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Faine Officially A Buc |
 Tampa Bay signed free agent center Jeff Faine to a six-year contract worth $37.5 million (Getty) |
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers officially signed New Orleans free agent center Jeff Faine to a contract on Friday. The Bucs made Faine the highest-paid center in the NFL by inking him to a six-year, $37.5 million contract that included a $15 million signing bonus. In other news, the Bucs have also signed restricted free agent linebacker Antoine Cash.
New Orleans Saints free agent center Jeff Faine was in Tampa on Friday to officially sign with the Buccaneers.
Tampa Bay made Faine the highest-paid center in the NFL by inking him to a six-year, $37.5 million contract that included a $15 million signing bonus.
"I’m really excited to be part of the Buccaneers franchise and have the opportunity to work with Coach Gruden and my new teammates,” said Faine. “I’m especially looking forward to working in this offense and helping Tampa Bay defend the NFC South title.”
Faine, 26, has started all 66 games he's played in since entering the NFL in 2003 as a first-round draft pick out of Notre Dame.
The 6-foot-3, 291-pound Faine replaces John Wade, 33, as Tampa Bay's starting center. Wade, whose contract with Tampa Bay expired on Friday, had started all but eight regular season games at center for the Bucs since the 2003 season.
Not only has Tampa Bay found its future center, it will has stolen its division rival's starting center in the process.
After spending the first three years of his career with the Cleveland Browns, Faine spent the past two seasons with the New Orleans Saints, where he helped lead a potent ground attack that featured running backs Deuce McAllister and Reggie Bush.
Faine was also part of a New Orleans offensive line that allowed quarterback Drew Brees to be sacked just 34 times over the past two seasons.
The Bucs still are interested in re-signing C Matt Lehr, who like Wade, became an unrestricted free agent on Friday.
In other news, the Buccaneers have re-signed restricted free agent linebacker Antoine Cash, who has appeared in 19 career games. His biggest impact has come on special teams, where he's notched 19 tackles. Cash missed the entire 2007 season due to a torn ACL he suffered in preseason.
MORE FREE AGENCY VISITS
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Comments
rwg8823
please sign moss! he is hearing other offers,you have plenty of cap room and this is a win now team with garcia having 2 years left so lets win now! i like what they are doing though with all these vists but we need one of the big names moss or briggs,also walker was just let go of so bring him in ! go bucs!! lets be at home for the superbowl !its time to bring it!!!
9:53pm, February 29, 2008
Horse
This is a major win for us. I thought that we might draft him back then. Notice the amount of money we spent? We are going mostly for quality not quanity.
Go Bucs
10:10pm, February 29, 2008
bg6282
great addition to the interior of the o line now lets go get briggs and pick up javon walker
10:41pm, February 29, 2008
buccs81
devery henderson will be a great pick he has blazing speed and at 25 has plenty of playing time left. Now a 2 TE set of Crumpler and Stevens..great(hopefully). The draft could be harvey in rd1 then laws in rd2 and smith from ucf in rd3 we would be set.
12:20am, March 1, 2008
DLS5492
Very good signing. Let's really solidify the offensive and defensive lines. That is where most games are won or lost in the NFL. Let's get our needs met in FA so the Bucs can draft BPA. Go Bucs!
3:06am, March 1, 2008
pkeyes73
When are we going to get off our asses and land some stellar free agents. Why don't we have any top tier players already scheduled to visit Tampa? We are going to once again miss out on top free agents, (Odom, Smith) while sitting on 44 million in cap space. Isn't anyone else worried about our starting TE's and we let Alge Crumpler walk out to sign with Seattle!!!! I love Joey and Ike but is anyone else curious why we haven't brought in Porter, Wilford, or Berrian???
5:57am, March 1, 2008
ayron54
Berrian, and we need to try and make a trade for D'angelo Hall!! He would be worth a 3rd and 4th round pick or even a single 1st round round pick! He's proven, he's young and he's one of the best CB's in the league!
12:23pm, March 1, 2008
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