NFL free agency is underway. On Wednesday, March 11, the NFL sent out a press release to mark the opening of the annual player market, within it listing a total of 532 players who had become unrestricted free agents. That's a little under 17 per team. The Miami Dolphins had the most players hit the market, with 27, while the Green Bay Packers and New England Patriots tied for the fewest with six each.
While a significant subset of those 532 players will find a way to remain with the teams they played for in 2025, many will find new opportunities. In fact, many already have. The Super Bowl MVP, Seattle running back Kenneth Walker, has already moved on to a new NFL home in Kansas City. Edge rushers Jaelen Phillips and Trey Hendrickson showed once again how much the NFL values their position, landing top-of-the-market deals in Carolina and Baltimore, respectively. Two former first-round quarterbacks, Arizona's Kyler Murray and Miami's Tua Tagovailoa, quickly found interesting new opportunities in Minnesota and Atlanta, respectively, after their original teams bid them farewell.
And the Tampa Bay Buccaneers saw their long and fruitful relationship with Mike Evans, the most productive offensive player in team history, come to an end when he chose to chase a new challenge in San Francisco. The Buccaneers, obviously sad to see a franchise icon go, lauded Evans and his many accomplishments in red and pewter after learning of his deal with the 49ers.
Roster turnover isn't always as dramatic as a Super Bowl MVP immediately leaving town or one team's legend suiting up in a new uniform, but it is a constant. And it's happening right now. How will it affect the Buccaneers? We already have some answers – Evans has left but several significant roster needs have been addressed – but there is more to come.
"It's a process," said General Manager Jason Licht at the NFL Scouting Combine, shortly before the start of free agency. "We always lean on the draft; that's our bread and butter and that's always been a basic principle for us. But we will obviously look at free agency as well, and we're not shutting the door on any of our [own] free agents. We're going to make attempts at signing some of them back … it's a lot of good players and we have to make some decisions."
Licht isn't exactly sharing the Buccaneers' internal strategies for free agency and the draft, but he did acknowledge there were some obvious areas that needed to be addressed.
"You have to pressure the quarterback in order to have success, so whether that is a D-tackle or outside linebacker in our case, even inside linebacker," said Licht. "I would say our front seven will be something that we need to focus on."
New Arrivals
• LB Alex Anzalone: Signed two-year contract on March 12
• QB Jake Browning: Signed one-year contract on March 13
• RB Kenneth Gainwell: Signed two-year contract on March 12
• S Miles Killebrew: Signed one-year contract on March 12
• OLB Al-Quadin Muhammad: Signed one-year contract on March 12
• DL A'Shawn Robinson: Signed one-year contract on March 13
Licht and company hit all three of those positions he mentioned above in the first week of free agency. The most significant addition was that of Anzalone, the former Detroit Lions linebacker who should step directly into a starting role and might even wear the green dot on his helmet as the defensive play-caller. With Lavonte David's future still undetermined and the Buccaneers wanting to give SirVocea Dennis competition for his role in 2025, the team could be looking at two new starters in 2025. Anzalone is an important first step in that pursuit; he had 95 tackles, 2.5 sacks, one interception and nine passes defensed in 2025 and offers the strong coverage in the middle of the field that the Bucs' defense badly needed.
Muhammad also comes over from the Lions after a breakout 2025 campaign in which he collected 11.0 sacks despite not starting any games and playing only 41% of the defensive snaps. He also had 6.0 sacks as a 17-game starter for Indianapolis in 2021. The Bucs' quest for more pressure off the edges continues. Tampa Bay also stepped in and signed Robinson after the division-rival Panthers let him go, helping to fill the snap-count void created by the departure of Logan Hall.
The Bucs' biggest strike on offense was the signing of former Pittsburgh running back Kennett Gainwell, who was named the Steelers' team MVP in 2026. A versatile back with pass-catching skills – 73 receptions last season – Gainwell has a career average of 4.4 yards per carry and should be a strong complement to Bucky Irving in the Bucs' backfield. Tampa Bay also found a new backup for starting quarterback Baker Mayfield, signing Jake Browning from the Bengals. Browning has 10 career regular-season starts and had a strong stretch in 2023 as a seven-game replacement for the injured Joe Burrow, going 4-3 as a starter.
Killebrew should make a big impact on the Bucs' special teams coverage units. Tampa Bay's new Special Teams Coordinator Danny Smith knows Killebrew well from their time together in Pittsburgh and saw him make the Pro Bowl in 2023 and 2024 as a special teams ace.
Franchise Tag
• None
For the third time in the last seven years, the Buccaneers did not utilize their franchise tag in 2026. Outside linebacker Shaquil Barrett got the tag in 2020, followed by wide receiver Chris Godwin in 2021 and 2022. Safety Antoine Winfield Jr. was tagged in 2024; all three players eventually stayed in Tampa on multi-year deals.
Re-Signed Players
• G Dan Feeney: Signed one-year contract on March 16
• TE Ko Kieft: Signed one-year contract on March 16
• TE Cade Otton: Signed three-year contract extension on March 12
One of the Bucs' first moves at the start of the new league year was to get a deal done with Otton, whose all-around contributions were obviously deemed as very valuable. Otton has played more offensive snaps than any other tight end in the NFL over the past three seasons and has not seen his playing time dip below 92% in any of those three campaigns. He has had at least 42 catches in each of his four seasons, including exactly 59 in both 2024 and 2025, and is an important part of the team's run and pass-blocking, as well. Fellow 2022 draft pick Ko Kieft, a tight end of a very different sort, also is staying in Tampa for at least one more season. He missed most of last season with a leg injury but is a tenacious blocker who lines up in multiple positions. The Bucs signed Feeney off Buffalo's practice squad in September and he ended up starting 10 games at guard due to a rash of O-Line injuries. The Bucs expect to have all five starters from a line that was dominant in 2024 back in action in 2026, but Feeney offers reliable depth at the very least.
