Seems like we've had this conversation before, doesn't it?

Torrie Cox gets himself in some hot water and the Bucs are faced with deciding whether to keep him. This time, Cox has violated the NFL's substance abuse policy and has been slapped with a four-game suspension. This comes after a pair of DUI arrests between 2004 and 2005.

Reading the legal mumbo-jumbo in the policy (that alone took half the day, it seems) it appears that Cox is in Stage 2 of the program based on the length of his suspension. That means he's been under scrutiny from the league for a while now. But the Bucs are, for the moment, standing behind him. They've shown a lot of dedication to a guy whose biggest contribution has been on special teams (where, to be fair, he is particularly good).

For his part, Cox kind of shot himself in the foot here. He had a shot to get on the field a little more with the nickel back position up for grabs (remember Juran Bolden was released earlier in the summer). Now, the likely scenario is Phillip Buchanon takes ownership of that job, allowing him to build on a solid second half in 2006.

Whatever Cox's exact violation was, we wish him the best. If nothing else, it's a good bet the $140,000-plus this four-game suspension will cost him should get his attention.

What about you? Do you think the Bucs will keep him? Our best bet is they'll wait to see how things play out in the secondary before making any decision on his future.

Thoughts?