The Buccaneers roster continues to change on a near daily basis, with the team announcing today they have released defensive linemen Tim Crowder and Nick Reed. The move clears just over $1.5 million in cap space (Crowder $1 million, Reed $544,000).

In addition Tampa Bay officially announced the signing of free agent offensive lineman Jamon Meredith to a two-year deal. The Meredith signing was first reported by PewterReport.com last night.

Crowder has spent the past three seasons with the Buccaneers, playing in 41 games with 13 starts during that time. This past season, he played in 10 games and recorded 14 tackles with two tackles for loss.

Reed joined the team for the final three games in 2011 and recorded two tackles.

Meredith enters his fifth year in the NFL, having played in 17 games and starting four during his career.

Meredith played his college football at South Carolina after being recruited as a defensive end. Meredith made the switch to offensive line after being redshirted his freshman season.

Meredith was drafted in the fifth round of the 2009 NFL draft by the Green Bay Packers. In addition to his time with Green Bay, Meredith has had stints with the Bills, Lions, and Giants before joining the Steelers in September of 2011.



One of the main reasons why Meredith has been signed by the Buccaneers is likely due to new offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan having some familiarity with him from their time together in New York with the Giants in 2010. At 6-foot-5, 304 pounds, Meredith has the ability to play right tackle and the flexibility to play guard in the NFL.



As a journeyman, Meredith poses no real threat to take away Jeremy Trueblood’s starting job at right tackle. Instead, Meredith likely replaces free agent backup James Lee, who started nine games for Trueblood at right tackle in 2010. Lee was supposed to challenge Trueblood for the starting job in 2011, but played terribly in the preseason and was relegated to the bench. In his lone start in last year’s season finale at Atlanta, Lee gave up two sacks in the first half before being replaced by backup Demar Dotson in the second quarter.