Bucs GM Dominik: Glazers still committed

Mark Dominik has read the message posts and heard the talk radio chatter questioning the commitment of the Glazer family.

Wednesday, Tampa Bay's new GM answered back.

"There's been no wavering in their desire to have a championship football team here in Tampa," Dominik said of Bucs ownership. "People that say the Glazers are cheap don't realize they fired Jon Gruden with three years left on his contract, along with Bruce Allen. They could have tried to ride that out.

"I've heard all the speculation about their soccer interests, but people need to understand their business with Manchester United is a completely different entity from the Buccaneers. There's never been a time when I didn't feel our owners wanted to win."

Although he didn't dispute published reports that the Bucs lead the NFL with more than $35 million in cap space, Dominik said there's more to the story.

"Unlike some other teams, we've carried some cap room over through the years," he said. "We're identifying players on this team that we want to keep here for a long time, core guys that we don't want to reach free agency. Once their contract makes sense to both parties, we'll get extensions done."

Dominik said Tampa Bay's personnel moves in the past few years aren't indicative of a franchise on the cheap.

"We drafted a quarterback (Josh Freeman) in the first round, and everyone knows it's an expensive contract," he said. "Jeff Faine became the highest-paid center in the league. We went after Derrick Ward and made him the highest-paid free-agent running back. Kellen Winslow set a new bar for tight ends.

"Franchising Antonio Bryant wasn't a low number. It's easy to criticize ownership, but I know for a fact it's never been about money. It's about making smart business decisions and knowing a guy is worth X amount of money. We paid Luke McCown a signing bonus and still traded him because we felt it was in the best interests of the Buccaneers. The easy thing would have been to keep Luke. The misperceptions out there are disappointing because I know the direction we're headed."

Injury update: Faine will miss Sunday's road opener against Buffalo with a strained triceps. Two rookies, CB E.J. Biggers (shoulder) and DE Kyle Moore (groin), didn't participate in Wednesday's practice. Bryant (knee) and TE John Gilmore (ankle) were limited.

The Bills could be without two defensive starters against the Bucs. MLB Paul Posluszny (broken forearm) is definitely sidelined and DE Chris Kelsay (bruised knee) didn't practice Wednesday.

Center stage: In his third stint with the Bucs, Sean Mahan is anxious to get started.

The versatile lineman is expected to start at C for Faine on Sunday.

Mahan was drafted by Tampa Bay as a guard in 2003 and spent four years with the Bucs before starting all 16 games at center for the '07 Steelers. He was re-acquired from Pittsburgh last year and cut by the Bucs two weeks ago.

"It's not like I'm jumping into something I've never been into," said Mahan, who re-signed with Tampa Bay on Monday after Faine's injury was diagnosed. "It should be pretty smooth. You can't put a price on experience and that should help a lot."

RG Davin Joseph said Faine's absence will be felt.

"We've got to step up here," Joseph said. "We've seen it before. I got hurt last year and Jeremy Zuttah stepped up and did a great job. It's a big role to fill, the center spot, making all the calls, and it will be a heck of a challenge."