Bucs appear destined to get their money’s worth with this fourth-overall pick.

SLB: Cato June Fast and weighs only 227. It makes absolutely no sense having him play in traffic on the strong side (rather than in space on the weak side).

MLB: Barrett Ruud Productive, but it’s impossible for the MLB not to be in Monte Kiffin’s scheme. Doesn’t like taking on blocks, and can be slow to diagnose.

WLB: Derrick Brooks Sagacious veteran leader, but at 35, has clearly lost a step. He may want to soon consider initiating his Hall of Fame eligibility.

CB: Ronde Barber Yet another elder statesman (33). Remains a good all-around player.

SS: Jermaine Phillips Came to life in 2007, showing excellent strength against the run and impressive range in coverage.

FS: Tanard Jackson An absolute steal in the fourth round last year. Custom made for this defense; could emerge as Tampa Bay’s best player in ’08.

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CB: Philip Buchanon In a contract year; will have to please coaches again this season if he wants to remain a starter here.

DL: Greg White Pass-rushing veteran who always stirs things up when he’s on the field. Coming off an eight-sack season.

LB: Ryan Nece Would you believe he’s one of just four guys left from the ’02 Super Bowl team?

NB: Aqib Talib* Character issues are a concern…unless your coach is Jon Gruden and you’re an athletic 6’2” ball hawk.

Key Player Acquisitions

WR Antonio Bryant (FA)

DE Marques Douglas (SF)

RB Warrick Dunn (Atl)

C Jeff Faine (NO)

TE John Gilmore (Chi)

QB Brian Griese (Chi)

LB Leon Joe (Buf)

LB Teddy Lehman (Det)

LB Matt McCoy (TB)

TE Ben Troupe (Ten)

DL Jimmy Wilkerson (KC)

CB Eugene Wilson (NE)

Key Player Losses

FB Mike Alstott (retired)

TE Anthony Becht (Stl)

LB Patrick Chukwurah

QB Bruce Gradkowski (Stl)

CB Brian Kelly (Det)

OL Matt Lehr (NO)

SS Kalvin Pearson (Det)

RB Michael Pittman (Den)

DE Greg Spires (Oak)

C John Wade (Oak)

Bruce Allen has final say over the personnel, but Jon Gruden’s heavily-weighted input shows in the significant amount of roster turnover. Every free agent acquisition, save for the linebackers and the chemically-imbalanced Bryant, is almost certain to have a significant impact in 2008. Faine got $10 million guaranteed in a six-year, $34 million deal. That’s too much, though he is an upgrade over Wade. Replacing Pittman with Dunn is akin to replacing Al Capone with Mother Teresa (in terms of both character and stature). They won’t miss Kelly, and Alstott left them last year.

Read more

It looks as if NFL Commish Roger Goodell is keeping a close eye with the ongoing saga between the Packers and QB Brett Favre. AP is reporting that Goodell has spoken to the Packers management several times about the drama, and has even encouraged Pack GM Ted Thompson to talk to teams around the league about Favre and a possible trade. That story broke yesterday that the Packers have called several teams about the interest in a deal for Favre.

Favre has still yet to put out a letter of reinstatement, and it is not known as to when that is going to happen. For now, Green Bay is set on going to camp with the plan still in place that Aaron Rodgers is going to be the teams starting QB. One team that has been popping up more and more as a possible destination for Favre is Tampa Bay. The AP report says that Tampa Bay, where this seasons Super Bowl will be played, is “perhaps the most likely destination” for the former MVP.

The St.Petersburg Times ran a story that Bucs GM Bruce Allen asked unhappy QB Chris Simms about Favre last week. “He asked if I felt Brett would be able to come back and be good here if he didn?t have a lot of reps in training camp,” Simms said, according to the paper. “I said I thought he would but there would have to be some compromise with coach (Jon) Gruden. He’ll just want the play called and to drop back and throw it in there. But it’s something we talked about.” The Bucs have down played their desire to land a marquee name like Favre, and for now will stick with Pro Bowl QB from last season Jeff Garcia.

The Buccaneers will have a tough decision to make when it comes to running back Cadillac Williams and what role he will play this year with the club. The St.Petersburg Times is reporting that the team will place him on the PUP - the dreaded physically unable to perform list. This means that Williams, who has been working out hard to get back on the field after last years injury, will not be able to play till at least week seven.

The paper points out that the team wants to play it safe with Williams, and that is not a bad idea since the team still has a feature back in Earnest Graham re-signed that can carry the load to give Cadillac more time to get back to 100 percent. The Bucs need to make a final decision on Williams before their first practice on July 26th at Disney. He can be activated from the list anytime during the preseason. Another reason the team may put him on the list is that he won’t count against the 80-man cap on the active roster.

The Bucs, other than Graham, can always turn to the returning Warrick Dunn and Michael Bennett for carries to take the load off of Graham. If the team puts Williams on the PUP list, they have to keep him there for six weeks, then will have three additional weeks after that to watch him in practice and then do one of two things - activate him to the roster or put him on injured reserve.

