Buccaneers: Camp tour | 
Prisco
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Observations from Tampa Bay Buccaneers' camp:
1. Quarterback Jeff Garcia is sitting out practices with a calf injury, but the team doesn't expect it to be a big deal. Garcia will be the starting quarterback again in 2008. The backups are Luke McCown, Brian Griese, Chris Simms and rookie Josh Johnson. Those four got the practice reps the day I was there. For Simms, it's been a frustrating summer. He wants out of Tampa, but the team won't trade him or release him. "You look good for a prisoner," I told him after practice. Simms wants out, but the team hopes to get something in a trade, which is unlikely. The Bucs should let him go since they don't want him and the Simms-Jon Gruden relationship is fractured beyond repair. As for those Brett Favre talks? The trade price is too high and Favre's salary is too high. If the price came down, who knows? For now, it appears it is Garcia again in 2008.
2. Look for the Bucs to use a running-back-by-committee approach this season. Cadillac Williams is still fighting back from 2007 knee surgery and isn't practicing, which leaves Earnest Graham and Warrick Dunn as the two backs with Michael Bennett behind them. Williams will probably open the season on the PUP list, which means he won't be able to play until after the sixth game. That puts a lot of spotlight on Graham, who was the surprise of last season when he rushed for a career-high 898 yards and signed a four-year, $11-million contract extension before the start of this camp. Dunn returns to the Bucs after spending six seasons with Atlanta. "Graham is very underrated, maybe a mystery to some," Gruden said. "But when you put on the film you see him make great runs and pick up the blitzes. We might use some double halfback sets to take advantage of having quality guys there."
3. The Bucs drafted corner Aqib Talib in the first round of the April draft and he's already impressed enough to win the nickel corner job. He lines up outside in passing situations, with Ronde Barber sliding inside and Phillip Buchanon on the other side. That gives the Bucs a nice trio of quality corners. Buchanon, who was a disappointment in Oakland and Houston, is having a great camp.
4. The Bucs took Gaines Adams with the fourth overall pick in 2007 and he started slow as a rookie but came on late. He had four of his six sacks in the final seven games. Gruden thinks he's ready for even more. "He's more mature as a man," Gruden said. "I credit him with a great offseason. He had a plan and he executed it."
5. It's always good to come to Bucs camp and see No. 55 running around. That's Derrick Brooks, one of the class acts of the league. Brooks, who is on his way to the Pro Football Hall of Fame when he's done, is 35 and there is talk his isn't the same player. But he played well in 2007 and can still get it done.
hype_guy 
