The majority of this offseason, for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, has been about retaining their best players.
That comes as no surprise for a team that's focused so heavily on doing exactly that over the past couple of offseasons. Jason Licht knows exactly what he's doing, as he has set out to keep the continuity within their building.
But, with that has also come some outside moves as free agency has gotten into full swing. One of the big moves happened when Tampa Bay signed pass rusher Haason Reddick to a one-year deal.
A year after Reddick's infamous holdout and intriguing saga with the Jets, he now has the chance to start fresh, and one particular insider loved the move more than any other signing made so far. ESPN's Jeremy Fowler called the Bucs' signing of Reddick the "best move" of free agency, to this point.
Haason Reddick dubbed the NFL's best move of the 2025 free agency period, so far
"Tampa Bay got out of its draft-and-develop comfort zone and invested $14 million in a one-year deal with Reddick, who had four consecutive double-digit-sack seasons before last year's holdout sabotaged his 2024 campaign with the Jets," wrote Fowler.
"With a full offseason, he should get back on track. And the Bucs know they are at their best with an elite pass rush, as they proved during their 2020 Super Bowl run," he finished.
The Bucs finished last season fifth in the NFL in sacks with 46, which might come as a surprise to some, since the defense certainly had its holes. For example, as the league's fourth-worst pass defense, Tampa Bay came into the offseason with some holes.
But, prioritizing the pass rush is only going to make the rest of that defense better, so the Bucs didn't shy away from keeping the focus on that area.
Maybe the most impressive part about the Bucs' pass rush in 2024 was the fact that they didn't have a double-digit sack artist. In fact, Calijah Kancey's 7.5 led the team. Now, with Reddick, this defense has someone who offers double-digit sack potential. If he ends up playing the full season, there's no reason why Reddick doesn't reach a dozen or so sacks.
You add a double-digit sack artist to a team that's bringing back one of the league's most electrifying offenses and it's not hard to see why Fowler loved this move as much as he did.