To begin the season, the Buccaneers had Byron Leftwich at quarterback. After three starts, the Bucs changed up and went with Josh Johnson. Neither quarterback was too effective — Leftwich had a quarterback rating of 71.2, while Johnson’s QB rating was 50.9.

In Week 7, Freeman saw his first NFL action. He was 2-for-4 with 16 passing yards. He was also sacked twice.

While the Bucs will continue to struggle, it makes sense to throw their 6-foot-6 rookie into the fire. The 21-year-old out of Kansas State has reportedly frustrated the coaches at times with his lack of stellar work ethic, however his physical skills are obvious.

Freeman will likely struggle early on but if he can show some quality signs, perhaps this season won’t be a complete waste for the Tampa Bay organization.

Josh Freeman will now start for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Image: Zuma Press)

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Rookie Josh Freeman to Start for Tampa Bay

With McNabb on the sidelines, the Eagles actually got good play from backup Kevin Kolb. In Week 2, Kolb had 391 passing yards and two touchdowns. In Week 3, he had 327 passing yards, two passing touchdowns and a rushing touchdown.

Add Michael Vick to the equation and the Eagles have a ton of depth at quarterback. If McNabb struggles out of the gates, Philadelphia has the luxury to look elsewhere for production at QB.

Coming off of their bye week, the Eagles have an easy schedule for the rest of the month. After playing the Bucs in Week 5, the team goes on a two-game road trip in which they take on the Oakland Raiders and Washington Redskins.

Donovan McNabb - Philadelphia Eagles (Image: Zuma Press)

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Donovan McNabb to Return in Week 5

The Buccaneers will likely start Maurice Stovall at wide receiver next to Michael Clayton. The backup wide receivers will be Sammie Stroughter and Brian Clark. Without the team’s best wideout, quarterback Byron Leftwich will need to spread the ball for the team to have a chance.

Last season, Bryant had 1,248 yards and seven touchdown grabs on 83 catches. In Week 1, he had two catches for 29 yards. The 28-year-old has 335 receptions, 5,114 yards and 26 touchdowns in his career — which goes back to 2002 when he begin his NFL career with the Dallas Cowboys.

Clayton, who had five catches for 93 yards in Week 1, may have to be the team’s leading receiver until the time comes that Bryant is totally healthy.

Antonio Bryant - Buccaneers (Image: Zuma Press)

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Antonio Bryant Injury Update – Out Week 2

5. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
With a rookie coach and no quarterback standing out so far, the Bucs appear to be headed to a poor season in their 2009 campaign.

4. Oakland Raiders
For the Raiders to be decent, they need JaMarcus Russell to play better than expected. Don’t count on it.

3. Kansas City Chiefs
It’s difficult to find any bright spot on this team. A lot of solid pieces but the strengths are minimal.

2. St. Louis Rams
The offense will likely struggle and the defense isn’t that good. They have to hope for a big year from their offensive line to compete.

1. Detroit Lions
After going 0-16 last season, the Lions need to show they aren’t historically bad before they rise out of last.

Can Calvin Johnson Lead the Lions out of Last? (Image: Zuma Press)

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Worst Teams in the NFL – August Edition

Although Jackson isn’t a star, this is a big blow for the Buccaneers. Since being drafted, Jackson has started all 32 games of his NFL career. Last season, he had 69 tackles, two forced fumbles, one sack and one interception. The 6-foot, 200-pound Jackson played his college football at Syracuse.

With Jackson suspended, Tampa Bay will likely move Will Allen into a starting safety spot. The 27-year-old has been with the Buccaneers since 2004. Last year he played in all 16 games and finished the year with 19 tackles and one forced fumble.

Jackson will miss the first four weeks of the 2009 NFL season. In those weeks, the Buccaneers play the Dallas Cowboys, Buffalo Bills, New York Giants and Washington Redskins.

