Buccaneers Add 8 UDFAs
The Buccaneers have been busy retaining their Super Bowl-winning starting lineup, but the team will also be welcoming a number of new faces this preseason. That includes eight undrafted rookies; the team announced the signing of the following players today:
- OT Calvin Ashley, Florida A&M
- K Jose Borregales, Miami (FL)
- S Augie Contressa, Stony Brook
- G Sadarius Hutcherson, South Carolina
- CB Cameron Kinley, Navy
- DL Elijah Ponder, Cincinnati
- WR T.J. Simmons, West Virginia
- S Lawrence White, Iowa State
Borregales was considered a potential draft pick after establishing himself as one of the best kickers in college football, as he earned the Lou Groza Award this past season. The rookie will serve as competition for Ryan Succop, who converted 90.3-percent of his field goals for the Buccaneers last year.
Meanwhile, the organization was apparently motivated to add Hutcherson. Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle reports (via Twitter) that the offensive lineman received $130K guaranteed, which includes $100K of his base salary. Pro Football Focus named the South Carolina product to their second-team All-SEC squad this past season.
NFL Draft Pick Signings: 5/13/21
Today’s late round signings:
Buffalo Bills
- G Jack Anderson (seventh-round; Texas Tech), OL Tommy Doyle (fifth-round; Miami Ohio), WR Marquez Stevenson (sixth-round; Houston), CB Rachad Wildgoose (sixth-round; Wisconsin)
Carolina Panthers
- DT Daviyon Nixon (fifth-round; Iowa), CB Keith Taylor (fifth-round; Washington), OL Deonte Brown (sixth-round; Alabama), Thomas Fletcher (sixth-round; Alabama), WR Shi Smith (sixth-round; South Carolina), DT Phil Hoskins (seventh-round; Kentucky)
Cleveland Browns
- RB Demetric Felton (sixth round; UCLA), LB Tony Fields II (fifth-round; West Virginia), S Richard LeCounte (fifth round; Georgia)
Dallas Cowboys
- DT Quinton Bohanna (sixth round; Kentucky) WR Simi Fehoko (fifth round; Stanford), OL Matt Farniok (seventh-round; Nebraska), DB Israel Mukuamu (sixth-round; South Carolina)
Denver Broncos
- S Jamar Johnson (fifth round; Indiana), DL Marquiss Spencer (seventh round; Mississippi State)
Detroit Lions
- DT Alim McNeill (third round; North Carolina State)
Green Bay Packers
- OL Cole Van Lanen (sixth-round; Wisconsin), RB Kylin Hill (seventh-round; Mississippi State)
Kansas City Chiefs
- DE Joshua Kaindoh (fourth-round; Florida State), WR Cornell Powell (fifth-round; Clemson), TE Noah Gray (fifth-round; Duke), OL Trey Smith (sixth-round; Tennessee)
Los Angeles Chargers
- OL Brenden Jaimes (fifth-round; Nebraska)
Miami Dolphins
- OL Larnel Coleman (seventh-round; UMass), RB Gerrid Doaks (seventh-round; Cincinnati)
Minnesota Vikings
- WR/KR Ihmir Smith-Marsette (fifth-round; Iowa), DL Jaylen Twyman (sixth-round; Pittsburgh), TE Zach Davidson (fifth-round; Central Missouri
New England Patriots
- S Joshuah Bledsoe (sixth-round; Missouri)
San Francisco 49ers
- OL Jaylon Moore (fifth-round; Western Michigan), CB Deommodore Lenoir (fifth-round; Oregon), S Talanoa Hufanga (fifth-round; USC), RB Elijah Mitchell (sixth-round; Louisiana)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- LB K.J. Britt (fifth-round; Auburn), CB Chris Wilcox (seventh-round; BYU), LB Grant Stuard (seventh-round; Houston)
Washington Football Team
- CB Benjamin St-Juste (third-round; Minnesota), S Darrick Forrest (fifth-round; Cincinnati), DE Shaka Toney (seventh-round; Penn State)
Bucs GM: Tom Brady Can Play Until He’s 50
The Buccaneers drafted Kyle Trask in the second-round a couple weeks ago, but don’t count on him seeing the field any time soon. Tom Brady continued to defy father time once again this past season, and as far as the Bucs are concerned there’s no cap on when he can keep playing until.
