Although he’s publicly deflecting talk of acquiring Brett Favre, Buccaneers General Manager Bruce Allen is privately trying to determine how quickly Favre would be able to learn coach Jon Gruden’s playbook.

So says Bucs (for now) quarterback Chris Simms, who told the St. Petersburg Times he talked to Allen about Favre.

“He asked me questions about Brett Favre,” Simms said. “He asked if I felt Brett would be able to come back and be good here if he didn’t have a lot of reps in training camp. I said I thought he would but there would have to be some compromise with coach [Jon] Gruden. He’ll just want the play called and to drop back and throw it in there.”

Jeff Garcia is coming off a good year as the Bucs’ starting quarterback, but he’s not coming off as good a year as Favre is. And if there’s one team that doesn’t hesitate to add veteran quarterbacks, it’s the Buccaneers. So it’s certainly not impossible that Favre could become a Buc.

Gruden was wide receivers coach in Green Bay from 1992 to 1994, Favre’s first three seasons with the Packers, so the two would have some idea whether they can work together. Allen wants to know how quickly they could get on the same page.