Free agency is winding down, but the Bucks aren’t done signing players.
Tampa Bay signed a veteran outside linebacker on Thursday. randy gregory He was signed to a one-year demonstration contract worth less than $5 million to help the team’s depth at the position.bucks Free Shaq Barrett Barrett was making an average of $17 million a season and will turn 32 this fall due to salary cap changes.
Gregory, 31, sells for quite a bit less, but still has gas left in the tank. He just played in the Super Bowl with San Francisco last season after playing for the 49ers (12 games) and Broncos (4 games).
Known for his hard play, the 6-foot-5, 242-pounder brings size and experience to Tampa Bay’s outside linebacker room, which needs both following Barrett’s departure. Gregory was a second-round pick of Dallas out of Nebraska in 2015 and spent his first five seasons with the Cowboys. He moved to Denver in 2022 and stayed just over a year before finishing the 2023 season in San Francisco.
Randy Gregory could start as an OLB back.
Bucks OLB Randy Gregory – Photo courtesy of USA Today
Randy Gregory wasn’t necessarily signed to be Tampa Bay’s starter. However, this season he will be competing with Joe Tryon-Soyinka and Anthony Nelson for the right to start opposite Yaya Diaby. His contract does not prevent the Bucs from drafting another edge rusher. Still, it reduces the need to do so.
Gregory will be reunited with Bucs outside linebackers coach George Edwards, who served as the Cowboys’ pass rush coach from 2020 to 2022. Gregory has 117 tackles, 22 sacks, 10 forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries during his seven-year NFL career. He also had an interception in 2021 and tied a career-high with six sacks.
Gregory had seven pressures and one sack last year with the Broncos and 18 pressures and 2.5 sacks with the 49ers.
The Bucs had a very young outside linebacker room with three players in their second year in the league in Diaby, Marquise Watts, and Jose Ramirez, so the team replaced the veteran presence brought in by Shaq Barrett with Gregory It was important to sign an edge rusher like . To the room.
Gregory is Very athletic edge rusher from Nebraska. His speed was 4.64 in the 40, 6.79 in the three-cone drill, and 4.16 in the shuttle. Those numbers are in the 90th percentile of edge rushers entering the NFL Draft.
