Going into the 2016 season, Bradley McDougald and Chris Conte were the Bucs’ two starting safeties. When the season was over, both were scheduled to become free agents, and with the emergence of Keith Tandy as the starting free safety, the future of both McDougald and Conte in Tampa Bay became unclear.
When Conte signed his new two-year, $5 million dollar deal in the early hours of free agency, and with the Bucs following that by signing Cowboys safety J.J. Wilcox, McDougald became the odd man out and will not be returning in 2017.
McDougald, who went undrafted in 2013, has been with the Buccaneers for the last four years. In 2014, when the Bucs traded their former first round pick Mark Barron to the Rams, that opened the door for McDougald to get major playing time. Since then, he’s gone from a back up safety to starting safety, and ended the 2016 season as the team’s primary strong safety opposite Keith Tandy.
McDougald signed a 1-year, $2 million dollar deal for the Seahawks.
