"The Bucs want to surround quarterback Josh Freeman with play-makers but they won't include his best and most experienced receiver.

Coach Raheem Morris said Thursday that Antonio Bryant's career in Tampa Bay is over.

"Antonio missed a significant amount of time last year,'' Morris said. "And I'm not going to blame Antonio, but really, right now we're going in a young direction. We're going to choose to move on.''

Bryant, 28, the Bucs' franchise player in 2009, will become an unrestricted free agent March 5. He struggled to recover from arthroscopic knee surgery that forced him to miss the preseason and caught just 39 passes for 600 yards and four touchdowns in 13 games.

That's significantly less than the 83 receptions for 1,248 yards and seven touchdowns that Bryant produced in 2009.

Concerns over Bryant's knee injury and a commitment to build through the draft led to the decision not to offer Bryant a contract. He earned $9.88-million as the Bucs' franchise player in 2009.

Bryant's agent. Lamont Smith, told the Times Thursday that he learned of the Bucs' decision through media inquires. Smith, who also represents Bucs receiver Maurice Stovall, said he was scheduled to meet with general manager Mark Dominik later this week in Indianapolis.

But Morris made it clear that the Bucs had no intention of bringing Bryant back to Tampa Bay. "