Former Buccaneers quarterback joins Chicago Bears coaching staff

It's shaping up to be a busy offseason for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, especially after the league announced a fat new salary cap that created some extra space for the team to make moves.

Rather than having $32 million in cap space, the Bucs now have $45.5 million to make moves with. That means it might be easier for the team to bring back Mike Evans -- along with deals for Antoine Winfield Jr and Baker Mayfield -- or at least compete with a big offer.

Nothing is guaranteed, but the new salary cap figure is good news for the Bucs.

Free agency doesn't open for another few weeks, though, with most of the movement so far pertaining to coaching staffs making additions or subtractions. The Bucs are no strangers to that, losing offensive coordinator Dave Canales to the Carolina Panthers and replacing him with former Los Angeles Rams coordinator Liam Coen.

It's more than just current coaches making moves, as former players are using the turnover to get their foot in the door of a new career. Former Buccaneers quarterback Ryan Griffin is one of those players.

Former Bucs QB Ryan Griffin joins Chicago Bears coaching staff

In a pretty cool move, the Chicago Bears officially announced on Friday that Griffin had joined the team's coaching staff.

According to Bears beat writer Courtney Cronin, Griffin will be joining the Bears as the team as an assistant focusing on quarterbacks and wide receivers.

Griffin was beloved during his time in Tampa Bay, mostly for always showing up despite never really having a real shot at winning the starting role. He came to the Bucs back in 2015 after two seasons in New Orleans and stayed in Tampa Bay for the remainder of his pro career.

He was some connective tissue between the era in franchise history that preceded Tom Brady's arrival and the success that came after. Griffin backed up guys like Jameis Winston, Mike Glennon, and Ryan Fitzpatrick and was a key member of the quarterback room for years before being rewarded with a chance to work with Brady and a Super Bowl ring.

Now he's taking his first steps toward potentially using what he did as part of that quarterback room in Tampa Bay and turning it into a second career. It's not a move that was on anyone's radar, but it's going to be hard for Bucs fans not to root for him finding a way to level up as a coach in the coming years.

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