Players Released, Traded and/or Signed by Other Teams
• QB Teddy Bridgewater: Reportedly signing with Detroit Lions
• CB Jamel Dean: Signed three-year contract with Pittsburgh Steelers on March 13
• WR Mike Evans: Signed three-year contract with San Francisco 49ers on March 12
• DL Logan Hall: Signed two-year contract with Houston Texans on March 13
• T Charlie Heck: Signed one-year contract with Miami Dolphins on March 16
• S Christian Izien: Signed one-year contract with Detroit Lions on March 13
• RB Rachaad White: Signed one-year contract with Washington Commanders on March 13
Again, the headliner here is Evans choosing to the other Bay area for the latter stage of his career. Evans is a near lock to make the Pro Football Hall of Fame based on what he has already done in Tampa, which includes a record-tying 11 straight 1,000-yard receiving campaigns and the 10th most touchdown receptions in NFL history. Evans got a three-year deal with the 49ers.
"My first draft pick as general manager in 2014 was a 20-year-old Mike Evans," said Licht. "From the moment he walked in the door, Mike made an immediate and lasting impact on our franchise. Over the years, we watched him grow, thrive and develop into a franchise icon whose legacy will carry on well past his playing days. He has always meant a great deal to me professionally and personally, so it's difficult to see him go elsewhere. I wish Mike, Ashli and their family the best as they move on."
Dean made the most of a strong 2025 campaign, signing a three-year, $36.5 million pact with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Though injuries kept him out of three games, Dean had a career-high three interceptions while breaking up nine passes. Drafted by the Buccaneers in the third round in 2019, Dean started 96 games with 77 starts for the Buccaneers and recorded 11 interceptions and 61 passes defensed.
Hall was the Bucs' first pick in the 2022 draft, taking with the first pick in the second round after a Day One trade down. He had a career-high 5.5 sacks in 2024 but just 1.5 last season. Heck was a swing tackle on a one-year deal with the Bucs in 2025, making six starts. Bridgewater backed up Baker Mayfield but only threw 15 passes.
White, like Hall a member of the Bucs' 2022 draft class, topped 1,000 yards from scrimmage in both 2023 and 2024 but ceded the starting job to Irving late in the '24 campaign. With Irving missing time to injury in 2025, White had another 790 yards from scrimmage last fall.
Izien was not extended a tender offer as a potential restricted free agent, which made him eligible to sign with any team once free agency began. A former undrafted free agent, he proved valuable to the Buccaneers over three seasons due to his versatility, seeing action at times in the slot, as a safety and even in a pinch at outside cornerback.
Remaining Unrestricted Free Agents
• LB Lavonte David
• DL Greg Gaines
• S J.T. Gray
• LB Deion Jones
• G Michael Jordan
• OLB Haason Reddick
• WR Sterling Shepard
• CB Kindle Vildor
• LB Anthony Walker
David, who was named the seventh greatest player in franchise history prior to the start of the Bucs' 50th season last summer, is in the process of deciding whether or not to continue his playing career. He has indicated that the only options he is considering are retirement or playing for the Buccaneers. As it stands, he is one of just three players in team history to play 14 or more seasons and his 1,714 tackles, as compiled by Statspass, have him tied for the most in team history with Hall of Famer Derrick Brooks.
"Once again, you know how I feel and we feel and the entire organization [feels] about Lavonte David," said Licht. "He is the staple of what we look for in a player and a person and he has also earned the right to take a step back and decide what his future is and we are giving him that respect right now."
The only other 2025 starter on the list of remaining UFAs for the Buccaneers is Reddick, and he was limited to 12 starts and 2.5 sacks by a pair of leg injuries. From 2020-23, Reddick compiled 50.5 sacks and topped double digits in each of those four seasons. Jordan started nine games for the Bucs in 2025, seeing action at both left and right guard due to a variety of O-Line injuries. Shepard helped keep the Bucs' passing attack moving during injury absences by Evans, Chris Godwin and Jalen McMillan, catching 39 passes, but by the end of the season was a healthy scratch.
Gray, Vildor and Jones were primarily special teams contributors in 2025. Gaines was a rotational player on the defensive line for the third season in a row and Walker spent much of the season on the Colts' practice squad before returning to the Bucs late in the year.
Remaining Restricted Free Agents
• RB Sean Tucker
Restricted free agents are players with three years of accrued free agency credit and an expiredcontract. They become RFAs if their team extends the necessary tender offer prior to the start of the free agency, and then they may negotiate with other teams while their original team has an opportunity to match any deal they get. Tucker was the only one of three potential RFAs to whom the Bucs extended a tender offer. An undrafted free agent in 2023, he has rushed for 641 yards and nine touchdowns in three seasons and when given an opportunity has produced two 100-yard rushing games.
Remaining Exclusive Rights Free Agents
• LS Evan Deckers
Exclusive rights free agents are players with expired contracts and two or fewer seasons of accrued free agency credit. If they get the qualifying offer to make them ERFAs before free agency begins they can only re-sign with their current team. Deckers, who handled the long-snapping duties for the Bucs in all 17 games in 2025 and for 11 games in 2024, was the only candidate the Bucs had in this category this offseason.
Non-Tendered Free Agents
• OLB Markees Watts
Players who could have become restricted or exclusive rights free agents become equivalent to unrestricted free agents if they do not receive a qualifying offer from their respective teams. This was the case for Izien and Watts. Watts was an undrafted free agent in 2023 who has appeared in 27 games over three seasons and has notched 1.5 sacks. He got into a career-high 15 games last season, mostly on special teams, where he had a 61% snap share.
