Scroll to the bottom of SI’s Peter King column and you’ll see scuttlebutt that Jeff Garcia really preferred Tampa Bay, but they didn’t prefer him.
I think this is how badly Jeff Garcia really wanted to play in Tampa Bay and not Cleveland: He flew himself to Tampa to talk to Jon Gruden two weeks ago. The Bucs didn’t even pick up the tab for his ticket. That’s unheard of. But that’s obviously what Garcia wanted. If Tampa Bay hadn’t offered offered him less than backup money, he’d be a Buc today.
It’s pretty much in sync with other sources: Garcia’s father’s premature remarks to a hometown reporter, and Garcia’s own comments that the Browns were the team that “treated me with respect and fairness.”