The NFL Free Agent period starts on Tuesday officially and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers could be in the mix for a quarterback and names like Michael Vick, Matt Schaub, Josh McCown, Rex Grossman and Matt Cassel could be in the mix over Mike Glennon for Lovie Smith, while two former players of his in Charles Tillman and Devin Hester could also be targets.
The Buccaneers have a number of needs coming into the offseason and one area is at quarterback, as the team finished last in the league in passing yards per game and their primary starter for next season is rookie Mike Glennon. The rookie from last season is a solid prospect, but since Smith did not draft him, he will not be tied to him and it is nearly a guarantee that the team brings in one or two veterans to compete and they also could add another name in the draft.
According to ESPN.com blogger Pat Yasinskas, the team could be after Vick, McCown and Grossman as options, as the latter two played with Smith before, while Schaub could also be a target if he is released by the Texans and that looks like a likely move. The team gained just 176 yards per game through the air last season and that needs to change, while the defense will be getting a new look under Smith and Tillman could be a part of that as well.
The Buccaneers are not a team that is afraid to spend when needed and while they may have tossed too much money at Darrelle Revis in the trade with the Jets, they still have a decent cap situation heading into free agency and if they play their cards right, they could end up with a nice crop for the second time in the past few years.
The team is expected to have about $20 million in cap space to work with and after signing names like Vincent Jackson and Dashon Goldson over the past couple years, they could be in line to spend again. Greg Schiano was terrible in Tampa and he rubbed everyone the wrong way and now Smith comes in and has the chance to remake the team in his image and some other free agent options include Devin ester and Jared Allen as well as Asante Samuel and even more so at CB if they trade Darrelle Revis.
