THURSDAY, 10:07am: Now that Conte is under contract with the Bucs, resolution on Goldson should be coming soon. According to Stroud (Twitter links), the team hasn’t ruled out the possibility of finding a trade partner for Goldson, but even if Bucs don’t find a deal, they’re unlikely to bring back Goldson for 2015.
WEDNESDAY, 6:37am: The Buccaneers are preparing to release safety Dashon Goldson once they complete a deal with fellow safety Chris Conte, according to Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times (via Twitter).
After signing a five-year deal prior to the 2013 season, Goldson was supposed to team with Darrelle Revis to give Tampa Bay one of the most feared secondaries in the league. That didn’t quite work out Goldson, 30, hasn’t held up his end of the bargain, as he’s been among the worst safeties in the NFL, including grading out as the second-worst at his position in 2014, according to PFF.
He’s was floated as a trade candidate, but even with a lack of quality safeties out there, it probably wasn’t easy to find another team willing to take on Goldon’s contract, which contains a $7.5MM base salary for this season ($4MM guaranteed). Tampa will now have to carry that $4MM in dead money.