NFL Tampa Bay

We noted this morning that longtime NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer had an Achilles injury that would likely end his playing career, and this afternoon Dilfer made it official.

A fight broke out between two teammates Wednesday at the NFL Rookie Symposium, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk is reporting.

The annual Symposium is supposed to be the place for the 252 rookies who were drafted in April to learn how to conduct themselves as professionals. But yesterday it was the setting for a fight between the Buccaneers' first-round draft pick Aqib Talib, and seventh-round draft pick Cory Boyd.

The fight apparently broke out during a session on personal finances Wednesday, but the two players had been jawing at each other throughout the Symposium, which began on Sunday.

Both players have been in trouble before. Talib, a Kansas cornerback, was suspended two games in 2007. Boyd, a South Carolina running back, was suspended for the entire 2005 season.

Mike Freeman of CBS Sports has a great column about one of the classiest players in the NFL, Buccaneers running back Warrick Dunn. It's a good look at a guy who had a rough life as a young man, built himself up into a great success story, and is now trying to give back.

But there's one particularly noteworthy quote from Dunn that's worth pointing out:

"It's not the same," he said. "When I came in, my generation was different. We respected the guys who came before us. I learned about the guys who paved the way. Now you have a lot of young guys who don't care about the past. They couldn't name some of the past great players. They (couldn't) care less."

If you're like me, and you remember Dunn as a freshman at Florida State, doesn't that make you feel old? That Dunn is now the aged veteran complaining about the whippersnappers who don't respect their elders?

Anyway, with all due respect to Dunn, I think he's probably wrong there: Let's not forget, this year's rookies are all going ga-ga over seeing Walter Payton's bust at the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Dunn is 33 years old, and there's a big generation gap between him and the young breed of players, but I think that even when Dunn and his generation of players retires, the league will remain in good hands.

Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden and former Buccaneers defensive tackle Warren Sapp haven't always seen eye to eye. Sapp has said that he thinks Tony Dungy deserves more credit than Gruden for the Bucs' Super Bowl title, and Gruden didn't shed any tears when Sapp left Tampa Bay for Oakland.

But if there was any bad blood between them, it's gone now. At a retirement party for Sapp over the weekend, Gruden had this to say:

"If Warren Sapp doesn't go into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot, you'd better check the IQ of the voters. No disrespect to anyone, but he's the favorite guy I've ever coached."

I would be fine with Sapp getting into the Hall of Fame, but I don't think he's a sure thing, and I'll be quite surprised if he gets in on the first ballot, considering that he's coming up at the same time as several players who I think were better, including Brett Favre, Michael Strahan and Jonathan Ogden.

It might be a good idea to check the IQ of the Hall of Fame voters, but Sapp not getting in wouldn't be the reason.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Earnest Graham made it known this off-season that he was unhappy with his contract. He's not anymore.

Graham and the team agreed to a four-year, $11 million contract extension, reports NFL Network's Adam Schefter. He will apparently play his 2008 season under the previously scheduled base salary of $600,000 and will get three more years and about $10.5 million added to his deal.

Last season Graham became a starter for the first time after Cadillac Williams went down with a serious knee injury, and he played well, both as a runner and as a receiver. He's a good fit in head coach Jon Gruden's offense, although at age 28 he probably won't be at top speed by the time he's in the last year of his contract.

Williams is attempting a comeback, but he probably won't be ready at the start of the season, so Graham will be the starter and Warrick Dunn will be the backup.

When we last saw Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Cadillac Williams, he was run down on the side of the field in Charlotte with a busted patellar tendon. This Cadillac looked like it might be garaged for good.

Someone in Tampa, however, must know a really good mechanic, because according to reports, this Cadillac is running again, and nobody is more excited about it than Bucs head coach Jon Gruden.

"It's one of the most amazing comebacks that I've seen. ... He's really putting some good tape together in his individual workouts ... the explosive movement appears to be coming back. Change of direction, confidence, stamina, all those things day after day after day a running back has to do are coming to him. That's what's really exciting."

