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TAMPA, Fla. -- NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith said Tuesday the union is looking to investigate how Buccaneers quarterback Josh Freeman's presence in Stage 1 of the league's substance-abuse program became public.

ESPN's Chris Mortensen first reported the news Monday night. Freeman later released a statement in which he said he has a prescription for Adderall to treat ADHD; however, last year he inadvertently took Ritalin, which triggered a positive test. As a result of the positive test, he submitted to frequent drug screenings, leading to his placement in Stage 1 of the league's drug program.

"We are sufficiently concerned about what we've heard to begin an investigation,'' Smith said after a previously-scheduled annual meeting with the Tampa Bay players.

On Tuesday, Buccaneers coach Greg Schiano was asked by reporters if he was the source of the information and said, "absolutely not."

"I know what I've done. I'm 100 percent comfortable with my behavior, 100 percent," he said.

Smith said his main concern was about the rights of all NFL players.

"We have a collective bargaining agreement that mandates and protects confidentiality and privacy,'' Smith said.

"If we believe that any member of the team management or anyone from the league has deliberately taken steps to thwart that privacy and to breach that confidentiality, this union will take every step and file every grievance and pursue any law to rectify that. We believe that it's important to maintain the confidentiality. 

TAMPA, Fla. -- The Buccaneers apparently are shaking up their roster a bit during their bye week after an 0-4 start.

The team announced Tuesday that receiver Kevin Ogletree and safety Ahmad Black have been released.

The team had high hopes for Ogletree as the third receiver, but he had produced only eight catches in four games.

Black had 12 tackles in four games. His release is a sign that starting safety Mark Barron's hamstring injury is minor.

The Bucs filled one of the roster spots by promoting wide receiver Chris Owusu from the practice squad.

Demoted quarterback Josh Freeman has requested a trade but is pressuring the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for his outright release, a move that would allow him to receive all $6.2 million in remaining salary and afford him the freedom to sign wherever he chooses. The team has no intention of immediately doing that, however, according to sources.

Tampa Bay general manager Mark Dominik has made calls to about one-third of the teams in the NFL to determine whether there is interest in trading for Freeman, and the Buccaneers will have contacted every team by the end of the day, according to sources. Interest has been described as being mild.

If the team has to pay Freeman $500,000 each week, it will wait until closer to the trade deadline at the end of the month before cutting ties with its former starter, according to sources. The Buccaneers feel Freeman is by far the best quarterback available, and they might be able to make a more equitable trade if a team loses its starting quarterback.

Bucs coach Greg Schiano wanted to meet with Freeman regarding all of the latest developments in advance of the regular weekly team meeting on Tuesday. When that didn't happen, Schiano told Freeman to wait for the meeting to conclude and they would have the private discussion they had planned. After the team meeting, Schiano and Freeman had their conversation and the quarterback participated in the rest of meetings and the walk-through practice with his teammates.

Information that was reported about Freeman's status in the league's substance-abuse program obviously is harmful to the player and is supposed to be so confidential that teams are not to be told when they have a player enter Stage 1.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Josh Freeman is a stage one participant in the NFL's drug program, but league and player sources with knowledge of his status said he is not one strike away from a suspension despite being subject to random testing.

Freeman has obtained a temporary-use exemption for a prescription drug that normally would be on the banned list, the sources said.

In a statement released Monday night, Freeman said he has a prescription for Adderall to treat ADHD; however, last year he accidentally took Ritalin, which triggered a positive test. As a result of the positive test he submitted to frequent drug screenings, leading to his placement in stage one of the league's drug program.

"... [T]o assure everyone that the error was a one-time mistake, I agreed to be voluntarily tested in the 'NFL Program,' " Freeman said in the statement.

"Since that time, I have taken and passed all 46 drug tests I've been given, which test for every drug and banned substance imaginable," Freeman said. "I agreed to allow such testing to be done at my workplace [team facility] because I spend all of my time there and I have nothing whatsoever to hide or be embarrassed about."

"Unfortunately, it appears that some people who may have noticed the testing at my workplace have made hurtful and incorrect assumptions and chosen to disseminate inaccurate and very disturbing information," Freeman said.

Freeman was benched last week as the Buccaneers' starter and would prefer to be traded or released but the team has no plans to release him. Under the drug policy, teams that are interested in acquiring Freeman are entitled to know his status only if he is one strike away from a suspension, according to the sources.

The NFL said in an email Monday afternoon that it is not considering a suspension for Tampa Bay Buccaneers safety Dashon Goldson for his latest helmet-to-helmet hit Sunday, but that league executive Merton Hanks is looking at the play to determine if a fine is warranted.