After a three-year stay in New York, veteran defensive tackle Rakeem Nunez-Roches has agreed to a deal that will bring him back to Tampa Bay. According to Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, the Buccaneers are bringing Nunez-Roches back on a one-year contract.
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.
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