Robert Smith is done in the NFL, but the conversations about him and his last months in the league continue. One source says Tampa Bay was, indeed, trying to lure Smith to the Bucs.

When VU broke the Robert Smith retirement story last January, most said it couldn’t be true because why would anyone turn his back on millions of dollars?

Almost six months later, Smith isn’t looking back.

A source with the team close to Smith said that the Vikes’ leading all-time rusher isn’t wasting time pondering the past. One interesting bit that came from the conversation was rumors that Tampa Bay was trying to lure Smith back to the NFL were in fact true. When pressed on the issue, the question was asked whether the overtures from the Bucs were more an attempt to strap the Vikings against the salary cap — if Smith had signed elsewhere, the Vikings would have been on the hook this year for the remainder of his signing bonus — or whether the team was legitimately interested in having Smith.

The answer was a little of both, but the tone of the answer led VU to believe the former of the two. With Mike Alstott and Warrick Dunn signed, what would Smith’s role have been? And how much would Tampa have been willing to pay? The truth of the matter is that the Bucs wanted to damage the Vikings’ ability to pick up free agents at bargain prices by forcing the team to eat all of Smith’s remaining cap number this season — the Bucs will move on to the newly created NFC South next year.

Who says the price of poker doesn’t go up. But, in the end, Smith showed more loyalty to the Vikes than a lot of players would have. Enjoy retirement, Robert. You’ll be missed.

MONDAY NOTES
* Despite delays from the NFL in reinstating Dale Carter to the NFL after a drug suspension, VU continues to hear rumblings that the Vikings are waiting for his reinstatement and release from Denver and will make a serious run for him once he becomes a free agent.
* The Vikings’ final developmental camp, a voluntary one, starts today and will run through Wednesday. After that, the players will be on their own working out until training camp opens in late July.