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TAMPA, Fla. -- Before he was even asked a question about his first pick as coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Greg Schiano was painting a portrait that probably still is invisible to most Tampa Bay fans.

Schiano had just stunned his fan base -- and probably the rest of the world -- by taking Alabama safety Mark Barron at No. 7. A safety at No. 7? This guy had better be the second coming of Ronnie Lott and Ed Reed put together or, at very least, John Lynch Jr. You don’t take a safety at No. 7, and say you gladly would have taken him at No. 5, unless you think he’s special. Schiano and general manager Mark Dominik definitely thought Barron was special.

“I think he fits into what we do defensively perfectly,’’ Schiano said. “You couldn’t draw it up any better.’’

That probably doesn’t excite you, especially if you wanted the Bucs to stay put at No. 5 and draft LSU cornerback Morris Claiborne. And I know there was a contingent of Tampa Bay fans who thought Boston College linebacker Luke Kuechly would be a perfect fit after the Bucs traded out of No. 5 and Claiborne went to Dallas at No. 6.

Either of those would have fit the profile of what we’ve come to expect from the Buccaneers, stretching back to Tony Dungy, running through the Jon Gruden era (with Monte Kiffin as the bridge) and right through the ugly final days of Raheem Morris.

But here’s the thing: Those days are over. This is Schiano’s team now.

Unless you’re a die-hard Rutgers fan, you don’t have any clue what a Schiano team looks like. Even if all your Knights are scarlet, you might see some changes as Schiano adjusts to the NFL. He’s not about to publicly share his X's and O's, but he certainly has implied this team is going to look a lot different in a lot of ways. Believe it or not, that might start at safety because Barron is going to be tied to Schiano forever, for better or worse.

“I think our safeties have to be more dynamic than in most schemes,’’ Schiano said.

At 6-foot-1 and 213 pounds, Barron is big enough to play in the box and make an impact on a run defense that needs improvement. With 12 career interceptions, Barron also has shown the ability to make plays in coverage.

“He needs to be able to do a lot of things, and he is capable of them,’’ Schiano said.

He’s going to have to cover wide receivers man to man, Schiano said. That’s a change from the days of Kiffin’s Cover 2, when safeties picked up wide receivers only after they got past the cornerbacks and Lynch often played the role of a linebacker. That may not be enough in an NFC South in which Drew Brees has thrown for 5,000 yards in a season and Cam Newton and Matt Ryan can put up big numbers. In case you haven’t noticed, that’s not just an NFC South trend. All around the league, teams are throwing the heck out of the ball.

“Safety has become an extremely important position now,’’ Dominik said.

More important than cornerback? Where the Bucs have Eric Wright, an aging Ronde Barber and a question mark in Aqib Talib?

Obviously, the Bucs think so. Dominik said the Bucs would have chosen Barron at No. 5 if they had stayed put. That means they would have chosen him over Claiborne, who was widely considered the best cornerback in this draft.

That’s a pretty strong statement from a team that has chosen only two defensive backs in the first round in its history and both of those were cornerbacks. There’s even a bit more pure football logic about this pick.

The Bucs had a big need at safety after releasing Tanard Jackson. They were left with Cody Grimm, a possible move to safety by Barber and not much else. Barron fills that need.

But I don’t think this pick was completely about X's and O's and pure football ability.

I think the selection of Barron was another sign that Schiano is going to do things much differently than in the past. Something obviously cooled the Bucs on Claiborne. Maybe it was that he reportedly had a low Wonderlic score or maybe it was something else.

Schiano said he and Dominik saw sparks the first time they watched film of Barron. By the time they interviewed him at the combine, there was a flame. As they talked about Barron, Schiano and Dominik both mentioned that he was a two-time captain for a team that won two national championships during his stint.

“He fits who we are and what we are,’’ Schiano said.

I get the impression Schiano cares a lot about what guys bring as players, but I’m getting an even stronger sense he cares about what they bring as people and how that can translate into winning. That’s sort of a new concept around here, at least since the Dungy days.

“He fits who we are and what we are,’’ Schiano said.

In other words, the Bucs think Barron can step right in and be a leader on a team that desperately lacked leadership and personality in the Morris days.

“Our coaches are excited to get their hands on him and mold him into a Buccaneer Man,’’ Dominik said.

We’ve heard the phrase “Buccaneer Man’’ a lot since Schiano took over. The problem is we have no idea what the new Buccaneer Man is supposed to be. But now we’re starting to get a bit of a portrait.

With Barron, there’s a face and maybe an outline of a body and a personality. Looks a little like a good athlete, a natural leader and a guy who was asking if there was a way to get his hands on a playbook Thursday night, even though he’s scheduled to fly to Tampa first thing Friday morning.

Maybe the Barron pick doesn’t look so bad -- or blank -- after all.

There are some genuine reasons to believe the Minnesota Vikings would seriously consider selecting LSU cornerback Morris Claiborne. The most obvious was the Vikings' historically poor pass defense last season, along with the national consensus that Claiborne is the best cornerback in the draft.

