Former Buccaneers Cornerback Signs With Tennessee Titans
Sean Murphy-Bunting was a valuable contributor to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' success during his four years with the team.
He was drafted in the second round of the 2019 NFL draft by GM, Jason Licht. It was a big defensive draft for the Bucs, with SMB selected one round after star linebacker, Devin White, and one round before fellow defensive backs, Jamel Dean and Mike Edwards.
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Due to the success of that draft class — in addition to the team's frivolous spending in the years that followed — being able to retain all of those players once their rookie deals expired was not a realistic possibility.
This is a big reason why the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were applauded for managing to retain the services of talented cornerback, Jamel Dean, last week, on a very reasonable 4-year, $52 million contract extension.
The same fate was not realized for Dean's fellow defensive backs, however. First, ball-hawking safety, Mike Edwards, agreed to terms with the Kansas City Chiefs on a 1-year deal. Now, it appears as though Sean Murphy-Bunting, another player who generated his fair share of turnovers during his time in Tampa, will also be making the move over to the AFC.
According to Jordan Schultz of The Score, it is a 1-year deal worth up to $5 million for SMB — a very similar contract to the one Mike Edwards signed with Kansas City.
Although the Buccaneers will miss the contributions of Sean Murphy-Bunting, it isn't hard to understand why they didn't go out of their way to bring him back. His length, versatility, and ball skills proved to be useful — and made him a starter over Jamel Dean at one time — but he also had his fair share of blown assignments, most often when playing in zone coverage.
Still, Sean Murphy-Bunting has experience playing in the slot, or on the outside. He's played in big games, and he's demonstrated an ability to find the football when it matters most, having generated some impressive turnovers in several of those big games. It will be interesting to see how well he is able to utilize those attributes with his new team in Tennessee.
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