Sep 17, 2002 - The Tampa Bay Buccaneers reunited Head Coach Jon Gruden with one of his top scoring weapons in Oakland on Tuesday, signing free-agent tight end Rickey Dudley to a one-year contract.

To make room for Dudley on the roster, the team released second-year G Russ Hochstein, who played on special teams in the Bucs' opener but was inactive last Sunday in Baltimore.

“We signed Rickey Dudley because he is another experienced player in this league,” said Head Coach Jon Gruden. “We really think that he can help us.”

A first-round draft pick in 1996, Dudley spent the first five seasons of his NFL career with the Raiders, the last three under Gruden. In three years in Gruden's attack, Dudley started all 48 games and caught 104 passes for 1,454 yards and 18 touchdowns. Including his two years before Gruden's arrival and an abbreviated 2001 season in Cleveland, Dudley has career totals of 195 receptions for 2,742 yards and 29 touchdowns, averaging an impressive 14.9 yards per catch.

In 2001, Dudley signed with Cleveland as an unrestricted free agent and immediately became the Browns' starter. However, he was placed on injured reserve due to a right mid-foot sprain and finished with just nine receptions for 115 yards. Following a 2002 preseason in which he started all four games and contributed one reception, Dudley was released by the Browns on September 1, the NFL's final cut-down day.

A two-sport star at Ohio State who averaged 13.3 points per game for the Buckeyes' basketball team, Dudley was considered one of the top tight end prospects to come out of college in years. The last tight end to be drafted higher than ninth – Dudley's spot and also where the New York Jets took Kyle Brady the year before – was UCLA's Paul Bergman, selected eighth overall (in the supplemental draft) in 1984 by Indianapolis. A very solid 6-6, 255-pound athlete, Dudley intrigued scouts with his receiver-caliber speed.

The former Texas prep star caught 34 passes as a rookie, then turned in his finest statistical season in 1997, setting career highs in receptions (48) and yards (787) while adding seven touchdowns. His best scoring season came under Gruden in 1999, when he snared nine touchdown passes. With the exception of his injury-shortened 2001 stint in Cleveland, Dudley has never finished a season with less than four touchdown receptions.

Dudley is the third veteran tight end the Bucs have signed since Gruden came onboard in February. Marco Battaglia joined the team first, on March 19, followed by Pro Bowler Ken Dilger, Gruden's main target, on April 17. Dilger immediately went to the top of the depth chart, and Battaglia and holder Todd Yoder have alternated in the second and third spots during the first two weeks of the season. Yoder had one reception for 10 yards in the season opener; Battaglia did not make a catch in the first two games.

Dilger suffered a triceps contusion during the Bucs' win in Baltimore on Sunday, but he will be listed as probable on the team's injury report this week.

Dudley has started all but one of the 84 NFL games he's played, and has recorded three 100-yard receiving days and five two-touchdown outings. During his nine-touchdown season of 1999, Dudley was the ninth-leading scorer (non-kickers) in the NFL.

Rickey Dudley – Career Receiving Statistics
Year	Team	No.	Yards	Avg.	LG	TD
1996	Oakland	34	386	11.4	62t	4
1997	Oakland	48	787	16.4	76	7
1998	Oakland	36	549	15.3	32	5
1999	Oakland	39	555	14.2	35	9
2000	Oakland	29	350	12.1	30	4
2001	Cleveland	9	115	12.8	27	0
Totals	--	195	2742	14.1	76	29