But there are just as many reasons to be suspicious of the sudden league-wide uncertainty about the Vikings' intent, which for months we assumed to be either a trade or the selection of USC left tackle Matt Kalil. It coincides with the very public efforts of Vikings general manager (Crazy) Rick Spielman to create that very impression. Based on individual team needs, it's more likely that a team in the top 5-8 would trade up for Claiborne, or possibly Oklahoma receiver Justin Blackmon or Alabama running back Trent Richardson, than Kalil.

From a football perspective, some people are shaking their heads and wondering why a team whose base defense includes more zone coverage than anything else would spend the No. 3 overall pick on a cornerback. As conventional wisdom goes, individual coverage skills aren't as valuable when not employed in man/press coverage. Thus, you can get cornerbacks to play in a Cover-2 scheme lower in the draft than if you plan to use them in man coverage.

The Vikings have based their scheme on the Tampa-2 framework since 2006, when Mike Tomlin took over as defensive coordinator. Current coach Leslie Frazier, who like Tomlin is a protégé of modern-day Tampa-2 linchpin Tony Dungy, maintained continuity when he replaced Tomlin in 2007.

The goal of the scheme is to find elite pass-rushers to create havoc among the front four and allow the remaining seven players to flood the coverage zones. As a result, teams that use the Tampa-2 framework don't often pursue cornerbacks in the first round.

The Indianapolis Colts selected cornerbacks Marlin Jackson and Kelvin Hayden with their first two picks of the 2005 draft when Dungy was the coach there. In 2008, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers selected cornerback Aqib Talib and the Buffalo Bills selected Leodis McKelvin.

Those picks were the exceptions to the rule, and none of the cornerbacks were taken in the top 10.

Spielman said this week that the Vikings aren't a pure zone team, which is true. No NFL team could get away with a single form of coverage for 16 games. ESPN Stats & Information doesn't track coverages, and it is almost impossible to do accurately without help from someone who knew the exact play call on every play.

But considering Frazier's roots with Dungy, and a similar history of new defensive coordinator Alan Williams, it would be fair to say the Vikings' coaching staff has a strong background in zone coverage. That doesn't mean the Vikings won't, or shouldn't, draft Claiborne. But it means that one way or the other, changes would be afoot if they do.

If you have a player as talented as Claiborne in coverage, it makes sense to use more man/press coverage than the Vikings have used in the past. And if that's an issue for the coaching staff, you wonder if drafting Claiborne would further shake the ground under Frazier.

We've already noted the unique position Frazier finds himself in entering a rebuilding process in his second full year as head coach. Would a commitment to an elite cover corner mean that Spielman isn't expecting his Tampa-2 coach to be around much longer? It's a question worth asking. We'll know if it's even relevant in a few hours. Stay tuned.

It's been a long time coming for the Chicago Bears and Kelvin Hayden, a graduate of Chicago's Hubbard High School and a cornerback the Bears have pursued for more than a year. We thought he might join the team last summer, but the Bears passed because of concern about his surgically-repaired neck.

Those concerns apparently have abated, because Hayden signed a one-year contract Thursday with the Bears. The Bears' top three cornerbacks from last season -- Charles Tillman, Tim Jennings and D.J. Moore -- will all return in 2012, but if he's healthy, Hayden could compete for playing time at least in the nickel. He is well-versed in the Bears' style of defense after playing under coach Tony Dungy for the Indianapolis Colts for six seasons, and you might remember his 56-yard return of an interception for a touchdown in the Colts' 29-17 victory against the Bears in Super Bowl XLI.

If nothing else, Hayden will offer depth in the absence of Zack Bowman and Corey Graham, both of whom have signed elsewhere this offseason. Better late than never, right?

At the news conference making Peyton Manning’s release official, Colts owner Jim Irsay indicated more roster moves were pending.

They came down Friday, and the remaining roster is a barren landscape.

Gone are halfback Joseph Addai, tight end Dallas Clark, safety Melvin Bullitt, linebacker Gary Brackett, and quarterback Curtis Painter.

All but Painter are proven players who played important roles in the system the team run under the team’s top executive, Bill Polian, and coaches Tony Dungy and Jim Caldwell.

Those three powers are gone, and new GM Ryan Grigson and coach Chuck Pagano are starting with a virtual clean slate.

Addai is not the type of back the team will want as it looks to get bigger and more powerful. Clark, Bullitt and Brackett are officially injury-prone and aging.

Some of these moves bring accelerated cap hits, and might cost more than the significant salaries the players were scheduled to make will save.

But in a year, the team should be in much better financial shape -- and be adding instead of subtracting.

The next big question is defensive end Dwight Freeney, who's due $14 million this season and carries a $19 million cap number.

Another day, another potentially ugly twist to the scandal involving the New Orleans Saints and what the NFL says was a “bounty program’’ to provide financial incentives for injuring opponents.

