Bucs bench Josh Freeman, then put him on the market

Jim Corbett | USA TODAY Sports

Show Caption Hide Caption Josh Freeman benched by Bucs Rookie Mike Glennon will start at quarterback, Buccaneers coach Greg Schiano announced.

Josh Freeman struggled badly during Tampa Bay%27s 0-3 start%2C completing a league-worst 45.3%25 of his passes while throwing two touchdowns and two interceptions

He had his captaincy taken away in a vote by teammates

He was late for the team photo and a subsequent team meeting

Josh Freeman's time in Tampa Bay is effectively over.

Coach Greg Schiano met with the fifth-year pro Wednesday morning and told him that rookie Mike Glennon would be the starter in Sunday's home game against the Arizona Cardinals -- and beyond.

Freeman struggled badly during Tampa Bay's 0-3 start, completing a league-worst 45.3% of his passes while throwing two touchdowns and two interceptions.

He had his captaincy taken away in a vote by teammates and was late for the team photo and a subsequent team meeting. When he started slowly, Schiano and general manager Mark Dominik had seen enough.

"This is a performance-based decision," Schiano said Wednesday. "We're not getting the job done on the field. There are a lot of reasons for it. It's not just one guy.

"But's that's a critical piece of it. The quarterback touches the ball every play."

The Bucs will trade the former first-round pick if they get the right offer before the Oct. 21 trade deadline. If not, Freeman will become a free agent at the end of the season.

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"The main thing for us was the performance of the team the last nine games was 1-8 and that's tough,'' Dominik told USA TODAY Sports Wednesday. "He hasn't played well. That's a part of it. If you don't have a quarterback in this league, you don't have a shot. We felt like we'd seen enough of what we needed to see.''

Glennon is a 6-foot-7, strong-armed, third-round pick out of North Carolina State, where he spent part of his college career as a backup to Russell Wilson. He has been the anti-Freeman in terms of approach and demeanor. He will make his first pro start Sunday at home against Arizona.

"I'm happy with his performance and his approach to the game and he works hard,'' Dominik said. "We think we can with this game with him as a game manager.

"The reason we did it now is that we have a home game this week. We have a bye the next week and then we have a home game coming out of the bye.

"Our thought process was like, 'Hey look, some people make the change at the bye week.' We felt it was better for Mike that he has a game he can learn from for two weeks, he can go back and watch. This way he's not just waiting to play.''

Dominik said the team hasn't heard from any clubs about Freeman, the 17th overall pick in the 2009 draft who was in his contract year.

"Right now, Josh goes in as our No. 2 quarterback,'' Dominik said. "I'm not going to hold Josh hostage. But if we get something, we get something. We're not going to give him away.''

After setting single-season team records for passing yards and points scored in 2012, the Bucs have scored just three offensive touchdowns through three games -- none in the past seven quarters.

Freeman, once touted by Dominik as a franchise quarterback, has thrown for four TDs vs. 12 interceptions in the last six games.

The switch caps a tumultuous month in which Freeman missed a team photo shoot on Labor Day, was not voted a team captain for the first time in three years and refuted reports that he was seeking a trade. Throw in his quarterback rating and completion percentage, plus a couple of last-second losses in games in which he and the offense did not perform well, and he's back on the bench.

And, perhaps headed out of Tampa Bay, with the trade deadline being five weeks away.

Freeman became the first 4,000-yard passer in team history last season, but his inconsistency down the stretch contributed to the Bucs losing five of final 6 games to finish 7-9 and miss the playoffs for the fifth straight year.

He threw nine interceptions in the final three weeks of 2012, and his slow start this year raised questions about Schiano possibly turning to Glennon in two weeks, when the Bucs have a bye.

The coach said as late as Monday that Freeman was his starter, but apparently changed his mind on Tuesday -- an off day for players -- and informed Freeman and Glennon of the change Wednesday morning.

Contributing: Associated Press