Reports have formed that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers intend to make a strong push to sign free agent safety Tyrann Mathieu, a former player under Bruce Arians.
Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports published an article yesterday stating that free agent safety Tyrann Mathieu has drawn quite a market from various teams, including the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who are showing “serious interest.” La Canfora later stated that Mathieu is expecting to receive around $24 million over two years in his next deal.
The Buccaneers would need to clear cap space in order to make a deal of the nature that Mathieu is expecting to get work, but with tons of dead cap on the roster including punter Bryan Anger, DeSean Jackson, and Demar Dotson, there is a real possibility that the Pro Bowl safety could ink a deal with Tampa Bay.
With ties to the Bucs’ coaching staff, Mathieu played some of his most productive seasons as a professional in Arizona with Arians and Todd Bowles with the Cardinals; there may be mutual interest between Tampa Bay and Mathieu.
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The safety marked it hot this year with names such as Earl Thomas, Eric Weddle, Landon Collins, HaHa Clinton-Dix, and Adrian Amos set to hit free agency, so there is plenty to go around. For a struggling secondary like the Bucs’, adding one of these high caliber safeties would bring tremendous experience, leadership, and production to the back half of the defense next to Justin Evans;
Selected as an All-Pro in 2015 under Bowles, the Honey Badger has tallied 13 career interceptions, four forced fumbles, seven sacks, and 33 tackles behind the line of scrimmage in his six year career to this point. At just 27 years of age, Mathieu should have plenty left in the tank, and who better to get the most out of him than his former defensive coordinator Todd Bowles.
Mathieu makes the most sense of the safeties hitting the market for the Buccaneers and is the best fit due to his successful history with Bowles. It is only a matter of time before we find out if Tampa Bay has the firepower to make the Honey Badger a Buccaneer.