One day after their preseason opener, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have made a couple of roster moves, including the release of offensive lineman Evan Smith.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have made a few roster moves on the back end of their first preseason game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Most significant among them, however, was the release of veteran offensive lineman Evan Smith as first reported by The Athletic’s Greg Auman.
The release of Evans cleared about $2 million in cap space for the Buccaneers to play around with, and now the Buccaneers sit right around $4.5 million in cap flexibility. Smith spent five seasons with the Buccaneers, recording just one full season as the starter and 28 starts total in that span.
Additionally, Smith missed the entire 2018 season recovering from injuries to both hips that required surgery. Now at the age of 33, Smith is looking for a new city to call home and a new team to play for as his time in Tampa Bay with the Buccaneers has come to an end.
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With the injury to defensive tackle Vita Vea, the Buccaneers have also added some depth to their defensive line, signing former Washington undrafted free agent Shane Bowman. In his four years with the Huskies, Vea’s former teammate managed to play in just 13 total games, but worked out for the Buccaneers last week and landed with the team today.
Last year for Washington, Bowman recorded one sack and one tackle for loss from the trenches of the Huskie defense. This signing has all of the makings of a camp body as the depth along the defensive front is quite thin for the remainder of the summer as Vea recovers from a sprained LCL.
New Bucs DL Shane Bowman, to be signed Sunday, is 6-4, 291, likely a 5-tech defensive end in 3-4 base. Missed half of senior year with broken foot but returned healthy at end of season. Adds depth with Vita Vea sidelined this month.
— Greg Auman (@gregauman) August 11, 2019
This will not be the last roster move made by the Buccaneers in the near future, so keep an eye out as they continue to look to add depth to their roster. For now, the moves made by the Buccaneers send Smith out, and bring Bowman in.