{"id":811130,"date":"2026-03-14T03:55:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T03:55:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/811130\/"},"modified":"2026-03-14T03:55:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T03:55:08","slug":"tampa-bay-bucs-bolster-roster-during-free-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/811130\/","title":{"rendered":"Tampa Bay Bucs bolster roster during free agency"},"content":{"rendered":"

TAMPA, Fla. \u2014\u00a0Free agency kicked off for the Tampa Bay Bucs with a loss, a big one, with future Hall of Famer Mike Evans bolting for the San Francisco 49ers<\/a>. On Thursday, the Bucs focused on their additions, including a player very familiar with the franchise, tight end Cade Otton.<\/p>\n

What You Need To Know<\/p>\n

The Bucs kicked off free agency with the loss of future Hall of Famer Mike Evans
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They also added some key players, including running back Kenny Gainwell and linebacker Alex Anzalone
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Tampa Bay also brought back tight end Cade Otton<\/p>\n

Otton signed his second contract with the Bucs. Coming off a season where he was second on the team with 59 receptions for 572 yards and one touchdown, Otton was prepared to test the free agent waters, but wanted to finish what he started in Tampa Bay. Last season was the first time in his career he wasn\u2019t in the postseason, and that will motivate him this offseason.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know as a team the players we have, that\u2019s where we\u2019re supposed to be,\u201d Otton said. \u201cWe\u2019re supposed to be in the playoffs competing for a Super Bowl. And it\u2019s going to take work in the offseason separating ourselves from the other good teams, because there are a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bucs also welcomed running back Kenny Gainwell. The sixth-year running back replaces Rachaad White and joins Bucky Irving and is looking forward to showcasing his versatility. Last season with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Gainwell totaled more than 1,000 yards from scrimmage with eight touchdowns. He set new career highs and was voted the team\u2019s MVP.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it opened up a couple of people’s eyes to see what I really can do,\u201d Gainwell said. \u201cMe going out there doing all I can on the field, basically just proving what I basically really can do, what I\u2019ve really been doing all my career and what has been hidden and finally it come into the light.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bucs bolstered their defense with the addition of linebacker Alex Anzalone. The former Florida Gator started his NFL career in New Orleans, but spent the last five seasons with the Detroit Lions. Alex and his family spent their offseasons in Tampa, so he\u2019s basically coming home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. \u2014\u00a0Free agency kicked off for the Tampa Bay Bucs with a loss, a big one, with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":811131,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2077],"tags":[12606,1615,1613,211,380,20252,7,21170,88,6,10738,9,209,704,250,15556,2597,2596,1004],"class_list":["post-811130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa-bay-buccaneers","tag-app-professional-sports","tag-app-sports","tag-app-top-stories","tag-buccaneers","tag-florida","tag-florida-sports","tag-football","tag-katherine-smith","tag-news","tag-nfl","tag-orlando","tag-sports","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-bay","tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers","tag-tampa-bay-bucs","tag-tampabay","tag-tampabaybuccaneers","tag-top-stories"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116225515567353686","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=811130"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811130\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/811131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=811130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=811130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=811130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}