It was a busy offseason for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, one that was ferociously front-loaded. The Bucs jumped right to the front of the line when it came to making moves before retreating and letting the roster settle.
There might be more moves on the horizon after learning that Tristan Wirfs might miss the first quarter of the season, but we'll see what happens there. In terms of moves the Bucs did make, re-signing Chris Godwin was among the most important but it wasn't the only big signing.
Buccaneers signing Haason Reddick gets a seal-of-approval from ESPN expert
ESPN's Seth Walder recently weighed in on the most significant offseason gamble for the Bucs, which was bringing in Haason Reddick for $14 million. It's a massive gamble for a team that usually plays it safe -- and smart -- when spending, which is why all eyes will be on how it plays out.
Here's what Walder wrote:
"Tampa Bay also took what I thought was a worthwhile gamble on Reddick at one year, $14 million. Reddick is coming off a lost season that featured a long contract standoff, 10 games played and only one sack. But Reddick has been an elite pass rusher (he posted double-digit sacks every year from 2020 to 2023) and could help Todd Bowles' defense if he bounces back."
There was a period of time this offseason where alarmists tried to suggest that Reddick was ghosting the Bucs after signing his big deal, mostly because of how things went with the Jets last year. This isn't East Rutherford, though, and Reddick already seems more bought in with Tampa Bay than he ever did with the Jets.
What matters is how Reddick performs once he hits the field. The Bucs brought him in to fix a rather mediocre pass rush last year that bordered on fatal, given how it broke down in certain situations. Tampa Bay ultimately finished 11th in pass rush but the lack of hands on opposing quarterbacks late in games played a major role in the Bucs ending up on the wrong side of one-score games.
Reddick is supposed to fix that, and could have a similar impact to what we saw from Shaq Barrett when he arrived before a Super Bowl run. Yaya Diaby and Calijah Kancey have high-upside potential and working with Reddick feels like a perfect situation.
It's a lot of money to gamble, but the Bucs haven't been a team that spends money just to spend it. We'll see how things turn out but all signs seem to point toward this being a move that ages as well as experts are already thinking it might.
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