The biggest loser in this situation could be Bruce Gradkowski, who'll most likely be relegated to No. 4 QB. Bob Rosato/SI

The Bucs could end up looking pretty darn shrewd in the whole deal if that scenario unfolds, but there is some risk in their gambit as well. What if Plummer calls their bluff and un-retires, announcing his plans to report to Tampa Bay's training camp?

Are we to believe that Tampa Bay can afford all three veteran quarterbacks? Or that anyone in that threesome would accept holding a clipboard as the Bucs' No. 3 QB? Simms signed a two-year extension late in 2006 that will pay him $5 million this year. Garcia's two-year deal calls for him to receive a $3 million signing bonus and a $2 million base salary in '07, putting him too at the $5 million mark in overall compensation. Plummer's contract that Tampa Bay inherited calls for $5.3 million this season.

That's more than $15 million tied up at quarterback in 2007, and that's not for the likes of Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, mind you. That's for one 32-year-old guy who was replaced in Denver last season, another who just turned 37 and played his best ball in three years in starting the final seven games of the season in Philadelphia, and another who struggled mightily in three games in Tampa Bay before being lost for the season due to an emergency splenectomy.

And while we're at it, it occurs to me that the biggest loser in all of this QB chaos in Tampa Bay is Bruce Gradkowski, who started 11 games in place of Simms last season as a rookie. Didn't Gruden spend most of the season insisting to anyone who would listen that the kid was a player, with real potential? Guess not. At the moment, he's Tampa Bay's fourth-string quarterback. Good luck, Bruce. You're going to need it, given that many NFL teams these days don't even carry three quarterbacks on their regular-season roster.

The whole situation, of course, is confusing and fraught with irony. Remember last year, when the Bucs' season essentially went down the drain when Simms was injured in Week 3? Tampa Bay didn't have enough quarterback experience at that point, and were forced to turn to the likes of Gradkowski and eventually Tim Rattay, going 4-12 after their 11-5 playoff season of 2005. It would seem Gruden made himself a vow to never find himself in that situation again.

In Tampa Bay this year, that's not likely any time soon. About now, the Bucs have themselves more quarterbacks than seems to make sense.