Tampa GM Jason Licht recently appeared on the Rich Eisen Show (Twitter video link), and made it clear he’s not going to force Brady out the door. For starters, Eisen asked Licht whether Brady gave any indication that the extension he signed back in March would be his last. Licht immediately said “none.” While Licht said he’d keep most of their conversations private, he said Brady gave “no inkling at all” that this would be his last go-round.
Most notably, Licht said “I told him if he wants to play until he’s 50, and he feels like he can still play, he can play until he’s 50.” Brady, born in August of 1977, would turn 50 right before the start of the 2027 season. Trask’s rookie contract will have already been long done at that point.
While Licht obviously wasn’t making a firm commitment right there, it’s yet another sign that Brady isn’t going to ride off into the sunset as long as he’s playing at a high level. His most recent extension keeps him under contract through the 2022 season.
The 43-year-old had knee surgery this offseason, although he said recently that he’s hoping to be ready to go by the time the team opens minicamp in June.
Contract Notes: Bucs, Rodgers, Rudolph, Pats
We’ve got a handful of interesting notes on contracts to pass along, including for several quarterbacks:
- The Buccaneers’ quarterbacks room is a bit crowded now with Kyle Trask getting drafted in the second-round. One of Blaine Gabbert and Ryan Griffin will be the odd man out, since Bruce Arians won’t be keeping four signal-callers. “Their new contracts tell you who’s ahead” in the competition to hold Tom Brady‘s clipboard in 2021, Greg Auman of The Athletic tweets. Auman reports that Gabbert got $1.5MM in guaranteed money, $750K in base salary and a $750K signing bonus. On the other hand, Griffin only got a $75K signing bonus guaranteed. Gabbert has always been Bruce Arians’ guy, while Tampa’s front office has loved Griffin enough to keep him around since 2015. If these financial figures tell us anything, and they usually do, it’s that Gabbert will be back for the title defense while Griffin won’t be.
- The language of Aaron Rodgers‘ contract is going to get a lot of attention if his current beef with the Packers turns into a real holdout. Rodgers earned a $6.8MM roster bonus on the third day of the league year, but he hasn’t actually received that money yet since it’s to be “paid concurrently with his 2021 base salary,” former NFL agent and current CBS Sports analyst Joel Corry tweets. Corry notes that Green Bay has “the right to take fines & any recapture of signing bonus due to a training camp holdout from this money.” There was talk of Rodgers having to pay back that $6.8MM, but it turns out he hasn’t even gotten it yet. The Packers can start chipping away at that the moment he doesn’t show up for mandatory practices.
- One last quarterback note. Mason Rudolph recently got a one-year contract extension from the Steelers to keep him under team control through 2022, and it turns out the team gave him some real money. Rudolph’s new pact with Pittsburgh is worth $5MM for the 2022 season, which included a $2MM signing bonus, Mark Kaboly of The Athletic tweets. As Kaboly points out, Rudolph is the only passer the team has under contract for 2022. Rudolph hasn’t exactly looked like a franchise quarterback in his nine career starts, but with Ben Roethlisberger‘s status more than uncertain beyond this year, it makes since why the Steelers would want to make sure they have someone at least somewhat competent under center just in case.
- When Trent Brown got traded from the Raiders back to the Patriots, he reworked his contract from having two years and $29.5MM left to a one-year pact for $11MM. Turns out that new one-year deal has some interesting details. The massive offensive tackle’s contract has a series of weight-based incentives, Ben Volin of the Boston Globe writes. The 6’8 behemoth will have earned $150K if he weighed “385 pounds or less on the first day of the offseason program (April 19).” Brown will have an opportunity to earn another $150K if he clocks in at or below 375 pounds on June 1, and another $200K for 365 pounds on July 15. That’s a total of a half million bucks in weight-based incentives. Brown was with the Patriots for one season back in 2018, and won Super Bowl LIII with the team.
