Brian Griese never wanted to be released by the Bucs two years ago. He was less-than-thrilled when the team traded a sixth-round pick to Chicago for him last March on the eve of becoming a free agent. But after letting his emotions cool the past few months, Griese says he's happy to have returned to the Bucs and has some 'unfinished business.'

"I was very frank with them. I told them, "Look, I have a contract and I don't want to leave," Griese said, recalling when the Bucs' asked him to take a pay cut following the '05 season. "And they had different ideas. When they gave me the news, it was just a matter of somebody else coming and making an offer and that's basically all it entailed. Jon tried to talk me into some things, but at the end of the day, a decision had to be made

"It's tough. It was tough to go out like that with an injury that early in the season, especially with us being 5-1. It hurt. It hurt bad. There's no doubt about it that I have unfinished business here. I felt very comfortable and never really wanted to leave here. I really wanted to be here and so two years later, it's good to be back. I'm off of my hiatus and ready to go back to work."

Griese is expected to battle with Luke McCown for the No. 2 spot behind starter Jeff Garcia.

In two seasons with the Bucs, Griese completed 345-of-510 (67.6 percent) of his passes for 3,768 yards throwing 27 touchdowns and 19 interceptions.

In fact, in 2004, he completed 69.3 percent of his passes and finished with a 97.5 passer efficiency rating.

But after jumpstarting the Bucs to a 5-1 record in 2005, Griese tore ligaments in his knee against the Miami Dolphins and was placed on Injured Reserve.

Simms went 6-5 down the stretch, showing enough promise to be anointed the quarterback of the future. The Bucs saved about $4.5 million of salary cap room by releasing Griese and wanted him to take a reduced salary to remain with the team. But the Bears wound up signing him to a five-year contract.

But Griese was never able to unseat struggling starter Rex Grossman with the Bears, particularly after the former Florida star led Chicago to a Super Bowl appearance in 2006.

In Chicago, Griese never appeared to be a good fit for the offense. He completed 179-of-294 (60.8 percent) of his passes for 2,023 yards tossing 11 touchdowns and 14 interceptions.

"It was a difficult situation and coming off of a Super Bowl and having everybody gunning for you and we had a lot of injuries," Griese said. "It wasn't necessarily a system that fit my strengths and what I do well and so it's probably best that we both parted ways."

Griese says he is not concerned about the Bucs' depth chart. Tampa Bay has seven quarterbacks on the roster, including Jake Plummer.

"You know when I came here, I guess it was four, five years ago, I was a third-string guy," Griese said. "Brad Johnson was here, and Chris Simms was here, and nothing was guaranteed for me. I just came in and approached it like a rookie, tried to learn as much as I could, and go out there and perform every snap that I have the opportunity. My role is no different now."

The Bucs needed only to pay Griese a $300,000 roster bonus to acquire Griese and he might have received more as a signing bonus in free agency. But Griese said Tampa Bay would likely have been one of the teams he considered anyway.

"Its good to be wanted," Griese said. "I wish they had wanted me two years ago to be honest with you, but that's the business. I understand that, and you can't have grudges in this business, can't burn bridges. At the end of the day we want the same goal, and that's the only thing that matters."

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