Despite the fact that the Bucs lost free safety Cody Grimm for the season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers decided to part ways with veteran safety Sabby Piscitelli on Tuesday and released him.

Piscitelli, 27, was a second-round pick by the Bucs in the 2007 NFL Draft. He was the starting strong safety for Tampa Bay last season, but led the NFL in missed tackles with 19. He lost his job in the offseason to free agent acquisition Sean Jones. When free safety Tanard Jackson was suspended indefinitely by the NFL in Week 3, the Bucs passed Piscitelli over for the inexperienced Grimm, who was a seventh-round pick back in April.

Piscitelli got the nod when Grimm left last Sunday’s game with a broken fibula, but did not make a huge impact. However, head coach Raheem Morris said that Piscitelli’s performance in Baltimore was not the reason for his release.

“Well, it never is based on one individual play or one individual movement,” said Morris. “It is about what is best for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. We went in a different direction a couple of different times. We are going in a different direction this time. We have to do what is best for this football team and what is best for the young man as well. We feel good about it. Hopefully he’ll go on and go out there and prosper and do well himself.”

Defensive backs coach Jimmy Lake shared similar thoughts and thinks Piscitelli will do well with another opportunity.

“We don’t make quick decisions like that,” said Lake. “It’s a process throughout the course of a whole career. We just felt for him and for us that it was probable the best situation for us to both move on and I’m sure he will land somewhere which will be better off for him.”

In four years with the team, he played in 43 games with 20 starts and tallied 161 tackles, five interceptions, 13 passes defensed, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery. This season, Piscitelli totaled 15 tackles with one interception that was returned 31 yards.