The Tampa Tribune has posted a couple of teams that are interested in Bucs QB Chris Simms, who continues to sit in limbo as he waits for the team to release him or trade him. The teams pointed out as with interest are the Cowboys, Bears and Lions. This is the short list, and if Simms is free to go anywhere, there will be more teams vying for his services than that.

The Cowboys are in the hunt for a backup to Tony Romo, which makes them a team that would like to look more into Simms. The Bears have issues all the way around with their QB’s - Rex Grossman and Kyle Orton. The Lions have Jon Kitna penciled is as their starter for now, but there has been rumblings about Drew Stanton getting some snaps at somepoint this year if the team struggles.

The bottom line on Simms is that he’s not going to be in a Bucs uniform, and the thought is that the team is going to end up moving him for a conditional draft pick or a late draft pick.

The Bucs are set to get a visit from free agent RB Kevin Jones according to the St.Pete Times. The paper says that Jones is well aware of the backfield situation with the Bucs, as the team has already gotten a deal done with Earnest Graham and are hoping and watching Cadillac Williams to see his status. Beyond that, they have Warrick Dunn, who returns to the team, and Michael Bennett.

The visit to the Bucs will take place next week. Oddly enough, the Buccaneers were not one of the four teams that watched Jones work out last month in Michigan. Those teams included the Steelers, who Jones sat down and talked to on Wednesday. It seems that Jones wants to find a team before camp starts, that way he can get in and be a part of a team when they start camp at the end of the month.

Just a few days ago Kelly Holcomb called it quits, and now today another veteran QB has decided it’s over, as Trent Dilfer has stated that he’s retiring. Dilfer, who last was with the 49′ers, said that he make a formal announcement in the next few days. A recent injury to his Achilles suffered playing basketball clinched the decision for Dilfer, who won a Super Bowl with the Ravens as their starting QB in 2000.

“I was going to retire anyway. This just gives clarity to the situation,” he told reporters on a conference call promoting the 19th annual American Century Celebrity Golf Championship. “I think in the next few days there will be a formal announcement on all those things,” he stated. Dilfer declined to give reporters any idea of what he’s going to do now that his NFL career is over, but did do a nice job doing some media work during the playoffs two years ago on the NFL Network.

Dilfer played for five teams, starting his career with the Buccaneers as a first-round draft pick back in 1994, the 6th pick overall. He played six seasons with the Bucs before moving to the Ravens in 2000 for a Super Bowl run, then left the next year to play backup to Matt Hasslebeck in Seattle for four seasons. He had another starting job with the Browns in 2005, then left in a trade to play in 07 with the Niners.

Now that running back Earnest Graham has his new deal, the Tampa Tribune is throwing out the question of what will happen next with QB Jeff Garcia.  The veteran wants an extension that will bring his total payout in line with that of other starting quarterbacks around the league.  The Bucs may have some issues with that due to his age and injury history, they may not want to give him a long extension.

What to do?

Garcia has talked about a holdout, or maybe even walking away from the game all together if he does not get a new deal.  Can’t see that happening, as his play last season showed that he’s got game left, and even if he does not get an extension, the bet here is that Garcia shows up to camp.

He can sit and brood and talk to the media all he wants about deserving more money, but the bottom line is he did sign a deal when he came to the club, and now he’s going to have to deal with it.  Look for the Bucs to talk to Garcia about money and what they can do to make him happy, but if his demands are out of sight, they sit on it and make him play for the money he’s due to make this season, which is not enough in Garcia’s mind.

In an interview with the “St. Petersburg Times,” retiring Raiders defensive tackle Warren Sapp didn’t have kind words to say about his former employer. Asked to describe his experience with the Raiders, the soon-to-be Hall of Famer said it was, “As dark as a black hole. Stuff went on in that organization that shouldn’t go on in sports. I don’t think there’s one person who knows who or what is making the call. Let’s just say the Oakland experience was unique. The phone rings quite a bit on that sideline.”

The 35-year old Sapp announced his retirement on January 8th, ending a 13-year career that saw him record 96-and-a-half sacks, the second most for a defensive tackle, and win a Super Bowl ring while with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. As for his next move, Sapp has said he plans to accept an offer to appear on “Dancing With the Stars.”

Looks as if the Bucs and running back Earnest Graham have come to terms on a new deal that will pay him well enough to be considered the teams feature back in 2008. Adam Schefter of NFL Network is reporting that Graham and the team have agreed to terms on a four-year deal worth $11 million. The back had stated several times he felt that the deal would get done by training camp.

Last season Graham saved the Buccaneers running game after Cadillac Williams and Michael Pittman both suffered injuries. He ran for 898 yards and 10 touchdowns, and pulled in 49 catches for 324 yards. The team has gotten good reports about Williams for a return this season, but the team coming off a South title a season ago cannot stand pat and hope that he comes back 100 percent.

The signing of Graham is a solid move for Tampa Bay. Now will they will likely turn their attention to QB Jeff Garcia, who has been balking about wanting a new deal. I would not think that Garcia would hold out if he doesn’t get a new deal, but the team likely wants to avoid any conflict during training camp.