The latest development doesn’t involve the Saints directly, but it involves their former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, who has been described as having been at the center of the bounty program. Williams previously was defensive coordinator for the Washington Redskins.

Former Indianapolis coach Tony Dungy has said a hit on Peyton Manning in a 2006 game with the Redskins may have started the neck problems that eventually sidelined the Colts quarterback all of last season.

The league reportedly also is looking into allegations that Williams used a similar bounty program when he was with the Redskins.

Things aren’t looking good for Williams, who left the Saints to join the St. Louis Rams in January, right now. Although the latest developments don’t really involve the Saints, they’re certainly not going to help them when commissioner Roger Goodell hands out discipline that could include fines, suspensions and the loss of draft picks.

Player safety has been a big emphasis by Goodell and the bounty program runs totally counter to the commissioner’s wishes.

Throw in the fact that Dungy is universally respected throughout the league and the last thing the league wants is marquee players like Manning missing entire seasons and perhaps putting their careers in jeopardy. The Saints weren’t involved in the Manning situation.

But Williams might have played a role in that. If he did, it’s not going to reflect on the Saints when Goodell looks at the totality of the circumstances.

The Peyton Manning saga will surely be the story of the NFL offseason. The question in the AFC West is, will the Kansas City Chiefs be the story along with the legendary Indianapolis Colts quarterback?

As of now, we have to think it is a real possibility that the Chiefs will heavily pursue Manning -- who may be cut by the Colts as soon as next week -- if he becomes a free agent. Manning, who will turn 36 on March 24, missed all of last season with a neck injury and there is no certain date when he will be 100 percent, although there have been reports he will be ready to play in 2012.

If the Chiefs end up signing Manning, it won’t be the first time the organization brought in a living legend at the end of his career after he suffered a serious injury. The Chiefs traded for San Francisco’s Joe Montana in 1993.

The Chiefs have been connected to Manning in recent weeks. A Kansas City radio station has even reported that the team has had multiple conversations with Manning’s agent about finances and that the Chiefs feel comfortable about what Manning may want. That would constitute tampering and it is highly unlikely any team would talk finances with Manning before giving him a physical and knowing more about his recovery timetable. Still, the Chiefs have a load of salary-cap room and they can easily construct a deal for Manning in addition to making other improvements.

Of course, Kansas City coach Romeo Crennel did nothing to take the scent off a potential Chiefs-Manning pairing when he said this at the NFL combine last Saturday: “With a talent like that, I would be crazy not to consider it if he’s available. I’ll leave it at that.”

The Chiefs are not necessarily looking for a new starting quarterback. At the combine, Kansas City general manager Scott Pioli wouldn’t say the job is open. He said the starter is Matt Cassel. However, there will be competition at every position. The translation is the Chiefs expect Cassel to be the starter, but if a better option comes along, they will consider it. There’s no doubt a healthy Manning would be a better option.

If the Chiefs do want to go deep into the Manning sweepstakes, they will have competition, likely beginning with Miami and Washington. There will surely be other teams that show interest in the player who many consider one of the greatest NFL players of all time.

In addition to their interest and financial means, here’s another reason the Chiefs could be favorites to land Manning: They may be the best team interested in him. That would surely appeal to Manning when he is making his choice. I’m not sure many of the interested teams can offer Manning a better supporting cast.

The Chiefs have a strong running game and Manning would have plenty of receiving options. No. 1 receiver Dwayne Bowe is expected to be franchised, 2011 first-round pick Jonathan Baldwin is a potential game-changing deep threat and Steve Breaston is a solid possession receiver. Tight end Tony Moeaki is expected to be healthy after missing the 2011 season with a knee injury. He was terrific as a rookie in 2010.

In addition to appealing offensive weapons, the Chiefs have the makings of a strong defense. A healthy Manning would immensely help any team. But Manning could be a difference-maker in Kansas City. Matt Williamson of Scouts Inc. said adding Manning would make the Chiefs -- who finished 7-9 in 2011 despite major injury issues -- “the clear favorite to win the AFC West” in 2012.

Putting Manning in the Heartland would make many teams in the AFC nervous.

I would think Manning would also be fine with working with Crennel and Pioli. He is close with New England quarterback Tom Brady and Brady won Super Bowls with both men. I’m sure Brady would give Manning glowing reports on both of his potential bosses. And don’t think Manning would have trouble working with a defensive-minded coach like Crennel. Remember, the man Manning won his Super Bowl ring with, Tony Dungy, was a defensive-minded coach.

Cassel is also a factor in this scenario. Because Manning will be signed before there are any guarantees he’ll be ready to play, any team that signs him must have a good fallback plan. There are fewer better fallbacks than Cassel.

If Manning is signed and he has a setback, the Chiefs can rely on Cassel, who shined as Brady’s injury replacement in 2008. While Cassel wouldn’t be thrilled with the idea of backing up Manning, I’m sure he’d understand the Chiefs taking advantage of a rare opportunity to pick up a future Hall of Fame player.

