There were a few holes in the defense that the Buccaneers had to upgrade in the off-season. One, in particular, was the safety position. Going into the off-season we only had one safety and that was Keith Tandy. The Buccaneers lost Bradley McDougald to free agency who signed with the Seattle Seahawks. Then during free agency, the Buccaneers resigned Chris Conte and brought in J.J. Wilcox both on 2-year deals. During the draft, the Buccaneers drafted Justin Evans with their 2nd round pick.
With the addition of Ward, the Buccaneers had to make room for him, so they traded Wilcox and a 2019 7th round pick for a 2018 6th-round pick. The Buccaneers have now added a reliable veteran that significantly upgrades their safety position. In his career, Ward has 8 INT, 10 FF, 8.5 sacks and 413 tackles. Ward can blitz, he can cover in space and most importantly he can tackle! I highly expect Ward to start, maybe not this or next week, but by week 3, Ward will be taking one of the safeties positions. You don’t pay a man 5 million dollars to sit on the Bench.
The Buccaneers got a very talented player for cheap, but what they also did was added very good depth to the safety position. Justin Evans can learn a lot from Ward even if he is only here for one year. The Buccaneers just became a NO FLY ZONE! Keith Tandy, T.J. Ward, Vernon Hargreaves, Brent Grimes, WHAT ARE OFFENSES GOING TO DO? WE ARE IN A WIN NOW MODE! GO BUCCANEERS!
