After sitting out most of the free agency period, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers dipped their toe back into the pool and made a proper signing.
To be clear, Jordan Whitehead was a proper signing but his deal was viewed as more of a reunion along the lines of what the Bucs had done with other players rather than an external addition. Sure, Whitehead had played the last fews seasons in New York but he's a Buccaneer at heart and his return to Tampa Bay proved that.
Randy Gregory, on the other hand, has no history with the Bucs and feels like the first notable outside hire the team has made in free agency. He spent the best years of his career in Dallas, and was more of a mercenary for the Broncos and 49ers over the last few years.
Now he comes to Tampa Bay as a potentially sneaky signing that could end up paying off big next season. He's a pure depth addition, but we've seen what Gregory can do when he's on the top of his game. Back in 2021 Gregory had 5 sacks, 10 combined tackles, 3 tackles for loss, and 12 quarterback hits in just seven games with Dallas.
That's the guy the Bucs want to see return, and if he does the defense is going to be even more menacing than it already is.
Updated Tampa Bay Buccaneers depth chart after signing Randy Gregory
Nothing really changes anywhere else on the depth chart for the Bucs, but the signing of Gregory does a few things to the linebacking group and the team's edge rushers.
Gregory is primarily going to be in that Shaq Barrett role, even though he made his bones as the Dallas Cowboys' starting defensive end back in 2021. Logan Hall is on the same side of the defense as Gregory, but instead of seeing him as a guy to rotate in with him, we should be pictuing both guys flying around the edge to wreck offenses.
Here's how the linebacke room looks now that Randy Gregory is joining the fun:
Position | Player 1 | Player 2 | Player 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
LOLB | Joe Tryon-Shoyinka | Anthony Nelson | Jose Ramirez |
LILB | KJ Britt | JJ Russell | Vi Jones |
RILB | Lavonte David | SirVocea Dennis | |
ROLB | Yaya Diaby | Randy Gregory | Markees Watts |
Gregory adds to a pretty robust and exciting group of outside linebackers. On paper, the combo of Yaya Diaby and Gregory seems like a fantastic rotation for the Bucs to hammer offenses with, and that's before considering how much pressure could be coming around the other side of Joe Tryon-Shoyinka takes a leap forward this year.
Tampa Bay still needs to find a way to address the position during the draft, specifically inside linebacker where things are a little unproven. KJ Britt usurped Devin White late last year to earn the starting role, and Todd Bowles has gone out of his way to endorse him, but drafting one of the top linebackers in this year's class makes a lot of sense as far as the future is concerned.
Bowles likes depth and rotation on his defense, and adding someone like Texas A&M's Edgerrin Cooper could not only provide that but could give the Bucs a successor to either White or David.
That's the other thing to think about here; Lavonte David isn't going to play forever. Even if Britt plays lights out and fully replaces White as the starter, the Bucs will need to have a similar conversation with themselves about how to replace David when he eventually retires.
Perhaps that's a role SirVocea Dennis fills, but it's worth wondering.
Depth behind JTS on the left side could be useful too, although Anthony Nelson has proven he can be a decent rotational player -- just look at his forced safety in the Wild Card game.
Linebacker depth was something the Bucs prided themselves on last year, but it was also a position group that was tested mightily late in the year. Things at the top line seem to be pretty stout, and anything that happens will likely be moves to add depth, something that the signing of Gregory does in ways that might end up being even more exciting that they initially seem.