D-Tackle Class Led Bucs To Re-Sign Vets
- This draft profiled as one of the weakest for defensive tackles in recent memory, and the class ended up influencing the Buccaneers to retain veterans at the position. While the Super Bowl champions completed a stunning effort of keeping their team together, GM Jason Licht said (Twitter link via ESPN.com’s Jenna Laine) the thin D-tackle class moved the team to re-sign Ndamukong Suh, Steve McLendon and Rakeem Nunez-Roches earlier this offseason. The Bucs did not draft a defensive tackle this year.
- Staying on the scouting subject, the Panthers are adding Jared Kirksey to their scouting staff, Neil Stratton of InsideTheLeague.com tweets. Kirksey was previously on the Jaguars’ staff and has previously worked as a Bucs and Texans scout.
Minor NFL Transactions: 5/6/21
Today’s minor moves:
Atlanta Falcons
- Signed: WR Juwan Green
Indianapolis Colts
- Waived: CB Will Sunderland
Las Vegas Raiders
- Signed: G Marquel Harrell
Los Angeles Chargers
- Claimed (from Cowboys): DB Kemon Hall
New Orleans Saints
- Signed: DT Albert Huggins, WR Easop Winston
New York Jets
- Waived: CB Kyron Brown
Seattle Seahawks
- Claimed (from Cowboys): CB Saivion Smith
- Signed: TE Nick Guggemos
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Claimed (from Cowboys): LB Ladarius Hamilton
- Signed: CB Nate Brooks
Tennessee Titans
- Signed: LB Justin March-Lillard, CB Greg Mabin, RB Brian Hill
- Waived: CB Kareem Orr
Buccaneers Officially Add A.Q. Shipley, Thad Lewis To Coaching Staff
The Buccaneers have officially added two more popular names to their coaching staff. James Palmer of NFL Network reports (via Twitter) that the team has signed Thaddeus Lewis as assistant wide receivers coach and A.Q. Shipley as an offensive assistant.
Lewis was kind of, sort of on the Buccaneers coaching staff in 2020; he served as as “assistant to the offense” via the Bill Walsh Coaching Fellow program. According to the team website, he’d spend time catching for the quarterbacks, and he’d work with the receivers on reacting to the QBs’ cues. He’ll now have an official role in Tampa Bay, filling the gig that was previously held by Antwaan Randle El.
Following a successful collegiate career at Duke, Lewis put together a seven-year NFL career as a quarterback. He only saw time in seven games (six starts), throwing for 1,296 yards and five touchdowns. Following his playing career, Lewis worked under Chip Kelly at UCLA during the 2018 and 2019 seasons.
Shipley managed to stick around the NFL for a decade despite being a seventh-round pick. The offensive lineman was a favorite of Bruce Arians, having played with the coach in Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, and Arizona. So, it wasn’t a huge surprise when Shipley joined the Buccaneers last offseason, but a spinal cord injury ultimately finished his career in November.
Shipley stuck around the organization as an unofficial coach for the remainder of the 2020 campaign, and he’ll now have an official role heading into 2021.
Buccaneers To Re-Sign QB Blaine Gabbert
Recently, the Buccaneers became the first defending champ since 1993 to bring back all 22 starters for the following season. The front office is also making an effort to retain their backups. ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reports (via Twitter) that Tampa Bay is re-signing backup quarterback Blaine Gabbert. It’s a one-year deal worth $2.5MM for the veteran.
While the Buccaneers re-signed third-stringer Ryan Griffin and drafted Kyle Trask in the second round, the organization has made it clear that they intended to re-sign Gabbert. Bruce Arians explicitly said that he wanted to keep the veteran around, while GM Jason Licht went as far to insinuate that Gabbert could be an eventual successor to Tom Brady.
