The Bucs are reuniting with a former player that won a Super Bowl championship with Tampa Bay as the team announced they have claimed safety Mike Edwards off of waivers. To make room for him on the active roster, the Bucs also waived cornerback Keenan Isaac.

Edwards was drafted in the third round of the 2019 NFL Draft by the Bucs out of Kentucky. One year later he played an important role in the Bucs winning Super Bowl LV in Tampa during the 2020 season. He played four seasons in Tampa Bay from 2019-2022, then signed with the Chiefs in 2023 where he won Super Bowl LVIII. To start the 2o24 season he signed with the Bills and played in three games, he was eventually released and briefly signed with the Titans before getting waived again.

Bucs Get Their Ball-Hawking Safety Back

What Tampa Bay gets with the return of Edwards is a ball hawking safety. Former Bucs head coach Bruce Arians used to call him that and he lived up to the billing. Edwards, who’s played in Todd Bowles’ defensive system with Bowles as a coordinator and head coach, was a very entertaining player for his ability to make splash plays.

Bucs S Mike Edwards – Photo by: USA Today

During his first stint with the Bucs, Edwards recorded seven interceptions and three pick-sixes. His most infamous regular season game for the Bucs was in Week 2 of the 2021 season when Edwards recorded back to back interceptions for touchdowns in the fourth quarter in just three minutes and 52 second separately from each other. These came each came off of Falcons’ quarterback Matt Ryan as the Bucs beat Atlanta 48-25 in Tampa.

Edwards’ returns went for 31 and 15 yards in the moment. Here is a highlight of the infamous play.

He also had his moments in the postseason recording two interceptions in the playoffs for the Bucs, including one in the divisional round off of Drew Brees in the 2020 season. His pass breakup on Patrick Mahomes led to an interception for Antoine Winfield Jr, too.

Edwards had another defensive touchdown for the Chiefs on a scoop and score last regular season and recorded an interception in the playoffs. This year with the Bills, Edwards only played seven defensive snaps and nine special teams snaps. He recorded one assisted tackle.

Bucs SS Jordan Whitehead – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The Bucs are hoping that Edwards returning can provide a spark into his ball hawking ways and bring more turnovers to Tampa Bay’s defense as they have struggled heavily in a lot of area. The first reunion came before the season with Jordan Whitehead coming back to Tampa, this time it’s Edwards teaming up once again with Winfield and Whitehead. All three were defensive backs on the Bucs’ latest Super Bowl winning team.

New Defensive Looks Coming For Bucs?

Tampa Bay hasn’t recorded an interception since Week 6 in a 51-27 win over the Saints. In his best times with the Bucs, Edwards wasn’t used on every down but would come in during more passing situations and get the job done. He can play traditional free safety, go in the slot and also blitz off the edge. It will be interesting how much they decide to use him with Tykee Smith at nickel and Winfield and Whitehead on the backend at safety.

What it does allow Todd Bowles and the Bucs to do is potentially play more of a dime package on defense which would use six defensive backs, one linebacker and four defensive lineman to rush after the quarterback. The Bucs have done this a little bit this season but not much based on the personnel that Bowles trusts to get it done.

Adding Edwards helps with this two-fold. First, it takes the struggling K.J. Britt off the field in passing situation and second, it allows the defense to use a group of Winfield, Whitehead, Smith, Edwards, and two corners while also having Chrisitian Izien as a possibility. Not much has worked for the Bucs defnesiveiey, so it doesn’t hurt to try it.