Last week the Tampa Bay Buccaneers announced that they were cutting Bruce Gradkowski, their 2006 sixth-round draft pick and one of the dozen or so quarterbacks on the roster.

But it appears that the Bucs just can’t cut a quarterback that easily. Howard Balzer of Sports XChange reports that Gradkowski has not officially been released yet.

According to Balzer, the Bucs may be looking to follow in the footsteps of the Minnesota Vikings, who figured out a way to pick up an extra draft pick by trading a player they had previously announced as having been placed on waivers. Last month the Vikings announced that they had waived Erasmus James, only to later rescind the move and trade James to the Washington Redskins in exchange for a conditional seventh-round draft pick.

Balzer writes that by announcing the release of Gradkowski, the Bucs have basically declared themselves open for business in case any team is interested in making a trade and being sure they acquire Gradkowski, rather than hope he’s available on waivers. So while the Bucs have decided that Gradkowski won’t be on the team in 2008, they’re not ready to set him completely free just yet.