Lavonte David's future hangs in the balance. Key defensive pieces face tough decisions as Tampa Bay navigates crucial free agency choices.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have 17 unrestricted free agents, with nine on offense and eight more on defense.
As with the offense (Mike Evans), the Bucs have a franchise cornerstone in Lavonte David who is an unrestricted free agent— if he doesn’t retire.
Evans has decided he wants to play. David hasn't made up his mind yet.
Here's a breakdown of Tampa's eight defensive free agents, with the categories being: Who is likely to stay, who is likely to go and who knows?
Let's start with the latter.
WHO KNOWS?
Lavonte David
David has already laid out all the scenarios: He’ll either come back with the Bucs or retire.
The 13-year vet confirmed last month that the Bucs would welcome him back for year 14, and also confirmed that he’s not interested in playing anywhere else.
So any discussion of what teams might be fits for David is a waste of time. He’ll either play in Tampa or play nowhere. End of story.
LIKELY TO LEAVE
Jameal Dean
Dean is a player many feel the Bucs should keep.
The defensive back ended 2025 with two forced fumbles and three interceptions, each the highest totals of his career. His nine passes defended led the Bucs and QBs managed just a 63.1 passer rating against him, about 17 points below the league average. Of 114 players at his position, Pro Football Focus gave him the third highest grade.
However, the way Tampa used Dean didn’t seem to match up with his production.
He was Tampa’s best defender, according to PFF, but only played the third-most snaps among Tampa’s defensive backs. Maybe the most telling stat is that fellow DB Zyon McCollum played 105 more snaps than Dean despite playing in one fewer game.
Per Spotrac, Dean’s market value is $37.4 million over three years. Based on the way the Bucs used him, it’s hard to see them paying that.
Logan Hall
Hall has not been the player the Bucs hoped he’d be when they drafted him with pick No. 33 four years ago. The past two seasons have been his best — a career-high 5.5 sacks in 2024 followed by a career-high 32 pressures in 2025. But if Spotrac is accurate, the Bucs would have to pay Hall roughly $8 million annually over the next three seasons to keep him. It’d be hard to blame the Bucs for wanting to spend their money elsewhere.
Deion Jones
The Bucs are already (potentially) spending money to keep an over-the-hill linebacker on the team. Would they want to spend more money to keep another one? Jones wouldn’t cost much, but he’s 31 and has only played 120 snaps for Tampa over 19 games. Tampa needs help at linebacker with or without David, and Jones isn’t that guy.
Haason Reddick
Sometimes, things just don’t work out. After a disappointing season with the New York Jets in 2024 (one sack in 10 games), the Bucs signed Reddick to a one-year deal, hoping he’d at least resemble the player that had 27 sacks with the Eagles over the 2022 and 2023 seasons.
It didn’t happen.
Reddick had 2.5 sacks for Tampa Bay, so although stranger things have happened, it’s hard to see Reddick, who will be 32 in September, finding the fountain of youth.
Reddick’s projected market value is just under $5 million for one year, which would be considerably cheaper than the one-year, $14 million deal that the Bucs signed him to last spring. But he didn’t prove much on his prove-it deal, so it would make sense for the Bucs to move on and try to get Yaya Diaby some help.
Kindle Vidor
Like with Reddick, the Bucs signed Vidor on a one-year deal, and it didn’t work out. Vidor wasn’t injured in 2026, yet didn’t log enough snaps to be ranked by Pro Football Focus. The Bucs didn’t value Vidor enough to play him much, so it’s likely they will move on.
Anthony Walker
Like with Jones, having David stay (if he wants to) means the Bucs will have little room for linebackers in their 30s. Walker only played with the Bucs for three games, after being cut in August and returning in December. His age and injury history are working against him, and the Bucs are likely looking to go younger and faster at linebacker.
LIKELY TO STAY
Greg Gaines
Not a lot of fans would really notice if Gaines left the Bucs. He ended 2025 108th out of 134 DL in overall grade per PFF, 118th in pass rush grade and 77th in run defense grade. But it wouldn’t cost much to keep him, and odds are the Bucs won’t want to cut two interior lineman loose. So there’s little to lose by keeping Gaines around.
Plus, Gaines has a close friendship with star DT and team captain Vita Vea, who he played with at the University of Washington.
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