Gabbert has spent the past two seasons in Tampa, throwing for 143 yards and two scores (all in 2020). The former first-rounder hasn’t been a full-time starter since back in 2012, and he’s started only 21 games since the 2015 season. Still, Gabbert has familiarity with the system (he played for Arians in Arizona) and his teammates, so he’s a natural fit to back up Brady for at least another season.
With teams rarely carrying four active-roster quarterbacks, Gabbert re-signing would point Griffin to either the practice squad or another team, while Trask would settle into a developmental third-stringer role.
Minor NFL Transactions: 5/5/21
We’ll keep track of today’s minor moves here:
Dallas Cowboys
- Released: CB Kemon Hall, DE Ladarius Hamilton, DT Walter Palmore, C Adam Redmond
Indianapolis Colts
- Signed: LB Malik Jefferson
Kansas City Chiefs
- Signed: WR Chris Finke
New York Jets
- Claimed (from 49ers): WR Matt Cole
Seattle Seahawks
- Claimed (from Jaguars): LB Nate Evans
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Signed: S Raven Greene, LB Joseph Jones
2021 NFL Draft Results By Round
The 2021 NFL Draft is here! We’ll be keeping tabs here, from pick No. 1 through No. 259:
Round 1
1) Jacksonville Jaguars: Trevor Lawrence, QB (Clemson)
2) New York Jets: Zach Wilson, QB (BYU)
3) San Francisco 49ers (from Texans via Dolphins): Trey Lance, QB (North Dakota State)
4) Atlanta Falcons: Kyle Pitts, TE (Florida)
5) Cincinnati Bengals: Ja’Marr Chase, WR (LSU)
6) Miami Dolphins (from Eagles): Jaylen Waddle, WR (Alabama)
7) Detroit Lions: Penei Sewell, OT (Oregon)
8) Carolina Panthers: Jaycee Horn, CB (South Carolina)
9) Denver Broncos: Patrick Surtain II, CB (Alabama)
10) Philadelphia Eagles (from Cowboys): DeVonta Smith, WR (Alabama)
11) Chicago Bears (from Giants): Justin Fields, QB (Ohio State)
12) Dallas Cowboys (from 49ers via Dolphins via Eagles): Micah Parsons, LB (Penn State)
13) Los Angeles Chargers: Rashawn Slater, OT (Northwestern)
14) New York Jets (from Vikings): Alijah Vera-Tucker, OL (USC)
15) New England Patriots: Mac Jones, QB (Alabama)
16) Arizona Cardinals: Zaven Collins, LB (Tulsa)
17) Las Vegas Raiders: Alex Leatherwood, OL (Alabama)
18) Miami Dolphins: Jaelan Phillips, DL (Miami)
19) Washington Football Team: Jamin Davis, LB (Kentucky)
20) New York Giants (from Bears): Kadarius Toney, WR (Florida)
21) Indianapolis Colts: Kwity Paye, DL (Michigan)
22) Tennessee Titans: Caleb Farley, CB (Virginia Tech)
23) Minnesota Vikings (from Seahawks via Jets): Christian Darrisaw, OT (Virginia Tech)
24) Pittsburgh Steelers: Najee Harris, RB (Alabama)
25) Jacksonville Jaguars (from Rams): Travis Etienne, RB (Clemson)
26) Cleveland Browns: Greg Newsome II, CB (Northwestern)
27) Baltimore Ravens: Rashod Bateman, WR (Minnes0ta)
28) New Orleans Saints: Payton Turner, DE (Houston)
29) Green Bay Packers: Eric Stokes, CB (Georgia)
30) Buffalo Bills: Gregory Rousseau, DL (Miami)
31) Baltimore Ravens (from Chiefs): Jayson Oweh, DE (Penn State)
32) Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Joe Tryon, LB (Washington)