ake Plummer never showed up at the Bucs training camp headquarters Thursday. Neither did Daunte Culpepper. Simeon Rice showed, but he didn't stick around for very long. Less than three hours after checking in at the Celebration Hotel, Rice was cut from the Bucs roster and forced to check out in a move that stunned many and left some players visibly disturbed. "[Derrick] Brooks was almost in tears," said Rice, who ran into the Bucs long-standing weakside linebacker in the hotel parking lot just minutes after being told of his fate. The move came just a few hours after the Bucs set the stage for their action by signing rookie defensive end Gaines Adams, their 2007 first-round draft pick, to a six-year, $46 million contract. Adams was expected to work primarily behind Rice, who was coming off a season-ending left shoulder injury. However, Rice's departure means Adams will immediately step in as the starting right end.

The word is that the Bucs encouraged Daunte Culpepper to make a decision by the time the team reports to training camp Thursday at Disney's Wide World of Sports. Culpepper's options appear to be dwindling and he doesn't have time to take the free agent tour. Falcons coach Bobby Petrino said his team has no interest in the Dolphins' free agent despite the indictment of Michael Vick. That could be a strange situation for the Falcons, anyway, since starter Joey Harrington backed up Culpepper in Miami last year. The biggest surprise might be the sound of the door shutting in Jacksonville. Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio said on his radio show Tuesday that Culpepper would not be joining them. "We said we'd investigate it and we have,'' Del Rio said. "My gut is it's not going to be a fit for us and for him. "I think it's all about a player and a team finding common ground. I'm just telling you that at this point he has other suitors out there and we feel good about our quarterback situation with Byron Leftwich as our starter and David Garrard as our backup.''

The Buccaneers signed seventh-round draft pick Kenneth Darby on Saturday. The 5-foot-10, 211-pound Darby was the third Alabama player to rush for more than 3,000 yards in his career.

Free-agent quarterback Daunte Culpepper met with the Buccaneers on Thursday, two days after being released by the Dolphins. The Bucs declined to disclose details of the meeting, which occurred in Tampa -- though not at the team's training facility. Miami unsuccessfully tried for weeks to trade the 30-year-old former Pro Bowl quarterback who was coming off major surgery to rebuild his right knee when the Dolphins acquired him before last season.

Jake Plummer's former high school coach recently approached the former Broncos quarterback about whether he planned to play for the Bucs (or any other team) this season. "I had one conversation with him in passing," said Steve Vogel, coach of Capital High School in Boise, Idaho. "He said, 'They don't believe me down there (in Tampa), but I'm done.' " Just one week before Bucs players report to training camp at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex, there are no indications that Plummer plans to be among them.

For the next six months or so, quarterback Jeff Garcia and coach Jon Gruden will be inseparable. They will share more than initials. In fact, their futures will be intertwined. It's the 37-year-old quarterback with his fourth job in as many years and the coach trying desperately to hold onto one. If you think another player has a chance to win a starting job under center in training camp, which begins July 26, think again. "I love Garcia," Gruden said recently. "I like what he's doing a lot. I just think he's got some traits we haven't had around here - his mobility, his experience."

Torrie Cox of the Buccaneers is appealing his four-game suspension for violating the NFL's substance abuse policy. "The punishment did not fit the crime and Torrie was not afforded the due process required under these circumstances," Peter Schaffer, Cox's agent, told the Tampa Tribune. Schaffer told the newspaper he filed the appeal Thursday and hasn't heard from the NFL . "The league [NFL] has a policy and they have to follow the letter of the law. It can't be convenient."

Buccaneers cornerback Torrie Cox was suspended four games without pay Tuesday for violating the NFL's substance abuse policy. Cox, 26, will miss the first four contests of the 2007 regular season and is not eligible to return to the active roster until October 1 - one day after the Buccaneers' game against the Panthers. The 5-9 Cox still can participate in all preseason practices and games, and the Bucs remained supportive of the reserve defensive back.