Grilled about pass rush.

Joe doesn’t cover any other NFL team than the Bucs. So Joe doesn’t know about the narratives team leaders cling to, but it sure seems like the Bucs put a whole lot of stock in hope.

And you know what Joe thinks of that word.

Back during the Lost Decade before the Bucs got good, and now in the post-Super Bowl window of this decade, the word “hope” was pasted all over the very same issue, year after painful year: pass rush.

Yesterday at the NFL owners meetings, Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht was confronted about the pass rush, specifically the edge rush. Licht was asked if the Bucs are even in the same “ballpark” with a pass rush that is needed to compete for a playoff berth.

Licht (again) broke out his hope chest.

“We, unfortunately, once again, had some injuries,” Licht began. “We were without Calijah [Kancey] for most of the year. We were very excited about David Walker, what he could do for us. And he got hurt.

“The jury is still out but the little that we did see [of Walker], and to see how he has been in the offseason and getting back from the injury, we are very pumped up about him.”

Now this is an example of what Joe has referred to about some of Licht’s statements. He’s been on a David Walker kick in recent weeks. But Joe is convinced Licht is saying this, in part, to give Walker a public boost of confidence.

Walker was hurt in the team’s very first padded practice last summer. So the only thing Walker has done after being drafted by the Bucs — with the exception of one padded practice — is lift weights and practice underwear football. Joe does not know how that translates into any reasonable expectation of how Walker can put a quarterback on his backside in a game.

Again, hope.

Licht did confess that the next Simeon Rice and Warren Sapp are not yet in the Bucs locker room. That still has not diminished his hope for an improved pass rush.

“I’m not saying it’s going to be a drastic turnaround,” Licht said. “I’m not predicting that right now. I’m just saying there’s some hope that this could be a very different look this year.”

Licht didn’t rule out drafting a pass rusher if the right guy is on the board when the Bucs are on the clock.

“I hate to keep saying it,” Licht said. “But I’m very excited about what the future holds at this point in the offseason.”

Maybe Licht is thinking between A’Shawn Robinson, AQM and Walker, the three can combine for 9-12 sacks?

You know, hope.