Tampa Bay Buccaneers Sign Two Offensive Players to One-Year Contracts
While the majority of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' focus is on re-signing their big names from last year's roster, there are still the less big-name players in need of taking care of as well. The likes of Baker Mayfield, Mike Evans, and Lavonte David are the main priorities for the Buccaneers, but other players have had an impact on the team in some sort of fashion that they would like to keep in the fold moving into the future.
On Tuesday, Tampa Bay did exactly that as they announced the signings of both WR Deven Thompkins and OT Brandon Walton to one-year deals.
Both Walton and Thompkins were both set to become exclusive rights free agents, meaning that they were on expiring contracts with two or fewer free agency credits preventing them from negotiating with any other team.
They will now both be returning to Tampa Bay for the 2024 season.
Deven Thompkins was an undrafted wide receiver out of Utah State. The Buccaneers quickly picked up the speedy, but undersized wideout and he saw time sparingly during his rookie season in 2022 - mainly being used as a specialist in the return game. Thompkins' role expanded during the 2023 campaign as he started to expand his role from special teams to the offensive side of the ball making in impact on sweeps and end-arounds. Thompkins will be entering his third season with the Buccaneers and will once again look to continue developing.
Brandon Walton, an undrafted offensive lineman out of Florida Atlantic, began his career with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He never saw the field in Pittsburgh and was eventually picked up by the Buccaneers. Walton filled in admirably during the 2022 season as a backup when the Buccaneers were having all sorts of issues with injuries along the offensive line. That earned him the right to come back to Tampa Bay as a depth piece along the offensive line - a role that we likely will see Walton in again in 2024. Over his two seasons in Tampa, Walton has played in a total of 15 games with two starts.
Stick with BucsGameday for more coverage of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers throughout the 2024 offseason.
