BUCS PLOTTING A PLAY FOR JOHNSON?
John Murphy and Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports report that some NFL types believe that the Buccaneers are planning to make a play for the No. 1 overall pick in the draft.

The selection is currently held by the Raiders, who fleeced the Bucs five years ago out of two first-round picks, two second-round picks, and $8 million for the "rights" to coach Jon Gruden.
"I definitely get the feeling that's where the Bucs are going," an executive from another NFL team told Yahoo!

Though we realize that much of our own stuff comes from unnamed executives and other league sources, it's hard to put much credence in the above quote without knowing who said it. The Browns, for example, would have a strong interest in seeing such a deal go down, since it would ensure that either quarterback JaMarcus Russell or quarterback Brady Quinn will be available when Cleveland picks at No. 3.

Per the report, there is also speculation that the Bucs have offered four first-day picks (No. 4, No. 35, No. 64, and No. 68) for the No. 1 pick. Under the trade chart, however, that quartet of picks falls 130 points short of the value of the first overall selection. As a result, the Bucs would have to give up all of their remaining picks -- with the exception of two compensatory picks at the bottom of round seven -- to make up the entire difference.

Bottom line: If Al Davis is going to give up the No. 1 pick to two of his former employees (Gruden and G.M. Bruce Allen), it will have to be on the Raiders' terms. We wouldn't be surprised to see Davis ask for all of Tampa's picks in 2007 and a first-rounder in 2008.

And we also wouldn't be surprised to see the Bucs give all of it up; for Gruden and Allen, having to worry about not having a first-round pick in 2008 will be a good thing, since it will mean that they did well enough in 2007 to still have jobs.