There are a lot of reasons this pairing makes sense. If it happens, the Chiefs will be at the center of the NFL universe.

INDIANAPOLIS -- The Colts of Chuck Pagano will gradually get bigger.

He spoke respectfully of the success the small and nimble Colts of Bill Polian, Tony Dungy and Jim Caldwell had. But at the scouting combine he referred to an Al Davis mantra he picked up -- “It’s a big man game” -- while emphasizing that doesn’t completely discount little, fast guys.

But part of getting big and part of being big in the NFL ties to an age-old football formula: To win, you’ve got to run and stop the run.

I asked him Thursday about his offensive philosophy and here’s what he said:

“You watch the Steelers play, right? I’ve always said this and I learned this from my dad watching him coach growing up: You’ve got to run the football and have to stop the run to be successful at any level. So we’re going to be able to run the football and like I said at my first press conference, you’ve got to be able to throw it also. So a good combination of the two. We want to be explosive, we want to be physical, we want to be tough, we want to dominate the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, most specifically up front with the offensive line.”

Pagano and GM Ryan Grigson will have a lot of work to do to shape an offensive line that can win like that, and they may not have the running backs that can be a key to that formula, either. (Incidentally, the 2011 Steelers threw the ball better than they ran it, and defended the pass better than they slowed the run.)

Plenty of teams win in today’s NFL with below-average run games and run defenses.

• The Super Bowl champion New York Giants were the NFL’s worst rushing offense in the 2011 regular season, and ranked 19th in run defense.
• A year before, the Packers won the Lombardi Trophy with the league’s 24th-best run game and 18th-ranked run defense.
• And while the 2009 Steelers defended the run well, ranking third, they were hardly a dominant rushing offense, finishing No. 19.

Pagano seems like an old-school guy. I understand the stance and the talk. But hopefully he and his staff will see winning football, at least for right now, has a lot more to do with having a top quarterback and being able to hit opposing quarterbacks.

The new coach came to Indianapolis from Baltimore where the Ravens made a habit of playing good run defense and getting a pretty good share of their offense out of Ray Rice.

While they advanced to the AFC title game twice during Pagano’s four years on the staff, they failed to win the conference or the Super Bowl.

Ultimately, owner Jim Irsay’s going to want to see his Colts do more than that.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Thirteen modern-era NFL players were finalists for enshrinement Saturday in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Only one was named offensive or defensive player of the year during his career.

That was the Seattle Seahawks' Cortez Kennedy. His eight Pro Bowls, all-1990s selection and overall dominance made my job as his presenter quite simple. State the facts and let Kennedy's career do the talking. Picking the final five out of 15 modern-era finalists is always tough, however, because it usually requires leaving off worthy candidates.

The 43 other selectors and I met for more than seven hours before identifying Kennedy, Chris Doleman, Dermontti Dawson, Curtis Martin and Willie Roaf as the class of 2012. Jack Butler made it as a seniors candidate.

A few thoughts on the process and the results:

• This class made it through at a good time. Larry Allen, Michael Strahan, Jonathan Ogden, Warren Sapp, Bryant Young, John Lynch and Steve McNair become eligible for the first time in 2013. Shaun Alexander, Derrick Brooks, Marvin Harrison, Rodney Harrison, Tony Dungy and Mike Holmgren join the list in 2014. Isaac Bruce, Edgerrin James, Walter Jones, Junior Seau, Chris Samuels, Kurt Warner, Ty Law and Orlando Pace are among those eligible beginning in 2015.
• Former St. Louis Rams
  and Arizona Cardinals
  cornerback Aeneas Williams should feel great about cracking the final 10 in his first year as a finalist. Williams had 55 career interceptions and scored nine touchdowns. He was a big-time playmaker for bad and good teams alike.
• The situation at receiver remains a mess and it's not going to get easier with Harrison becoming eligible in a couple years. Voters are having a tough time deciding between Cris Carter and Andre Reed. Both made the final 10 this year. Reed made the final 10 last year as well. Having both crack the final 10 this year made it harder for one of them to break through. Voters were more likely to choose one wideout when forced to pick only five players.
• Former San Francisco 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo Jr. did not make the reduction from 15 to 10. I think it's tougher for voters to quantify how owners and even coaches -- think Bill Parcells, who missed the cut from 10 to five -- contributed to their teams' success. The discussions for Parcells (55-plus minutes) and DeBartolo (42-plus minutes) were more than twice as long as the discussions for other candidates. Hall bylaws prevented voters from considering the legal troubles and suspension that preceded DeBartolo's exit from the game.
• DeBartolo was a finalist in part because he hired Bill Walsh, promoted a winning culture, cared tremendously for his players and helped win five Super Bowls. He spent this weekend with former 49ers player Freddie Solomon, who is in the final days of a battle with cancer. The 49ers' renewed success this past season also reflected well on DeBartolo, who has become a tremendous resource for current team president Jed York, his nephew.
• Electing one pass-rusher (Doleman, who spent part of his career with the 49ers) to the Hall could give former 49ers and Dallas Cowboys pass-rusher Charles Haley an easier time in the future. But with Strahan joining the conversation in 2013, Haley faces stiff competition again. Former Rams pass-rusher Kevin Greene did not make the final 10 despite 160 career sacks.

