DT Rakeem Nunez-Roches Reunites With Buccaneers

Originally a sixth-round pick for the Chiefs out of Southern Miss, Nunez-Roches maintains the honor of being the first ever player born in Belize to get drafted into the NFL. After seeing minimal field time in seven games as a rookie, Nunez-Roches lost his rookie deal when the Chiefs waived him shortly into his second campaign and he went unclaimed. He signed with Kansas City’s practice squad but was signed back to the active roster a month after getting cut. Upon returning to the 53-man roster, Nunez-Roches started five of 11 game appearances to close the year. After a 2017 season in which he started 11 of 16 game appearances, the Chiefs re-signed him after placing an original-round restricted free agent tender on him, but they waived him a second time about nine days later.

Nunez-Roches spent the offseason in Indianapolis after getting claimed by the Colts, but he was waived again a week before the regular season. It wasn’t until October, a month later, that Nunez-Roches landed in Tampa Bay, where he appeared in just three games over the closing stretch of the season. He returned on a new one-year deal in 2019, coming off the bench as a rotational lineman behind Ndamukong Suh, Vita Vea, and William Gholston. When injury limited Vea to just five games the next season, Nunez-Roches stepped up, starting 11 regular season games and all four postseason games en route to the Buccaneers Super Bowl LV victory.

Nunez-Roches’ efforts that season earned him a two-year stay with the team on a $5MM deal. He returned to his rotational role off the bench in 2021, only starting one game, but he returned to a bigger role in the second year of his contract. In 2022, the last season he played in Tampa Bay, he started 10 of 17 games, notching then-career highs in sacks (2.0), tackles for loss (5), and total tackles (33).

Upon becoming a free agent, Nunez-Roches landed a three-year, $12MM contract with the Giants. After serving much of his first year in New York back in that rotational role, he earned his first full season as a full-time starter, logging 52 total tackles, six quarterback hits, and two sacks. Starting Year 3 with Big Blue coming off the bench, Nunez-Roches got off to a hot start in 2025, recording a new career-high with three sacks and adding three tackles for loss and four quarterback hits in just nine games (with five starts). Unfortunately, ankle and toe injuries landed him on injured reserve for the remainder of the season.

Coming into his age-33 season coming off a season-ending injury, Nunez-Roches’ deal with the Buccaneers will probably be a relatively safe one for Tampa Bay, though they may offer him decent incentive opportunities to reward a return to health. Per ESPN’s Jenna Laine, head coach Todd Bowles had made it a goal this offseason to “get bigger and more physical along the defensive line.” Nunez-Roches joins fellow free agent signees A’Shawn Robinson and Al-Quadin Muhammad in adding size, strength, and experience to the Tampa Bay defensive line, reuniting with Vea to set a good example for recent draft picks like Elijah Roberts and Calijah Kancey to learn from.