Defensive End Jacquies Smith just signed the tender offer he received from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as a restricted free agent. Smith was poised to have a decisive role in the Buccaneers defense in 2016, but an early knee injury kept him off the field for almost the whole year.
Now, in his fourth season with the Bucs, the 27-year old Smith will provide much-needed depth at Defensive End, a position where Tampa Bay is not necessarily stacked with talent. Smith has great speed coming off the edge and plays hard on every down. In his two years with the Buccaneers (excluding last year, due to injury) he had 13.5 Sacks on very limited snaps. He only started 18 games during those two years.
Certainly, Jacquies Smith is a force to be reckoned with for opposing offenses and has intriguing potential. I would not be surprised to see him in the starting lineup by the start of the Regular Season.
