
--RB Derrick Ward has agreed to a four-year, $17 million deal with Tampa Bay, according to the NFL Network. He gained 1,025 yards last season.
--TE Kellen Winslow was acquired by Tampa Bay last week, with the Associated Press reporting the Bucs sent Cleveland a second-round pick in the 2009 NFL Draft and a fifth-round pick in the 2010 NFL Draft. "Cleveland was great to me," he said. "I had a great time playing with Braylon Edwards, Brady Quinn. I'm going to miss those guys. But it's also a new opportunity. I've played with some of the guys on this team - Jeff Faine, Antonio Bryant, Luke McCown. I'm as happy as can be. I'm healthy." In five years in Cleveland, Winslow caught 219 passes for 2,459 yards and 11 touchdowns.
--GM Mark Dominik is reluctant to use the R word.
"I'm not a big fan of the rebuilding word, but in a way, we did today, in a direction we want to head," he said. "So it wasn't so much what Derrick Brooks or Cato June couldn't do, it's the direction we want to go with the guys currently on the roster and men that are going to join us as we create the roster over the next few months to get to training camp."
--Coach Raheem Morris said he called several players - including C Jeff Faine and LB Barrett Ruud - to inform them of the decision to release Brooks and others and asked them to take more of a leadership role. "Those are some big shoes to fill," Morris said.
--WR Antonio Bryant signed his one-year, $9.884 million tender as the franchise player.
--The Bucs placed the maximum tender of a first- and third-round pick on LT Donald Penn, who will earn about $2.792 million next season unless a long-term agreement is reached.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "We are sticking to our plan." - Coach Raheem Morris.