It’s been a fantastic free agency so far for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but the work is hardly finished. Addressing pass rush and bringing back Chris Godwin were easily top of the list things the team needed to figure out, and it took mere minutes into the legal tampering period for that to happen.
With all of that handled, and some key guys back like Anthony Nelson and Ben Bredeson, attention can now shift to foritfying another key area of the roster.
Last year injuries ravaged the Bucs’ roster which left a lot to be desired in the secondary. Jamel Dean, who was a cap casualty candidate heading into the offseason, was oft-injured again and the unit buckled at the wrong time late in games.
Zyon McCollum was a revelation, so there’s a good foundation to build on moving forward, but the Bucs lack depth at cornerback and need to figure out how to fix that. The team took at least some sort of step in that direction on Thursday with a low-key, potentially high-upside move.
Buccaneers sign Kindle Vildor away from Lions to bolster secondary depth
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Buccaneers have finally made a move to add a cornerback by signing Kindle Vildor away from the Detroit Lions. It’s a one-year deal, so nothing major, but it at least begins the process of addressing a key position of need for Tampa Bay.
Buccaneers reached agreement on a one-year deal with CB Kindle Vildor, per his agents Kevin Conner and Robert Brown.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 13, 2025
Vildor is a low-wattage signing, so don’t get too excited or let anyone talk you into thinking this is some sort of major deal. It’s not insignificant, though, as the Bucs have been incredibly thin at cornerback with the team needing to dig deep into its depth in back-to-back seasons at the worst possible times.
Two years ago the Bucs secondary got so banged up in a Monday Night Football loss to the Eagles that Todd Bowles was forced to put third and fourth stringers on the field to stop Jalen Hurts and Philly’s offense. A similar thing happened last year when injuries chewed through the defense and held the team back from reaching its true potential.
Vildor isn’t a Jamel Dean replacement, but he is someone along the lines of what the Bucs tried to do last year when they signed Bryce Hall. That was another deal that didn’t really move the needle but had high upside in terms of being key depth for the secondary.
That’s what we shoul expect with Vildor, who was a practice squad guy for the Lions in 2023 before getting more playing time last year. Bringing over some of the nastiness of Detroit’s defense isn’t a bad thing either, so there’s more the like about this below-the-line move than it might seem on teh surface.
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