While the signings haven’t been “sexy” so far in the free agency period, the Bucs have addressed a few key needs on defense. That includes bringing back one of their own Wednesday.
The official start to the NFL new year kicked off Wednesday for Tampa Bay by re-signing safety Keith Tandy. Tandy, a 2012 draft pick, is entering his seventh season in the NFL, all with the Bucs. He led the team in interceptions in 2016 with four and played in 14 games last season, starting in three. The new deal is for two years but no figures have been released as of yet.
They got a kicker (again).
Gone is Patrick Murray (again).
Enter Chandler Catanzaro to the tune of a three-year, $9.75 million contract. Of that, $3.75 million is guaranteed. The former Jet’s kicker was 25-of-30 last season and a perfect 29-of-29 extra points. Entering his fifth season in the NFL, Catanzaro is a career 84.4% field goal kicker including going 28-of-31 (90.3%) in 2015 with Arizona.
Addressing the rush.
It might not be the big names other teams have traded for or scooped up in free agency, but the Bucs are addressing their defensive line needs today. First, they signed Super Bowl Champion DT Beau Allen to a three-year, $15 million deal with $7.25 million in guaranteed money. Allen, 26, was a free agent who played all four years of his NFL career so far with the Eagles. He played in 15 games for Philly in 2017 recording 13 tackles and a sack.
So Beau Allen is getting $7.25 million guaranteed. Chris Baker had $6 million guaranteed in 2017 with $3 million that would have been fully-guaranteed to him had he been on the Bucs’ roster on March 18, 2018. https://t.co/62D2Pqj4jH
— JennaLaineESPN (@JennaLaineESPN) March 14, 2018
DT Mitch Unrein was also signed to a three-year, $10.5 million deal today. Around $4 million of that is guaranteed money. Unrein, who will be 31 in a couple weeks, was with the Bears the last two seasons. In 2017 he played in 12 games, starting eight, and recorded 25 tackles and 2.5 sacks.
We will continue to update this article as more signings/trades happen.
Happy New Year, football fans!