It's been a whirlwind day. Hall bylaws prevent me from sharing specifics about what was said in the room during the proceedings. The Hall also asked voters not to reveal their votes outright. I voted for five of the six players enshrined on the final cut and supported others. As always, however, reducing to only five in the end required leaving off candidates I hope will make it in the future.

TAMPA, Fla. -- The show on the stage was impressive on every level.

The moment Greg Schiano started talking, you got the sense the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had more order, direction and control than at any point in the past three years. Schiano said all the right things and said them the right way. I’ve seen some introductory speeches for coaches through the years.

I’ve seen Sam Wyche trying to play cheerleader on the back of a flat-bed truck outside the old Tampa Stadium, Tony Dungy very dryly talking about what he’d bring to the Bucs (before any of us realized the depth of the man) and John Fox trying way too hard, and not really succeeding, to instantly win over the Carolina fans and media.

Schiano did none of that. He just let it flow naturally and everything he said was perfect.

But the most impressive show I saw was taking place about 30 yards away from where Schiano stood. That’s where a young man sat silently. He sat completely upright and seemed to be listening intently to everything his new coach said.

That man was Josh Freeman. There’s little doubt Schiano’s hiring will be a big point in Buccaneers’ history -- for better or worse. Schiano’s got a huge job ahead of him and he might have the skills to succeed.

But Freeman is still the most important person in One Buccaneer Place. He is the quarterback. He now is Schiano’s quarterback. If things are going to turn around for the Buccaneers after a disastrous 4-12 final season by Raheem Morris, Freeman might have to play an even bigger role than Schiano.

Freeman is an enormous talent with all sorts of leadership intangibles. The only problem is Morris, his staff and Freeman’s supporting cast came dangerously close to ruining him last season. Freeman threw 22 interceptions last season, after throwing only six in a very promising 2010 campaign.

This kid is too good a talent and a person to ruin. If Schiano is going to succeed, he needs to get Freeman back on track.

Perhaps the best news of the day was that the quarterback and the coach already are on the same page. Freeman was in Kansas City on Thursday when he got the call from general manager Mark Dominik, alerting him that Schiano had been hired.

Freeman did exactly what you would expect a good leader to do. He went and bought a plane ticket to Tampa. In Freeman’s eyes, he had to be there.

“First day, first press conference and I really wanted the opportunity to meet coach Schiano and show him that I’m here and I’m ready to go,’’ Freeman said.

The coach and the quarterback met before the news conference. Freeman, who publicly supported Morris to the bitter end, came away impressed.

“I love his direction,’’ Freeman said. “He’s a very passionate coach and I’m really excited to have the opportunity to play for him.’’

As he introduced Schiano, Dominik used words like “structured," “organized" and “disciplined." As he spoke about himself, Schiano revealed one of his main mottos “Trust, belief and accountability’’.

As Schiano went on about his “TBA" formula, I took a look back over my shoulder at Freeman. There seemed to be a gleam in his eyes, even more of a gleam than when Schiano mentioned that his offensive philosophy includes taking shots down field.

Every quarterback wants to hear a coach say he wants to take shots down field. But more than getting to throw some deep passes, I think Freeman needs, and wants, the “TBA’’.

Freeman was a leader for the Bucs in 2010. He was a leader as he organized offseason workouts last spring and summer during the lockout. He went into last season as a leader. I don’t think Freeman ever stopped trying to be that leader.

I think he simply got dragged down by the total lack of leadership and direction from the previous coaching staff. A lot of players ran wild and there was no accountability and not nearly enough leadership from other corners of the locker room. The Bucs were a ship out of control.

There’s no question the Bucs need control and discipline.

“There is going to be a Buccaneer way and they are going to be Buccaneer men,’’ Schiano said.

Schiano’s going to run things a lot different than Morris. That’s a good thing for Freeman, who is a guy that believes in structure and order. He’ll get that now and he might even get some improvements in his supporting cast.

The Bucs now have a coach that just might put them in a position where they have a chance to succeed. More importantly, they’ve got a leader who is totally on the same page as the coach and that could take them a long way.

“That’s the only way to have success in this league is to have people buying in with the trust, belief and accountability,’’ Freeman said. “There’s really no other way. Everybody’s got to be full tilt from Day One. The direction Coach Schiano s going to take this team in is going to be great and it’s exciting.’’

Peyton Manning has spoken of all the people disappearing from the Indianapolis Colts' headquarters.

