Greg White is making some noise now about wanting to get a raise or be traded.

White is seeking either a long-term deal or an incentive-laden short-term contract, before this weekend's draft. If it is not offered, he will ask for a trade.

To be fair to White, it's not such a ridiculous request and since he's currently not under contract, he can do whatever wants. White is probably a little nervous that the Bucs signed guys like Marques Douglas, Kevin Carter and Jimmy Wilkerson to play his position and also made a run at Jared Allen. Of course, each of those guys has significantly more NFL experience than White and, with the exception of Wilkerson, have been highly productive. Also note that the Bucs are, what, White's eighth team? He kept getting waived and cut for several years because other coaches thought he wasn't as good as guys they already had. Were they all wrong, or does everyone notice something in White's game that doesn't sit quite right?

When you think about it, though, it is kind of a slap to White. The Bucs are famous for offering one-year "prove it" contracts for low money to give players a chance to demonstrate that they have what it takes. The assumption is that if they do that, the Bucs will reward them with a longer term, higher value contract. In White's case, though, they tendered him an offer of $370,000 after he led the team in sacks in 2007. There have been rumors that the team was working on a better contract, but White's agent didn't mention anything about ongoing negotiations.

White was arguably the best defensive lineman on the team last year, including Gaines Adams. The article makes a specific point to compare Adams's salary to White's.

Adams was paid more than $15 million last season and had 49 tackles, six sacks and two forced fumbles, while White earned less than 2 percent of Adams' salary for nearly identical numbers.

And that's part of a larger problem. Adams was given a huge contract for being the #4 overall pick last year before he deserved it. With that much money tied up in one player, he's not going anywhere, so he's not really part of the competition for a roster spot. This makes things harder for a guy like White. A rookie pay scale would put an end to problems like that, but that's a discussion for another time.

The fact is that the Bucs have eight defensive ends on the roster if you also count Patrick Chukwurah (who is listed as a LB/DE). Five will make the team, possibly six if a couple of them can swing to DT in a pinch. White has few options because of his status as an ERFA, so he will eventually sign whatever the Bucs offer if he doesn't want to work at Best Buy again. Then he'll be in the competition and most likely make the team. He won't be happy about it, but at least he'll earn another year of credit toward eventual unrestricted free agency. It's kind of shitty, but I'm inclined to trust Bruce Allen and Jon Gruden in these matters. I completely disagreed with their decision last year to release Simeon Rice, but it turned out to be the right thing to do.

One final note. Jimmy Wilkerson's contract was for two years/$3 million with a $300,000 signing bonus, and despite his five years in the league, he only has one sack (and technically, it's two shared sacks). As far as tackling goes, White had 26 last year and Wilkerson has averaged 19 in his five years. If the Bucs decide to cut Wilkerson in camp, it would be nice if they would offer that same contract to White. If they offered it to a guy they cut, they should offer it to the one they keep.