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With so many veteran receivers in line for potential pay cuts, a myth has emerged that the Buccaneers have asked veteran receiver Vincent Jackson to take a pay cut. Per a source with knowledge of the situation, they haven’t.

While that technically doesn’t preclude the Buccaneers from doing so in the not-so-distant future, consider this: They really like Jackson, they consider him to be part of the team, they believe they need him in order to be successful this year, and they consider his $9.77-million salary to reflect current market value.

Things could get interesting if/when the veteran receiver market goes the way of the veteran running back market, with teams realizing young, cheap wideouts can now be expected to do more than ever before, making them reluctant to pay enormous amounts to players like Jeremy Maclin, Randall Cobb, and/or Michael Crabtree.

Some of the speculation regarding a looming request to take less surely comes from the trade chatter that emerged last season regarding Jackson. But the Buccaneers, we’re told, never actually shopped him. Instead, they listened to all offers for any players. If a team like the Eagles made an offer for Jackson and the Bucs didn’t trade him, that says plenty about their desire to keep him around in 2015.