As Chuck Pagano puts his coaching staff together, six more Colts could soon be former Colts. Offensive coordinator Clyde Christensen, assistant to the offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter, tight ends coach Ricky Thomas, running backs coach David Walker, assistant offensive line coach Ron Prince and assistant strength and conditioning coach Richard Howell remain under contract, flapping in the breeze.

Most significant among them is Christensen, who really ranks as the one prominent remaining link to Manning.

Pagano is a defensive guy, and his decision on offensive coordinator will be gigantic considering that coach will be the central figure in the development of Andrew Luck, the quarterback the Colts will draft with the No. 1 overall pick barring some crazy development.

It’s hard to imagine Christensen would be that guy, and parting with the guy who’s been the Colts’ coordinator for the past two seasons would in many ways be the final piece of a transition. From 2002-07 Christensen was Indianapolis’ wide receivers coach and in 2008 he had an assistant head coach title added. Then he took over for Tom Moore in the sort of transition the Colts set up for with their older coaches under Tony Dungy and then Jim Caldwell.

Christensen is continuity for Manning, one last presence from the old guard, one remaining significant connection to the offense he’s been running his whole career.

Of the six remaining assistants, I suspect a few remain became of their contracts. Cooter was in his first year in his role in 2011, Walker was in his first year with the team and Prince was in his second.

With 10 seasons in Indianapolis, Christensen ranks second to only Howell among the remaining staff.

When Pagano makes a move at offensive coordinator, odds are he will cut the last significant tie to Manning’s offense.

Then the only move left to be made by the Colts pertaining to their new era will be with Manning himself.

Thoughts about Chuck Pagano’s introductory press conference spun off of tweets from media and bloggers who saw it or heard it, or tried to as I did.

@JacobTamme: Streaming video is refusing to stream.

PK: Same here, bro.

@JMV1070: For those of you that wanted a retread. @JimIrsay said "nope".

PK: Laudable, particularly since the available retreads were not all that attractive.

@mg_indy: Pagano says his first priority is 2 get 2 know each of his players. "Family" & 'trust' thru "relationship building" is very important 2 him

PK: To hear his former players talk about him, his new ones will love him on a personal level.

@AdamsonAshley: Pagano says he wants to get to know every single person here. From the people who cook the food to the people who clean the building.

PK: That’s reverse Bill Polian, who I don’t sense was big on chatting with the cooks or janitors. Maybe that’s unfair. But his was a closed circle.

@chrishaganfox59: Pagano: "be loyal, be trustworthy, be dedicated."

PK: Admirable goals.

@chrishaganfox59: Pagano: "I'm here to serve."

PK: Aiming to serve from a high-ranking post rather than to be served is an incredibly smart approach that I am anxious to see in play. He’s different than Tony Dungy, for sure, but that sure seems like a similarity.

@ACwishtv: Pagano: "We're here to build each other up"

PK: Again, the sort of thing a lot of people will be excited to hear.

@18to88: I resent this talk of culture change within the organization, to be honest. This team did nothing but win for a decade.

PK: This is a very noteworthy point. I think the talk of culture change is tied to the way Polian operated. It’s not the best way to operate, and it ultimately blew up. But as Nate Dunlevy is pointing out here, we shouldn’t forget that out of the way he operated came an exceptional degree of success.

@ColtsAuthority (three tweets): If Wade Phillips can go into Houston and stand up Mario Wiliams, with the two great pass rushers we have here I don't see the problem. Just because we may line up and they may say they're a 3-4 team, we could be an odd 3-4 look on second down and lord only knows on 3rd and seven-plus.

PK: Very good point and very smart to refer to what Houston just did. Too much is made of hos guys are identified versus what they are asked to do. If (Dwight) Freeney and Robert Mathis are on the field, they’ll be rushing the passer.

@ColtsAuthority (five tweets): Pagano: Promise to wreak havoc. We just cut our guys loose. We're going to do a great job here... we have some explosive athletes. We will add to that and evolve, as drafts go by and free agency goes by. I think players like to play that way. We never ankle-weighted our players This is a reaction game. You don't have time to think. You see, you react, and you run. That's the kind of guys we have here now and will bring in. We want to be aggressive. We want to dictate the tempo defensively. We want them reacting to us and not vice versa. We will have schemes in place that allow our players to play to play and be aggressive.

PK: Just what you’d expect a defensive coach who’s got a good reputation with his peers and his players to say.

@ColtsAuthority: Pagano: No. Over the course of 28 years of coaching you develop relationships. You have a list of people from coordinators on down. There's a volume of really good coaches out there. There is quality people here. I will take time to talk to them and if it meshes and they're a part of our vision we can move forward from there. I don't foresee any problem putting together the best staff in the NFL.

PK: A little ambitious. Most of the best NFL assistant coaches are not available. But he should be aiming high and intending to land great people.

@AdamsonAshley: Just met Pagano's wife and 2 of his 3 daughters. Lovely fam...the girls say it's really weird to see their dad looking so important up there

PK: It’s funny, we tend to forget at a big moment like this for an organization what it probably like through the eyes of family.

