Last week, the Bucs released Kenneth Darby from the active roster and signed Lionel Gates a day before the game. Jon Gruden gave the reason pretty clearly:

"We felt, in all fairness, Lionel Gates outperformed Ken Darby on the practice field,'' Gruden said.

But now, the team released Gates to make room for Michael Bennett, and then re-signed Kenneth Darby to the practice squad. Joanna Korth (whom I actually respect) offers the following explanation:

Basically, the Bucs went into Sunday's game against the Titans needing Gates' experience, but now that they've added Bennett, the like Darby's upside and want to keep him around.

But that's not what Gruden said. last week. It's not a big deal since we're talking about, at best, third-string running backs. But as we've seen lately, those guys are just one or two ankle rolls away from starting. I'd like to get a feel for who is actually, you know... better between Gates and Darby.

In other running back news, Michael Pittman is said to be making excellent progress with his injury. Also, it appears that the Bucs gave up two draft picks for Bennett, one in 2008 and one in 2009, and that they are tied to performance. Maybe a fifth and a sixth that will bump up to a fourth and a fifth after he meets certain criteria? I expect the detail to leak in the next couple weeks.