Keyshawn? In Tampa? Really?

He said it on ESPN on Sunday morning before the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the New York Giants kicked off in the NFC Wild Card game, but did anyone believe Keyshawn Johnson when he said the Bucs contacted him about joining the roster for the postseason?

No, not with the history between Johnson and Bucs coach Jon Gruden, right?
But call the Bucs did.

Bucs general manager Bruce Allen confirmed that Thursday during his season-ending press conference.

“Yes we did,” Allen said. “It was after Maurice Stovall got injured and it was to put (Johnson) on an emergency list, see if he was in shape. His legs. We saw that he was still talking well and stuff. But Keyshawn and I have a long-term relationship before he even played in the NFL and it was something that if, we needed, we just wanted to make sure. We do that at every position. He’s probably the only sportscaster we contacted.”

And Gruden was OK with this?

“Yeah,” Allen said. “And so was Keyshawn.”

Kind of makes sense.

Johnson should be in good enough shape to run a few patterns, which is all the Bucs would have asked from him, and the Bucs certainly could have used another pair of hands in the loss to the Giants.

But Gruden did have a little sideline spat with Joey Galloway, so maybe the Bucs didn’t need Johnson after all.