According to Greg Auman of the Tampa Bay Times, the Buccaneers are re-signing at least one of the members of their unrestricted free agency safety duo, for now, and the one that has been made known first is Chris Conte.

Conte signed a two-year deal to be back with the Bucs worth $5 million as a base salary with incentives in the contract that could push it up the $7 million total. $2.5 million of the total contract is guaranteed. 

Conte, who began the year as one of the Bucs starting safeties, struggled early on before injuring his back mid-season. In his absence, Keith Tandy came in and performed so well that he maintained Conte’s starting role when Conte returned. However, Conte still played in a rotational role, and played much better than he did early on.

At the Combine last weekend, both head coach Dirk Koetter and general manager Jason Licht were open to the idea of brining back both Conte and Bradley McDougald. So this signing shouldn’t change much in terms of a desire to bring back McDougald as well, knowing they need safety depth as much as they need talent.