@TribStarTJames: In meeting with Indy media after presser for Chuck Pagano as new head coach, Irsay said PManning should have kept issues "in house."

PK: They went a long stretch in this press conference without mentioning Manning by name, which can certainly be read as disrespectful. If this is the end, you want to send Manning out the right way. And the right way doesn’t start with suggesting you should dictate the terms of the exit strategy conversations. Also, is the proper way to take on Manning not keeping things in house to break your own policy for where to discuss it? Or since Manning did it first it’s OK for you to do it now too?

@LovinBlue: @JimIrsay STOP ignoring Manning & his legacy. The approach is hurting fans more than helping them move on. Honor past while looking forward.

PK: I think she raises a valid point.

A short break from a few days away because Bob Kravitz’s piece out of an extensive conversation with Peyton Manning calls for comment.

Manning never speaks without purpose. Did he know Rob Lowe’s character in “The Outsiders” was Sodapop Curtis or did he have to look it up? It doesn’t matter. Mentioning it as he addressed Lowe’s tweet report of Manning’s pending retirement helped him put a laugh right at the top of his message.

We can read between the lines; that’s always the fun game to play out of such interviews. He likes to reset the message when he feels it’s off or when he goes too long without being heard from. And saying a lot now means, hopefully, that he can minimize his presence next week when his brother, Eli, takes center stage. Peyton won’t want to steal any of that focus.

He’s used to being in control and he’s used to familiar surroundings. Now, as he rehabs his neck and wonders about his future, he’s got little control and is working in a building where long-time friends and colleagues are packing up their offices.

From Kravitz’s piece:

"I'm not in a very good place for healing, let's say that," he said, referring to the practice facility. "It's not a real good environment down there right now, to say the least. Everybody's walking around on eggshells. I don't recognize our building right now. There's such complete and total change."

Certainly Manning controlled a lot about how the Colts played and ran their offense. He had an influence on the direction of things. He had strong relationships with Jim Irsay, Bill Polian, Tony Dungy, Jim Caldwell and many others.

He also played into the Polian paranoia and the thing where only a small circle of people were in the know, and that’s part of what Irsay has chosen to blow up with big change. That’s an overall good development. I don't know if Manning thinks so or not.

Manning certainly likes control, and obsessing over details is his prerogative and part of what has made him great. But I believe his actual control over a lot of things has been generally overplayed.

It’s a lonely existence for him right now.

The only players at team headquarters are other rehabbing guys. The GM is new and his door is likely closed -- Ryan Grigson said he needed to dig into film to learn his roster and would put a do not disturb sign on his doorknob.

Grigson and Irsay are also trying to finalize their coaching search and hire Caldwell’s successor.

Manning doesn’t get to control who’s around him. And once the Patriots arrive in town and take over the Colts’ facility, he doesn’t even get to go to the office.

Manning is set to host a Super Bowl week party in his home city, but I expect he will do his best to be in the background or invisible through the week.

He’s sent a message for now, but it’s hardly conclusive.

"I mean, it's 20 degrees, it's snowing, the building is absolutely empty except when you see coaches cleaning out their offices," he said. "I guess it's the reality of the football world, just not something I've had to deal with very often. But I'm in there every day, so I have to sit there and see it. Everybody's being evaluated and I'm no different. It's not the best environment.

"I just want to pay tribute to all those guys. It's unfortunate because so many of them have been such a big part of so many big wins here, and this is so ... sudden. Their keys didn't work the next day. There's no other way to do it? I don’t know. That's hard to see, all these people leaving.

"And I may be behind them. Who knows?"

A few thoughts after listening in on conference calls with Minnesota Vikings coach Leslie Frazier and his new defensive coordinator, Alan Williams:

• Frazier said Williams will bring some "new energy" and "fresh ideas" to the defense, but it's clear the Vikings aren't changing the fundamental approach they have taken for the past six seasons. Williams and Frazier are both former assistants to Tony Dungy, who popularized the Tampa-2 scheme the Vikings now use. "We are going to keep a lot of the same principles in place," Frazier said. "… I did think a little bit about some other options that were available, but after evaluating our season and looking at our history on defense, we didn't want to get too far away from the things that have let us be successful here in the past." At this point, it would be a stunner if the Vikings shift to a 3-4, as they reportedly were contemplating.
• Williams has never been a defensive coordinator, and Frazier will take more of a hands-on approach to the defense -- at least initially -- while Williams grows into the role. Frazier stopped short of saying who would call the defensive signals in Week 1, but he made clear he doesn't want to be a head coach/defensive coordinator. "Some guys can do that," Frazier said. "I don't think I can. But I do want to be involved early."
• In a situation that is unusual, to say the least, Frazier said that former defensive coordinator Fred Pagac has agreed to return to coach linebackers along with current linebackers coach Mike Singletary. Frazier was not specific about roles or titles, but said that both Pagac and Singletary would be a part of daily linebacker meetings. I couldn't begin to explain how that will work. The Vikings are a 4-3 defense, but in nickel they play only two linebackers. Do they need two full-time veteran coaches? Asked how they would split duties, Frazier cited the need for someone to focus on sub packages.
• Frazier used the Chicago Bears' 2010 defensive shuffle two years ago as a reference point, when coordinator Bob Babich was returned to his role as linebackers coach and defensive line coach Rod Marinelli took over for Babich as coordinator. "I've seen it work before in Chicago," Frazier said. "Between Babich, Rod and [coach Lovie Smith], they made it work. As long as you have the right people, it can work. … After sitting down and talking with the guys about what I was thinking and hearing their feedback, that assured me it could work."
• The Bears analogy doesn't totally work. If Pagac is in the Babich role, moving from coordinator back to linebackers coach, then how does that account for Singletary? I have to assume Pagac is the primary linebackers coach, with Singletary serving in some kind of less-defined role that allows him to remain on staff as a trusted adviser to Frazier, a longtime friend.
• As presumed, defensive backs coach Joe Woods will remain in his current role. Except for a few quality control assignments, the Vikings' defensive staff is now set.

