The Tampa Bay Buccaneers added depth to their defensive front on Friday, signing former Atlanta Falcon defensive lineman Deadrin Senat. Senat played his college ball at nearby USF, which also uses Raymond James Stadium for its home games.
Senat (6-1, 305) originally entered the NFL as a third-round pick by the Falcons in 2018, selected 90th overall. He saw his most significant playing time in Atlanta as a rookie, appearing in 15 games with two starts and recording 30 tackles, two tackles for loss and three quarterback hits. However, he saw action in just seven contests over the following two seasons and then landed on injured reserve to start the 2021 campaign due to a torn pec. The Falcons waived him from the I.R. list in November.
Senat joins a defensive line group in Tampa led by Vita Vea, Will Gholston and Rakeem Nunez-Roches. Gholston re-signed with the team nine days into free agency but fellow linemen Ndamukong Suh and Steve McLendon remain unsigned. Suh and McLendon accounted for nearly 1,100 defensive snaps for the Buccaneers in 2021.
Senat gets a chance to continue his NFL career in his home state, as he was born in Naples and played his high school football in Immokalee, which is in southern Florida. At USF, Senat was a first-team all-conference selection as a senior after earning second-team honors the season before. He finished his 2017 senior campaign with 66 tackles, 10.5 tackles for loss and 6.0 sacks in 12 games.
