Buccaneers Trade Brian Price to Chicago; Cut Dezmon Briscoe
By Josh Hill
Tampa Bay continues to shred guys that don’t fit into the Greg Schiano scheme of things. After two injury hobbled seasons where at times he could barely stay on the field, the Bucs have shipped defensive tackle Brian Price to the Chicago Bears for a 7th round draft pick.
Price was a second round draft pick out of UCLA for the Bucs in 2010, a year in which they doubled up on defensive lineman (selecting Gerald McCoy third overall).
He’s recorded just a total of 27 tackles but he’s been hobbled by injuries in his two years with Tampa Bay and will join a Bears defensive line that needs pass rush.
Price recently went through great personal loss when his older sister Bridget Price was killed in a car crash back in May.
The injury woes shouldn’t continue to be a problem and under Lovie Smith’s defensive system, Price should flourish more so than he did in Tampa. He merely shoed potential in Tampa but was bogged down in Raheem Morris’ garbled and confusing system.
It’s not the first time the Bucs have dumped a defensive lineman on the Bears. In 2009 they traded former third overall pick Gaines Adams to Chicago. Adams died suddenly later that year after only playing in a few games for the Bears.
Bucs Cut Briscoe: The writing was on the wall for this one too. After adding Vincent Jackson and overloading the offense, it was clear that someone was going to go. The most expendable guy on the roster on offense apparently was Dezmon Briscoe. Briscoe only got real playing time last year because the Bucs were so bad and in an attempt to salvage his job, Raheem Morris was going to anybody that could hold a football. The Bucs were so bad that if someone were to title a headline about Briscoe’s release “Bucs Cut 2011 Touchdown Leader” they unfortunately wouldn’t be lying.
Penn, Bowers head to Active/PUP List: One final note, the Buccaneers have placed offensive pillow Donald Penn on the active physically unable to perform list. This essentially means Penn’s not ready for camp yet but the Bucs are expecting him to be ready at some point. The official diagnosis on Penn is he’s still recovering from a calf injury. He will be joined by defensive end Da’Quan Bowers, who had surgery earlier in June to repair a torn achilles tendon. Bowers has said he plans on returning before the season is over, but with his injury riddled past, the Bucs won’t be rushing him. Cornerback Derrick Roberson was also listed on the Acitve/PUP list as camp opened today for the Bucs.