Just to keep you updated, the Minnesota Vikings have made it official: Former Indianapolis Colts defensive backs coach Alan Williams is their new defensive coordinator and Brendan Daly will take over as their defensive line coach.

A news release made no mention of former coordinator Fred Pagac, who reportedly will share duties as linebackers coach with Mike Singletary, who will also be a special assistant to the head coach. I'll withhold most comments until later Thursday, when we should hear from coach Leslie Frazier.

In general, however, I would view these moves as more of a re-shuffling than a shakeup considering the familiarity of all involved. Frazier and Williams worked together on the Colts' staff in 2005 and 2006, and both are devoted to former Colts coach Tony Dungy's Tampa-2 defense. Williams was once part of a Tampa Bay Buccaneers staff that included Dungy as the head coach and former Vikings defensive coordinator Mike Tomlin as the defensive backs coach.

Daly was the Vikings' assistant defensive line coach from 2006-08, the final two years under Frazier. He replaced Karl Dunbar, who was fired. It is presumed that defensive backs coach Joe Woods will return in his current role. More to come.

I’m just looking at the latest on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ coaching search and starting to wonder if the Bucs are trying to set some sort of record.

The latest is the Bucs will interview Green Bay offensive coordinator Joe Philbin and quarterbacks Tom Clements at some point soon. The Bucs are interviewing Cincinnati defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer and Carolina offensive coordinator Rob Chudzkinski on Tuesday.

The Bucs previously interviewed former NFL head coaches Mike Sherman, Marty Schottenheimer and Brad Childress as well as Tennessee defensive coordinator Jerry Gray.

Check my math here, but assuming the Bucs do interview Clements and Philbin, that will bring the number of interviews to eight. And that also is assuming the media as reported every coach who has interviewed. We chase these things like crazy, but sometimes an interview or two can slip through the cracks. The Bucs also could decide to interview more candidates that are still involved in the playoffs. There’s been some speculation about New York Giants defensive coordinator Perry Fewell possibly being a candidate.

But, for now, the number will stand at eight, probably later this week. I seriously think that might be some kind of record. ESPN Stats & Information does a wonderful job, but does not keep numbers on how many candidates have interviewed for any given job throughout history.

I’ve been through a few coaching searches in my day. Generally speaking, most teams interview three or four candidates and I think five is the highest number I’ve ever seen.

But I’m not seeing any huge drawback with Tampa Bay’s methodical approach. Indications are, the Bucs could narrow their list and bring back a few candidates for second interviews. That makes it sound like we might not see a hire for at least another week.

Assistant coaches are being hired all over the league and the Bucs may be missing out on some good candidates. But there still are lots of other assistants available. The East-West Shrine Game is this week and the Senior Bowl is next week.

Ideally, you’d like to have your full coaching staff in place for those two events, so the coaches can get a good look at the college prospects. But any assistant that’s available will be at the Senior Bowl and will be watching players on their own.

Besides, the coaching staffs aren’t the ones who do the bulk of the work at the college all-star games. The scouting staff does that.

Yeah, there comes a point when coaches need to start evaluating the current roster and getting ready for free agency. But, as long as Tampa Bay has its staff in place by the end of the month, there’s plenty of time for that.

I know a lot of Tampa Bay fans are looking at the candidates and saying there’s no one with a “wow factor." That’s true, but was there anybody with a “wow factor’’ out there to begin with? Maybe Jeff Fisher, who ended up in St. Louis. But Fisher is a good, but not tremendous coach and his stock was elevated in a year when Bill Cowher, Tony Dungy and a few other big names refused to join the league-wide candidate pool.

The Bucs aren’t going for the “wow factor" and there’s nothing wrong with that. The deliberate approach might be the right thing. Maybe the Bucs will get a coach who is the right fit. Then, two years down the road or so, maybe fans will say “wow’’ at what that guy has done.