Williams has yet to be cleared for regular practice, but he's reportedly running 100-yard sprints at full speed. If this keeps up, there's a good chance that he could return to action for the Bucs as early as next season. If he's anywhere near full speed, it might cap the most remarkable comeback from a knee injury by any athlete this side of Bernard King. It seems ol' Earnest Graham will have to keep fighting for his job.

To the complete surprise of absolutely no one, Chris Simms was a no-show at Tampa Bay Buccaneers minicamp today. He has been angling to get out of Tampa for several weeks now, making claims that the team is holding him hostage and won't release him, while his bosses are claiming Simms' agents are just pulling a PR stunt.

You can bet that Bucs GM Bruce Allen will fine Simms every penny of that $8,000 per day that he doesn't show up, too. That's why Earnest Graham took his old coach's advice and went back to work.

Seriously, though, does anyone still care at this point? Is Chris Simms a good enough quarterback -- with or without his spleen -- that it's worth keeping him around, especially when this team has three other QBs with starting experience on the roster, not to mention an interesting rookie prospect? Why exactly are the Bucs keeping him around? Do they still feel guilt pangs because Simms gave his spleen for the team?

I think it's high time this drama went away. Unfortunately, Bruce Allen doesn't let anything go easily. Perhaps Simms should start getting used to a life of leisure for a little while.

Four days after quarterback Chris Simms said he feels like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are holding him hostage, Bucs general manager Bruce Allen and coach Jon Gruden have fired back at Simms. Said Allen:

"I think his advisers pulled a PR stunt," Allen said. "I don't think it portrays Chris well. That's not the Chris I've talked to on the phone. But I can't worry about that. We have too many players who are trying to help this team win and those are the players we're going to focus on."

Said Gruden:

"I like Chris Simms. I don't necessarily agree with everything he said. But I'm going to coach the quarterbacks who are here. I am really excited about the guys who are here. I wish Chris and his situation well. But that's the last I'll address it. He made his statements and unfortunately that's all I can say. I like Jeff Garcia and I prefer talking about him, Brian Griese and Luke McCown at this point."

Like some of his Buccaneers teammates, Earnest Graham would like some more money. He had a career year with the team, but Tampa Bay has turned away his requests for a pay raise. So Graham turned away the Bucs' request that he show up at voluntary workouts.

Apparently, Graham's old college coach doesn't like that very much.

Former Gators coach Steve Spurrier had some stern words of advice for Buc holdout running back Earnest Graham on Thursday. ...

"Hopefully Earnest Graham will get his butt back out to practice real soon,'' Spurrier said of the former Gators back. "Earnest needs to get back out here and I guess he'll be out here next week.''

Graham must really appreciate having his old coach undermine his holdout in the press. Makes you wonder what sort of relationship those two had at Florida. Plus, given that Spurrier left his alma mater for a huge payday with the Washington Redskins, maybe he's not the one to suggest Graham shouldn't be holding out for a raise.

Then again, Bucs practices become mandatory next week, so Graham could be fined $8,000 a day if he doesn't show up. Maybe Spurrier's just telling Graham not to throw his money away.

The ongoing saga of Jake Plummer's retirement has finally come to an end, as Plummer, who retired after the Denver Broncos traded him to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for a 2008 seventh-round draft pick more than a year ago, has agreed to pay the Bucs $3.5 million.

It's a complex, often misunderstood, part of NFL contracts -- when players get signing bonuses, they only get to keep the money if they fulfill the terms of the contract. Plummer chose to walk away from his contract early by retiring, which meant he couldn't keep his entire signing bonus. When the Buccaneers traded for Plummer, they traded for the rights to get that bonus money -- even though the Bucs didn't pay it to him.

Now the Buccaneers get that money, but it's important to remember that this is about more than a millionaire writing a $3.5 million check to a billionaire. That $3.5 million will actually be credited to the Buccaneers' salary cap for the 2009 season.

So look at it this way: If the Bucs sign a free agent next year to a contract that pays him $3.5 million in base salary, that player is really who they acquired with that 2008 seventh-round draft pick. And since the kind of player who makes $3.5 million a year is almost always a better player than a seventh-round rookie, you'd have to say the Bucs made a good move when they traded for Plummer, even though he never played a down for them.