Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Free agents that have to be re-signed

The second free agent that the Buccaneers have to focus on is Jason Pierre-Paul. JPP has experienced a revival of his game in the latter part of his career and has 21 sacks and 25 tackles for loss during his two years as a Buccaneer.

Pierre-Paul was the best Buccaneer pass rusher in 2018 and was looking to build on that in 2019. After a serious neck injury before the start of the 2019 season, many people wondered if JPP would ever be able to play football again.

After a shockingly fast recovery, JPP was able to make it back onto the field for 10 games in 2019 with eight as a starter.

Pierre-Paul can serve as a talented complement to Shaquil Barrett and can also be a leader for the young defense. The Buccaneers cannot afford to lose Jason Pierre-Paul and see their pass rush drop off in 2020.

JPP would be very expensive to bring back, but the Buccaneers need an elite pass rusher to pair with Barrett far more than they need a talented defensive lineman. The Bucs would struggle to find a draft pick or free agent that would play at Pierre-Paul’s level while they could easily replace a defensive lineman that they let walk.

This move would likely be very expensive for the Buccaneers but their pass rush in 2019 was as good as it has been in years and the team needs to do everything in their power to keep that as the standard.