It’s safe to say the Tampa Bay Buccaneers nailed free agency, but there’s still work left to do. Adding Haason Reddick and bringing back Chris Godwin, as well as other key veterans, was huge but there’s still a giant question mark that hasn’t really been addressed.
Secondary help wasn’t at the very top of the list heading into the offseason, but it was close. The Bucs didn’t ignore adding some cornerback depth, but the moves to bring in Kindle Vildor and betting on Bryce Hall again don’t move the needle as much as it team needs.
ESPN's Jenna Laine pointed out as much in one of her recent breakdowns of the team’s roster after free agency. She noted that while the Bucs have mildly invested in cornerback help the team is still missing a starting-caliber player to help really tie things together.
"[The Bucs] addressed cornerback depth in signing Kindle Vildor after Bryce Hall’s injury last year and Tyrek Funderburk and Josh Hayes’ struggles. But they need a starting-caliber corner as an insurance policy for Jamel Dean, who has struggled to stay healthy," Laine wrote.
It's easier said than done, but it raises an important question about who the Bucs should still target.
Who could the Buccaneers sign to help add starting-caliber cornerback help?
We’re a few weeks into free agency, but that doesn’t mean the first wave washed away all of the top talent.
Rasul Douglas was floated as a potential option earlier in free agency and remains unsigned. Asante Samuel Jr., who would continue the theme of adding the sons of former NFL players to the secondary, is arguably the top player still available. The issue with Samuel is that he's injury-prone, and the Bucs already have that problem with Jamel Dean.
That's a key thing to remember -- not that Dean is injury-prone but that he's still in Tampa. There was speculation that he'd be a cap casualty but that never ended up happening, and it appears the Bucs are going to proceed with him in the secondary.
With Dean sticking around, the starting-caliber corner the Bucs add would be more from the middle-tier of players than plucked from off the top of the pile. Specifically the team doesn’t need to pay whatever top dollar is on the market now, even though that might not be as pricey as it was earlier.
Someone like Kendall Fuller, Stephon Gilmore, or Avonte Maddox makes sense and qualify as starting-caliber but wouldn’t command a huge price while providing tremendous upside. That’s the pool the Bucs will be swimming in if they look for cornerback help, which is still a bigger if than it should be.
Dipping into the NFL Draft class to find cornerback help is the likeliest route, but for as thin as thing got for the Bucs at cornerback last season it wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world to add as much depth as possible.
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