10 UFL standouts Buccaneers should sign and bring to training camp
By Brad Smith
Breeland Speaks, DE, Michigan Panthers
Similar to Martinez, Speaks has spent time in the NFL with several teams, but did so before joining the NFL. After totaling 127 tackles, 15.0 tackles for loss, and nine sacks in three seasons at Ole Miss, Kansas City drafted Speaks with the No. 46 pick in the 2018 draft, and later appeared in all 16 games as a rookie.
The 2018 season would mark Speaks' first and last with Kansas City, as the Chiefs cut Speaks after he suffered an MCL sprain and meniscus tear in the preseason and violated the league's substance abuse policy. Speaks would go on to spend time on the practice squad with Las Vegas, Dallas, New York, and Buffalo, but never made it on a team's 53-man roster.
That prompted Speaks to join the UFL, where he was drafted by Michigan in the league's expansion draft. Starting in all 10 games for the Panthers, Speaks led the league with 9.5 sacks and 13 tackles for loss, and was later named the UFL's Defensive Player of the Year.
Behind the play of Speaks, the Panthers would hold one of the better defenses in the UFL, allowing 263.8 yards and 19.0 points per game, the fourth and third-best marks in the league. Michigan would finish the season with a 7-3 record, but lost to Birmingham in the XFL Conference Championship game.
Although Speaks has not been signed by an NFL team yet, Carolina and Tennessee have both been reported to have shown interest in the star edge rusher. With the losses of Shaq Barrett and Devin White in free agency, Speaks could be an under-the-radar signing for Tampa Bay ahead of the 2024 season.