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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have blocked defensive line coach Joe Cullen from interviewing with the San Diego Chargers, according to Mike Garofolo.
Joe Cullen is one of just two defensive coaches to have been retained, along with linebackers coach Hardy Nickerson. But the Bucs don't even have a head coach, let alone a new defensive coordinator, so we don't really know whether they'll be on staff once all the changes are made. It's entirely possible the Bucs end up with a coach who wants to bring in all of his own guys and none of the present ones.
Still, it says something about the job Cullen has done the past two years with very limited talent at defensive end. Not only the fact that the Bucs want to keep him, but also the fact that other teams are interested in him as a coach. Lovie Smith's coaching choices may not have been consistently good, but at least he got some things right.
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