Buccaneers need to make simple decision after Julio Jones signing

The Buccaneers now have a dilemma ahead as they deal with Julio Jones joining the team. The right decision is very simple.

The Julio Jones signing is going to take a lot of the question marks out of the offseason for the Buccaneers and their wide receiver depth chart.

The top four are set in stone, and the next two guys both make compelling cases to stay on the roster based on age and upside. With Tyler Johnson and Jaelon Darden, the room sits at six.

These guys earning the spots means that Scotty Miller, Cyril Grayson, and Breshad Perriman would all get their walking papers. This feels a little premature for a team that dealt with so many wide receiver injuries and losses last season, so Tampa would be wise to give some consideration to breaking with the norm and taking seven receivers for 2022.

Seven receivers is a lot, but it isn’t out of the question when Darden still seems like his main role is going to be as a returner (assuming he makes the proper offseason adjustments to his game). The Bucs know that they live and die by the pass, so making sure that there is no shortage of options in this department makes perfect sense.

The first step in this plan would mean that rookie tight end Ko Kieft gets cut. He can’t catch the ball anyway, the run doesn’t matter nearly as much, and this is already a likely move. Kieft still needs a year on the practice squad before he will be ready.

Another cut to make this move work could come from the offensive line, something that wouldn’t hurt too much when you see that Tampa generally over-prepares in this area already.

It doesn’t really matter where the cut comes from, but the Buccaneers would be wise to free up this spot to ensure that they don’t let a decent player at the wide receiver position walk as a result of this move.

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