Tampa Bay Buccaneers will continue to face Grady Jarrett twice per year

Defensive tackle Grady Jarrett and the NFC South division rival Atlanta Falcons agreed to an extension, much to the dismay of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

In other NFC South news, the Atlanta Falcons and defensive tackle Grady Jarrett have agreed to a four-year deal worth a grand total of $68 million annually, third among defensive tackles only to Aaron Donald and Fletcher Cox. This also means the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will still have to face Jarrett twice per year for at least four more years.

Throughout his four year career to this point, he has recorded four tackles for loss and a sack and a half against the Buccaneers from his lane clogging defensive tackle spot. Throughout his career Jarrett has tallied 14 total sacks and 31 tackles for loss, which are extremely impressive numbers for a defensive tackle.

Pro Football Focus (subscription required) graded Jarrett out at a high quality 91.0 for his performance last year, near the top of all defensive tackles. This is definitely an opponent the Buccaneers would have loved to have seen get into a contract dispute with the Falcons and be shipped out of the division, instead he will line up across from Ryan Jensen, Ali Marpet, and whoever is going to play right guard twice per year.

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The Buccaneers must get their offensive line situation figured out, or Jarrett will continue to get into the backfield against them and cause negative plays as he clears more space for linebackers as well. Hopefully the change in blocking scheme that new head coach Bruce Arians and offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich bring to the table will be enough.

Deciding to stand pat along the offensive line, the Buccaneers did not seek to upgrade a line that failed to get the run going, ranking near the bottom of the league in rushing offense. The kicked last year’s right guard out of the starting lineup, and have yet to fill the void at right guard as Alex Cappa is struggling to develop and Earl Watford and Josh LeRibeus are nothing more than journeymen who, on a normal NFL roster would do nothing more than contribute on special teams and serve as a veteran backup.

The Buccaneers play the Falcons in weeks 12 and 17, so they must be ready to stifle the space eater that Jarrett is. He is in the NFC South to stay, at least for a little while, much to the chagrin of Tampa Bay.