The Bucs' three-headed QB attack makes little sense

	With the addition of Jake Plummer, the Bucs have three QBs who'll be earning at least $2 million this season. Peter Read Miller/SI

Try as I might, I can't quite fathom what the Bucs are thinking with their new three-headed quarterback situation. If Denver's Jake Plummer showed absolutely no interest Friday in coming to Tampa Bay to compete with incumbent starter Chris Simms, what exactly makes the Bucs think he'll now change his mind and sign up for a three-man training camp battle royale with Simms and the newly acquired Jeff Garcia?

We know Tampa Bay head coach Jon Gruden fancies himself a collector of quarterbacks, but Saturday's turn of events is a head-scratcher from almost every angle.

First off, this much seems clear when it comes to Plummer: He wanted to relocate to Houston and play for ex-Broncos offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak, where he would have walked in the door as the unquestioned starter in place of David Carr, who the Texans would like to move. Plummer didn't want his next place of employment dictated to him by Denver, via a trade, unless it was to Houston, and he didn't want any part of a quarterback competition with his new team.

So how did we get here, with Tampa Bay owning both Garcia and Plummer's rights, and the Bucs at least publicly professing that in an ideal world all three would report to training camp and duke it out?

My hunch tells me that both Denver and Tampa Bay made the Plummer deal because they were convinced that the 10th-year quarterback was trying to pull something of an end-around and get to Houston by hook or by crook. If it took the retirement threat to pull it off, so be it, Plummer reasoned.

But the Broncos, eager to show Plummer who was really in charge, spoiled that plan, shipping him to Tampa Bay for a conditional 2008 draft pick. The bottom line at the moment is that if Plummer decides to play at some point in 2007, he either has to do it for the Bucs, or talk them into trading him elsewhere. For its part, Tampa Bay could be gambling that at a later date it will be able to extract even more value for Plummer from Houston than Denver did from the Bucs.

Perhaps whatever the value of the conditional 2008 pick that Tampa Bay shipped the Broncos, the Bucs are convinced they can beat that deal once the Texans get closer and closer to starting the 2007 season with Carr remaining as their only viable starting option. If Houston still wants Plummer, it might eventually end up paying more for him to Tampa Bay than it would have to Denver weeks ago.