Tanard Jackson of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Suspended (Image: Zuma Press)

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Tanard Jackson Suspended for Four Games

The 28-year-old out of Pittsburgh had 83 catches for 1,248 yards and seven touchdowns. All three of those stats were a career highs.

However, despite his great season, the Buccaneers aren’t likely to give him a new contract. Instead, Tampa Bay has given him the franchise tag. As a result, Bryant will receive a raise from around $600K to nearly $10 million.

Why won’t the Bucs give him a long-term contract? The most likely answer is the fact that Bryant has had his share of issues on and off the field. So instead of rolling the dice on his character over the long haul, the Buccaneers can limit their risk.

Another reason why Tampa Bay is fine with Bryant taking up so much money this year is because the team has a ton of salary cap space. Bryant taking up $10 million doesn’t affect their ability to sign a free agent who might become available.

Antonio Bryant - Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Image: Zuma Press)

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Will Antonio Bryant Get a New Contract?

Burress, who was the Super Bowl MVP for the Giants during the 2007 Super Bowl championship, was waived by New York over the offseason. Not only did the talented wide receiver have a falling out with the coaching staff, he’s facing legal troubles that could possibly land him in jail.

Currently, the two biggest receiving threats for Tampa Bay are wide receiver Antonio Bryant and tight end Kellen Winslow. If the Buccaneers sign Burress, he’d likely replace Mark Clayton in the starting unit.

The other team that reportedly has a lot of interesting in signing Burress is the New York Jets.

Plaxico Burress (Image: Newscom)

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Plaxico Burress to the Buccaneers?

Smith is a 24-year-old out of Stanford who has shown good potential at various points in his career. The best season of his four-year career was his rookie campaign. In 16 games in 2005, he had 41 receptions for 367 yards and two touchdowns.

His consistency statistically has been impressive. Over the last three seasons, he’s had three touchdowns in each season, while playing in exactly 14 games.

One of the biggest question marks with Smith is his health. He always seems to be banged up and hasn’t played a full season since his rookie year. His production over the years has slowly dropped. Since his rookie year, each year he’s finished with less catches than the year before.

Tampa Bay didn’t need him any longer after trading for Kellen Winslow earlier in the offseason. In New England, Smith could battle for a starting position but will more likely be a part of the team’s depth.

Gillette Stadium in Foxboro (Image: Flickr)

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Tight End Alex Smith Traded to the Patriots

Byron Leftwich, Pittsburgh Steelers (Image: Newscom)

Multiple teams, including the Steelers and the Washington Redskins, were interested in signing Leftwich. However, the former Marshall star decided on the Buccaneers apparently due to the possibility that he can win the starting job in Tampa Bay.

As it stands, the Bucs have Brian Griese, Luke McCown and Josh Johnson at the quarterback position. With a new coaching regime in town, there’s no clear cut leader to start the season at quarterback. The fact that the team was so aggressive in getting Leftwich makes it seem like that decision has yet to be made.

At 6-foot-5 and 250 pounds, Leftwich definitely has the size for the quarterback position. What he has lacked during his NFL career has been consistency. His ability to lead a team has also been question, as has his durability.

At 29, this may be Leftwich’s last chance to prove he’s a capable starting quarterback at the NFL level.

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Byron Leftwich Signs with the Buccaneers

A large reason for why Dungy retired is due to him wanting to be around his family more often. Guess where his family lives? That’s right, Tampa.

Obviously being an NFL head coach takes up a lot of time and Dungy has said he wants to make a clean break from the coaching grind, but if he’s ever going to return this is the perfect opportunity. The fans still love him from his previous coaching stint with the team, there are quality players on the team and he can help in the search for the next general manager.

As for the Bucs, they have to be interested in Dungy. He’s one of the most highly regarded coaches of this generation. He’d bring instant credibility to the team and he has almost a perfect record of coaching his teams into the playoffs.

Stay tuned to see if this perfect marriage takes place.

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Tony Dungy back to the Buccaneers?