Vikings steal special teams ace away from Buccaneers in free agency

While the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have had a mostly successful free agency, not everything has gone their way. It's hard to be mad about a class that includes the additions of Haason Reddick and Riley Dixon, as well as the return of Chris Godwin, but there's still work the Bucs need to do.

For as much as they've gained, there have still been losses.

The latest of those came on Thursday when the Minnesota Vikings poached Tavierre Thomas away from the Bucs. He might have seemed like a below-the-line player, but losing Thomas highlights a bigger need that Tampa Bay has yet to address, as well as strip the team of a special teams ace.

Vikings sign Tavierre Thomas away from Buccaneers in free agency

Signing Thomas was part of a barrage of moves the Vikings made after a relatively quiet start to free agency. Minnesota added players like Jonathan Allen Javon Hargrave, and re-signed Byon Murphy -- a free agent who might have interested the Bucs.

This most recent move is notable to Buccaneer fans, who will remember Thomas less as part of the secondary and more as a special teams ace from last season.

It might not move the needle with some, but the loss of Thomas eats into depth not only on special teams but in a secondary that has yet to be addressed.

Thomas was more of a break-in-case-of-emergency option in the secondary, and unfortunately, the Bucs reached that point last season. Injuries chewed through the defensive depth with Thomas taking snaps in games against the Panthers and Raiders.

That's more of a commentary on how bad things got, but the upside with Thomas is how well he played on special teams for the Bucs. That will be easier to replace than the depth in the secondary, albeit his loss isn't too massive in that regard.

Instead, it reminds us that the Bucs still have work to do. Thomas might not have been super impactful in the secondary but an already thin unit just got a little thinner and the pressure is on to make sure the team avoids a third straight year of running out of bodies at the wrong time.

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