TAMPA - The Bucs will roll out so much red carpet during the free-agent signing period, you almost expect Joan and Melissa Rivers to be working the limo line.
But Jon Gruden's eyes always have been bigger than the Bucs' salary cap, and already Tampa Bay has been linked in reports to nearly every player available.
"I think you guys are going to find we'll be in 100 different other rumors," general manager Bruce Allen said. "It's not a secret people like playing for (Gruden). It's an exciting program ... we're looking forward to being (players') first option in free agency. We're going to hear some rumors, but we can't take everybody.
"It's not fantasy football. I love how the league always sends out that memo about no tampering with Pro Bowl players. Well who can afford them? Who am I going to go over there and tamper with? Orlando Pace? Yeah, okay. Sure, he'll take the minimum."
Rather than focus on which players are coming, the Bucs may actually concern themselves with who might be leaving. Charlie Garner and Corey Dillon make for nice speculation. But Gruden wants to re-sign Thomas Jones, who showed flashes of why he was the seventh overall pick in 2000.
The status of Michael Pittman, scheduled to go on trial this spring for felony domestic abuse, may rest with an Arizona jury. But Jones proved worthy of re-signing with three late-season starts in which he averaged 98.7 yards. At 25, Jones has resurrected his career in Tampa Bay, and it would be a shame for the Bucs not to benefit more from their discovery.
Another possibility is guard Cosey Coleman, a former second-round pick who played better down the stretch.
"The offensive line ... the pounding Brad took," Allen said, referring to quarterback Brad Johnson. "You can't do that. You started mixing and matching guys. It happens in this game. New England didn't go to the playoffs in between the two Super Bowls. The Raiders had a bad year. You have a little emotional highs and lows in this league right now.
"It's just a different feeling as you watch and realize that's my quarterback getting killed. Versus when you watch somebody else's quarterback. Then you realize, "Oh, my gosh! That's Brad. That's my guy.' "
Addressing every need through free agency will be difficult. The Bucs are one of just six teams over the salary cap and by $2.8-million - the smallest figure of the group.
Before they can sign anyone else's players, they have their own to consider, beginning with defensive tackle Warren Sapp, Jones and Coleman.
"It is a problem getting the space that you need to sign free-agent players, whether they be yours or anyone else's," Gruden said. "We'll need salary-cap space to do that. We have some great players that are eligible for free agency on March 3 and obviously, salary-cap space gives you an opportunity to re-sign some of those players. We'll work hard to create that space."
SAPPED AGAIN: When asked about his preference of teams during free agency, Sapp told the NFL Network he hoped to stay put. "A Buc till I die,' " Sapp said.
That might not be possible. But the Bucs would feel better if they had a franchise tag to put on their seven-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle. It is attached, however, to Chidi Ahanotu, who had it slapped on him before signing a six-year deal in July of '99. Never mind Ahanotu has played for St. Louis, Buffalo and San Francisco the past three years. The tag is his until 2005.
