Bucs quarterback Chris Simms once gave his spleen for the team.  Now, the team won’t let go of the rest of his body.

“I feel like I’m being held hostage,” Simms said Monday of the team’s failure to release him.  “I hate that all this has happened.  I love Tampa.  My family loves it here.  But I’ve been quiet long enough.  I feel like it’s time to let everybody know why I’m not out there.”

The situation between Simms and the team (and specifically coach Jon Gruden) has deteriorated.  Simms says that Gruden wanted to cut him at the start of the 2007 season, but that ownership instructed Gruden to instead place Simms on injured reserve.

But because Simms wasn’t exactly injured, the NFL was suspicious of the move.  Simms says that he was flown to Missouri for an exam by the league.

“I know for a fact I’m not in their plans,” Simms said.  “I don’t understand the hold up at this point.  When Bruce Gradkowski got cut last week, Bruce Allen told him it was because there’s not enough reps in practice for every quarterback.  It’s a crappy situation.

“How can I look [Gruden] in the eye when I know he wanted me cut last year.  He did not want me to be part of the team and I have a lot of resentment about that.  Nine or 10 months after a serious injury, I put my life on the line, it was the most serious injury they’ve ever been associated with, I worked as hard as I could to get back and he wasn’t even going to give me a full year.

“I have a serious issue with that, I really do.”

Simms also said that three teams contacted the Bucs on the second day of the draft about possibly trading for him, but that the Bucs didn’t pull the trigger.

Now, Simms is waiting for his freedom.  The only question is whether he’ll get is soon enough to have a fair chance elsewhere.

And that’s what we think is happening here, frankly.  Gruden doesn’t want to look like an idiot for giving up on Simms, and so Gruden doesn’t want Simms to have a chance to succeed anywhere else.