Bucs put faith in Bryant

So the Bucs have done what we all suspected they might and placed the franchise tag on Antonio Bryant - and both parties will be keen to sign him to a long-term deal sooner rather than later.
"It's an honor to have been named the franchise player, and it's a great sign of respect that they've shown me," Bryant said after the news broke. "It shows a commitment to me, but at the end of the day I most definitely would like to see them show me more of a commitment than just the franchise tag."
"I'm not out here worrying about it," he added. "They're in the process of getting something done, and I believe the Bucs and my agent will come up with something."
If they don't, Bryant may have to play under the one-year, $9.884 million tender he was tagged with.
The Bucs GM, Mark Dominik, said this week that the Bucs tagged Bryant simply to protect themselves from losing what they believe would have been the best free agent on the market.
"Antonio is one of those guys who can almost take over a game, and we want him for us," Dominik said. "We want him scoring touchdowns in Tampa and so our thought was, let's make sure we have him here."
Having dealt with Bryant for now, the Bucs will turn their attention to coming up with packages to hold on to fellow receiver Michael Clayton, cornerback Phillip Buchanon and left tackle Donald Penn.
"We're trying to figure out if we have any common ground to bring them back," Dominik said. "That's really our goal first. How many will actually hit the market, it's still too early to tell."