Tampa Bay Buccaneers pick up 2019 option on Demar Dotson
By Cory Kinnan
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers announced that 33-year-old right tackle Demar Dotson’s team option has been picked up for the 2019 season.
Demar Dotson is not going anywhere. Around 11:00am EST, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers sent out a tweet announcing that the 2019 team option on the veteran right tackle had been picked up, keeping him a member of the team for one more season.
The 33-year-old tackle has spent the entirety of his nine year career with the Buccaneers, starting the last seven seasons since 2012; the Bucs will keep another familiar face on their offensive line. An undrafted free agent out of Southern Mississippi, Dotson has put together quite the long and successful career for the Bucs and has become a stronghold in the Tampa Bay community.
Although many thought that Dotson would become a cap casualty in order for the Bucs to have some flexibility to spend this offseason, instead he carries a cap hit of a little over $4.8 million for the 2019 season; a fairly inexpensive cost for a high caliber starting tackle in this league.
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Now with both tackles, and two-thirds of the interior of the offensive line completed, Tampa Bay has the makings of a strong offensive line, only needing to upgrade the right guard position with Caleb Benenoch struggled mightily at that spot and will slide out to tackle this season; a nice move by Jason Licht to keep solidify the protection in front of Jameis Winston.
Keeping Dotson seems like a precursor to other veterans potentially being on the move out of Tampa Bay, including DeSean Jackson, Beau Allen, William Gholston, and Mitch Unrein. With only $1.7 million in cap space after the extension to Donovan Smith, if the team wants to spend money during free agency, they will have to move on from other underperforming veterans.
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In an inexpensive and wise decision to keep a veteran presence on the offensive line and strong hold in the locker room, the Buccaneers hope that their investment in Dotson pays off for them in 2019. After a year where the Tampa Bay offense was humming, they hope that fortifying their offensive line will allow them to put up similar numbers this year as well.