Five Biggest Free Agency Moves: Tampa Bay Buccaneers
With free agency now into its fifth week as April’s Draft draws closer, it’s time to start reviewing which teams filled some needs and who got weaker. Here are the five biggest free agency moves for each team so far.
With young franchise quarterback James Winston continuing to develop, the Buccaneers had an impressive 9–7 campaign last season and narrowly missed out on a wild card spot due to a tiebreaker with the Lions. With a few new pieces, Tampa Bay could challenge for the NFC South title this season. Here are Tampa Bay’s five biggest free agency moves:
1 — Signing DeSean Jackson
One of Tampa Bay’s more pressing needs was to find a complementary deep threat to pair with Mike Evans, who has faced double teams for much of his career. And the Buccaneers may have bagged the league’s best deep threat in DeSean Jackson, who signed a three year, $35 million deal. Tampa Bay didn’t have a single pass play that topped 50 yards last season; Jackson had four. The addition of Jackson should make both Evans and Winston better players, as the defense must now factor in his vertical threat abilities. Jackson had 56 catches for 1005 yards and four touchdowns last season.
2 — Upgrading the defensive line
Under defensive coordinator Mike Smith, the Buccaneers defense showed improvement last year but still has work to do in order to maximise their talent. The defensive line sees the return of William Gholston on a five year, $27.5 million deal. The fifth year defensive end had three sacks and a forced fumble last season. Gholston is joined by former Redskins end Chris Baker on a three year, $18 million contract. Baker had 3.5 sacks, two fumbles and two batted passes in 2016 and was arguably Washington’s best lineman. With Baker added to a rotation that includes Gholston, Robert Ayers and Gerald McCoy in Smith’s 4–3 scheme, the Buccaneers have a loaded front seven.
3 — Signing J.J. Wilcox
The Buccaneers ranked 22nd against the pass last season and needed safety help with starter Bradley McDougald hitting the market. So they signed former Cowboy J.J. Wilcox to a two year, $8.5 million deal. Wilcox was mainly a back up in Dallas last season and started just four games, recording six passes defensed, an interception and a forced fumble.
4 — Re-signing Jacquizz Rodgers
With Doug Martin’s roster status in question after a suspension, the Buccaneers could have a need at running back. Although they will likely draft a young back to pair with Winston, having Rodgers as a back up is a plus. Rodgers returns on a two year, $3.3 million deal after 129 attempts for 560 yards and two touchdowns in five starts across ten games.
5 — Signing Nick Folk
After trading up in the second round last year to pick Roberto Aguayo, Tampa Bay watched the rookie struggle as he missed nine field goals across the season. Folk was signed as competition on a one year, $1.75 million contract. Folk made 87% of his field goals last year for the Jets. Both kickers have guaranteed money in their contracts for this season, so we could see both on Tampa Bay’s roster next season. Perhaps the hope is that Folk can mentor Aguayo so the second year man can reach his potential.
