And maybe for good reason?
LB - Kendricks & Gardeck (ACL injury)
edge - ZaDarius Smith
I don't have a ton of insight to offer than what we all know but I do know we could use the help.
Asante Samuel Jr also
Shoulder? Wants too much money?
Not sure if Bucs will still make big moves
maybe they bring back Shaq Barrett in a support/locker room role given can you never have too many edge guys. He likely would have the "edge" no pun intended on some of the other edge rushers given the limited snaps a person would receive with Reddick, Diaby, and Nelson ahead of them.
ILB might be the only other position that if a veteran pops up or maybe depth at safety?
roster looking pretty set.
Shaq Thompson is available. He's injury prone to say the least. Even if you give him a low budget "prove it" deal, you are still taking away practice reps and a roster spot from another LB who could help. He's a good LB aand he said he's not retiring. If he's healthy he could really help, so it would be a risk-reward situation for sure.
The 4th ILB is going to have to be a young guy willing to run through a brick wall on special teams
Thompson never missed more than a couple games until he broke his fibula in 2023. That doesn't concern me. It's the ACL tear from last year, combined with his age. That's the only injury that really concerns me. Is he injury prone because he got a broken leg? That's just bad luck and it shouldn't be a concern going forward. But he's 31 and coming off an ACL.Shaq Thompson is available. He's injury prone to say the least. Even if you give him a low budget "prove it" deal, you are still taking away practice reps and a roster spot from another LB who could help. He's a good LB and he said he's not retiring. If he's healthy he could really help, so it would be a risk-reward situation for sure.
I have a vague recollection of someone posting that the Bucs cleared a good amount of cap space and the suggestion being that some move might be coming? is that accurate?
I have a vague recollection of someone posting that the Bucs cleared a good amount of cap space and the suggestion being that some move might be coming? is that accurate?
There are some key young players going into contract years: Goedeke, McCollum, Hall, Otton (I think he needs to be upgraded but Bucs may internally disagree). Then you have vets going into contract years: Evans, David, Reddick, Gaines. I suspect they'll want to get Goedeke and McCollum out of the way now.
I think the guys that are still FA’s may not get signed unless/until injuries occur in camp/season.
Id bet the best-bet signings will be from cap cut casualties. I’ll bet the Bucs have a list of those they think will become available after cutdowns.
Agree with @badabingbucs and others, our roster is pretty set. Any future additions will be selective.
The Bucs typically do sign some player before training camp begins post OTAs and mini camp. So right now the Bucs are in evaluation mode with what they have IMVHO. To me it looks like the depth of the team across the board has improved but lets look at it more closely.
Pre free agency and the NFL draft the depth along OL and DL was questionable along with CB and ILB. But fast forward today and here is what the Bucs have done so lets look at the defense first:
Brewer and Gaines were re-signed. Bucs drafted Roberts to add more pass rush. Bucs may still be inclined to bring back Gholston maybe? Is this better DL depth than a year ago? Maybe because Roberts gives you some pop like Roach used to when he was on the roster. Greene has stuck around but he hasn't really ascended as a project player. Old man Gotsis only sticks as a goal line situational player and Watson has to beat him out to stick.
Bucs had Diaby, Braswell Ramirez and Watts under contract. But then they re-signed Nelson, signed Reddick as the "splash" and then drafted Walker. Given the Bucs pass rush woes one would think the Bucs would throw in the towel with Ramirez and/or Watts by cutting them at some point before camp. But it seems the Bucs want to see what Foote can do with them. Also, what Foote can do with Diaby and Braswell as they are both similar players. But to hedge bets this time Licht didn't gamble this off season at the edge position. So, he went out and signed Reddick, and drafted Walker as insurance. The depth at this position is better but how much better really is it? Between Ramirez, Watts and Braswell one of those three has to step it up to help Diaby and Reddick as the third or fourth man in the rotation. If the rookie Walker out plays them that is good and bad news, but it will be an interesting battle.
Deion Jones and Walker are two players the Bucs organization are higher on than most Bucs fans. Same is true with Dennis and the Bucs re-signed LVD.
Maybe the Bucs do sign another veteran ILB but they haven't really shown they are willing to rattle the cage here to flood the position in free agency or the draft. If I had to guess they are going all in with Jones, Walker and Dennis to play downhill and the concern about coverage from fans is not that big of a concern with Bowles. Time will tell on this one. Jones and Dennis look competent in coverage but I wouldn't say that is their keystone traits as they are both downhill flowing LBs. That describe Walker well as he just flows and fill A gaps.
Bucs re-upped Hall, did not trade away/cut Dean so far. And they signed Vildor while drafting two CBs in Parrish and Morrison. Projects Funderburk and Hayes are still on the roster so far. Not surprising they would flood the CB position but they hit this position the hardest to upgrade the depth and competition of NCB and boundary CB. Dean, McCollum, izien and Smith are still on the roster so it really is interesting to see them choose to spend so many resources in the secondary compared to say DL, Edge, or ILB The depth at DB before free agency started was better than DL or ILB given the versatility of Izien and Smith. Then you have holdovers with Merriweather and then two safety projects in Wisdom and Banks they are high on. And on top of that they went and signed undrafted player like Roberts and Sanders post draft.
Even with Izien and Smith versatility there is a chance that 6 safeties make the final roster. Maybe that is why the Bucs are not really moving the needle to add more bodies to compete at ILB as they have enough skill positions to fill out ST? Undrafted free agent Bullock and Grier are the only ones with an outside chance to make some noise at the position.
Overall DB was the deepest unit on the defensive side of the ball but boundary CB was an issue depth wise. Bucs decided they want to attack here and try to upgrade NCB and S depth too.
I just know our LB core is atrocious...
We’re NOT signing any more corners guys. We drafted 2 and resigned Hall. Some are going to get cut as is.
