The Buccaneers may love what they have in their safety room, but letting Jordan Whitehead walk without offering him anything is silly.
Good teams generally don’t let good players walk for cheap contracts. The Buccaneers are obviously a good team, but it still doesn’t really make sense that they let Jordan Whitehead walk in free agency without even as much as a cheaper offer.
Even when looking at the retirement of Rob Gronkowski, the loss of Whitehead could prove to be far more influential on the roster when looking at how small his deal was with the Jets.
Gronk is a tight end in an offense that doesn’t rely on tight ends. His loss stings, but it isn’t going to dramatically change the offense if the wide receivers are able to step up when it matters most.
Safeties bring a greater level of value to this roster, and Jordan Whitehead’s value is impossible to ignore.
Whitehead played like one of the best players on the field for stretches during the 2021 season. In the playoffs, Jordan Whitehead looked like the best player on the field against the Eagles.
While not being as good against the pass as his counterpart in Mike Edwards, Whitehead was still consistent enough in that aspect of his game to protect the most important part of the field when it mattered.
To add to the praises of Whitehead, he was fantastic against the run and was one of the hardest hitters in the NFL.
These types of talents aren’t always easy to replicate. Edwards is likely going to be a great starter, but he is going to have some very difficult shoes to fill.
The Buccaneers are going to miss Jordan Whitehead. They are going to miss him even more when they realize that he could still be on the field right now without actually putting a dent in Tampa’s cap space.
There aren’t a lot of misses tied to this team this offseason. This looks like the biggest one.
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