Twitter might have been down but the Tampa Bay Buccaneers weren't letting that stop them from getting deals done. As soon as the legal tampering period opened on Monday, the Bucs agreed to a one-year deal with free agent edge rusher Haason Reddick.
Reddick comes to Tampa Bay on a one-year deal with $14 million, with $12 million guaranteed. It's a deal that checks a few boxes, and also ties a bow around a simmer saga that started to develop last season without going the way everyone was predicting.
When Reddick and the New York Jets butted heads last offseason, causing the latter to hold out until after the season had started, the Bucs were routinely mentioned as a potential landing spot in a trade. That never materialized, but this confirms that there was at least a little fire to all the smoke that came out of that situation in terms of linking Tampa Bay to Reddick.
Buccaneers add much-needed pass rush help with Haason Reddick
- Contract Details: One-year, $14 million ($12 million guaranteed)
- Grade: B+
It's a connection that makes as much sense now as it did then. Reddick is a top veteran pass rusher who brings to Tampa Bay the same thing Shaq Barrett did, or at least that's the idea behind bringing him in. At the time of the trade rumors, the Bucs badly needed some pass rush help and things didn't get much better as the season wore on.
Tampa Bay finished the season 11th in pass rush, but that doesn't illustrate the situational failures the team suffered through. The lack of a consistent pass rush, specifically late in games, doomed the Bucs on more than one occasion and likely factored into the slim difference between a win and a loss.
Imagine games like the Thursday night loss to the Falcons, or the Monday night overtime loss to the Chiefs and how those outcomes might have been impacted if the Todd Bowles had a smothering pass rush to disrupt what ended up being comeback wins. The same could be said about the loss to the 49ers, and arguably the Wild Card game against the Commanders as well.
Adding Reddick goes a long way in fixing that issue, but it doesn't fully solve it. Tampa Bay is expected to look at the NFL Draft to continue fortifying its pass rush, which should only make Calijah Kancey even better than he already is.
It seems like a steep price, as $12 million guarunteed is not cheap, but it's money well spent for a team that typically makes smart slashes this time of year.
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