After a day of inactivity on Thursday, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are back in action, looking to add depth to their struggling secondary.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, after a silent day yesterday, are looking to address the cornerback position in free agency at this moment. According to his Instagram account, defensive back De’Vante Harris has re-signed with the Bucs for what looks to be a one-year deal; Tampa Bay has not released any confirmation
Harris provides a nice depth piece in the Buccaneers secondary, and will look to continue to compete for a backup role in 2019 in Tampa Bay. He has also been a contributor on special teams, and will likely resume those roles for the Buccaneers this season as well.
Throughout his career, Harris has started three games in three years after being signed as an undrafted free agent by the New Orleans Saints in 2016; he came over to Tampa Bay last season. Although he has yet to record an interception in his career, Harris has knocked down six passes, recovered one fumble, and tallied 33 tackles.
In related secondary news, ESPN’s Rob Demovsky has reported that former Green Bay Packers Packer’s safety Kentrell Brice, who was not tendered by his now former team, is on the radar of the Buccaneers’ after visiting with the Houston Texans and Indianapolis Colts. Needing some competition for Justin Evans and Jordan Whitehead at the third level of the defense, the Bucs could be looking at inexpensive options with starting experience like Brice.
In his career, Brice has started 14 games for the Packers, 10 last year, in three years in the NFL. He has tallied one interception and knocked down an additional six passes while adding a sack in his career.
While neither of these moves will fill the void in the secondary for the Buccaneers, adding depth pieces and looking to add an immense amount of talent through the draft is not a bad strategy. There are still plenty of bargain safeties and corners on the open market as well, so moving forward, it will be interesting to see how Jason Licht chooses to attack the problem in the secondary.