FanHouse MauriceStovall

After playing for three different teams between the 2004 and 2006 seasons, Antonio Bryant had no team in 2007. In 2008, he not only found himself a fourth NFL franchise to call home, he's earned himself a starting job in Tampa Bay opposite Joey Galloway, according to Rick Stroud of the St. Petersburg Times.

Bryant was given a one-year contract this off-season, and was competing for the starting spot along with Maurice Stovall, Ike Hilliard and former first-round pick Michael Clayton. Bryant won the job, despite not playing in the teams final two preseason games.

"He's going to be out there with Joey,' receiver Ike Hilliard said. "That's the decision coach (Jon) Gruden made. He's obviously a guy we're looking forward to taking our offense to another level.''

As I said yesterday in the Buccaneers preview, I've never been a big Bryant fan. He can be a frustrating player on (and off) the field, and there's a reason three teams have given up on him in the past, while he was out of the league entirely in 2007.

It's the one thing every coach of a playoff-bound NFL team fears -- losing key players in the regular season games just before the playoffs and just after clinching that playoff berth.

That happened to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last Sunday in San Francisco. Maurice Stovall left the game in the 2nd quarter with a right arm injury. Later that quarter, defensive end Greg White left the game with a bruised quad. White is expected to return to the lineup for the playoffs, but Stovall was placed on injured reserve this week.

Not surprisingly, Gruden pulled Jeff Garcia and several other starters from the game in the second half, and he's already decided that most of those starters will not play in the Bucs' final regular season game, which means nothing to the Bucs' playoff status; they're locked into the #4 seed and a home game with the Giants the weekend after New Year's Day.

I suspect Gruden would not have made that decision, though, had he not lost an effective receiver and special teams player like Stovall for the season -- especially since he was on the other side of that decision last week.