Tampa Bay Buccaneers should pursue safety Tashaun Gipson

Tashaun Gipson was released by the Jacksonville Jaguars as move to clear cap space. He should immediately jump onto the radar of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

It was reported today by NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport that in a flurry of cuts, the Jacksonville Jaguars had cut safety Tashaun Gipson in order to clear cap space as well as running back Carlos Hyde and defensive tackle Malik Jackson. With such a young and inexperienced secondary, it goes without saying that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers should pursue the services of Gipson this offseason.

There are rumors that the Buccaneers have “serious interest” in Tyrann Mathieu in a very deep class of free agent safeties, so they are definitely in the market for some help on the back end of their defense. If Tampa were unable to clear up enough cap space to make a move for Mathieu or another one of the big named safeties, Gipson would be a quality player for a team on a budget to pursue.

Throughout his career, Gipson has played for only one other team outside of Jacksonville. Gipson started his career with the Cleveland Browns in 2012 before signing with the Jaguars after the 2015 season.

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Named to a Pro Bowl in 2014, Gipson was leading the league in interceptions with six just 10 games into the season before he tore his ACL and missed the rest of the season. Throughout his seven year career, Gipson has tallied 20 total interceptions, took two of them back to the house, and knocked down an additional 39 passes.

While Gipson is not much of a box safety, but more of a center fielder, that would fit well with Tampa Bay’s defense as Justin Evans has flashed the potential to play well against the run and close to the line of scrimmage. Todd Bowles will have say in the additions to his defense, but there is no reason to think that he would not want a safety who tracks the deep ball with great efficiency, especially when he loves to run a lot of three safety sets in case they want to pursue both Mathieu and Gipson.

At only 28 years old, Gipson will now begin looking for his third team; Jason Licht should throw the Buccaneers’ hat into the ring as he may come at a cheaper cost than the rest of the free agent safeties this offseason. With the potential to give the Buccaneers the most bang for their buck, Gipson must be on their radar as free agency is set to begin.