The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are in a strange building, but not rebuilding; changing of the guard, yet still wanting the core bones of a team that not only won Super Bowl LV, but surprised much of the NFL world by making the Divisional round of the playoffs this past year.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers Looking To Improve And Still Move Forward
The Bucs have picked and chosen their new additions quite selectively this free agency, chosing to bring in just 5 players, including projected starting guard, Sua Opeta, who impressed as a rotational player for the Philadelphia Eagles, and returning safety, Jordan Whitehead, who left for the New York Jets back in 2022.
After moving on from veteran edge, Shaq Barrett, it seemed like the 2 x Super Bowl championship franchise would want to bring another marquee face to their outside linebacking corps.
And that they have done, as Tampa Bay have signed former Dallas Cowboy and Denver Bronco, Randy Gregory, per Jordan Schultz.
Randy Gregory Aiming To Get His Career Back On Track With The Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Randy Gregory was on top of the world after a productive 2021 season with the Dallas Cowboys netted him a 5 year, $70 million deal with the Denver Broncos.
However, after not being able to contribute much in the AFC West – recording just 3 sacks over the course of his 1.5 seasons in Colorado, head coach, Sean Payton, sent him off to the San Francisco 49ers, for the exchange of late round picks in this year’s upcoming draft.
Although he and fellow edge acquisition, Chase Young, both performed fairly well over the course of the year, neither were retained going into 2024.
For the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, this is certainly a smart move: bringing in some high quality, veteran backup for young starters, Joe Tryon-Shoyinka and impressive rookie, YaYa Diaby, who managed 7.5 sacks in his debut season in the National Football League.
Gregory will be unlikely to change the entire dynamic of the Bucs’ defensive line, but he certainly provides some additional hands to a outside linebacking group that, at this point, is more potential than results.
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