Five Players Buccaneers Should Avoid Re-Signing in 2026 Free Agency

With 2026 free agency fast approaching, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have a lot of decisions that they are going to have to make about who they want to retain going forward and what players they want to let walk in free agency.

Here are a few players that we would caution Tampa Bay on re-signing this upcoming 2026 free agency period:

Greg Gaines

Greg Gaines has been with the Buccaneers for three seasons now and has established himself as a backup who is generally appreciated by the Bucs coaching staff. Gaines has played in 49 games, started nine and has accumulated 64 tackles, four sacks, five tackles for loss and 11 quarterback hits.

While those numbers aren't terrible for a backup, it does feel like the Bucs could get that level of production from a wide variety of players that could give you upside for more. It's for that reason that I believe the Bucs would be ok with letting Gaines walk in the market going forward.

Haason Reddick

Alright, it's fair to say that the Reddick experiment in Tampa Bay failed this past season. Brought in on a one-year deal to help fill a major need at edge rusher, Reddick struggled with injuries and inconsistent play throughout his lone season in Tampa, playing in 13 games and starting 12.

Reddick also did not produce great numbers when he was on the field, finishing with only 31 combined tackles, six tackles for loss, six quarterback hits, two and a half sacks and one forced fumble. This is certainly not what the Bucs hoped for last season, and it would be in both parties' best interests if Reddick moved on.

Charlie Heck

It was a pretty weird year for Heck and the Bucs' offensive line. With injuries and multiple players playing out of position due to said injuries, Heck was thrust into the starting lineup throughout a good portion of the season, with mixed results.

Heck got better as the season went on, but with Benjamin Chukwuma ready to take the role as the Bucs swing tackle this upcoming season, it does seem like the Bucs are prepared for life without Heck as their top backup option at tackle.

Teddy Bridgewater

Now, don't get me wrong, I love Bridgewater as much as the next guy, but it very much felt like this was a one-year plug for the Bucs at the backup quarterback spot. Bridgewater came out of pseudo-retirement to join Tampa, and while he was a player who did offer the Bucs a good amount of experience at the position, it does seem like the team could do better at getting more upside.

Bringing back undrafted rookie Connor Bazelak should be in the cards, as he had a pretty solid 2025 pre-season and the Bucs could always look to draft a quarterback in the later rounds of the 2026 draft as well. It is also very possible that Bridgewater may look to retire once more and go back to coaching high school football now that his suspension has been served.

Dan Feeney

When Dan Feeney was brought in during the early portion of the 2025 season, many were expecting the Bucs to get a player who had starting experience in the past and could be a solid plug-and-play type of guy for a team that was decimated with injuries in the offensive line room.

What the team got, though, was some pretty rough guard play from Feeney that compromised the interior of the offensive line and led to players like Graham Barton and Baker Mayfield struggling in the second half of the season. Now, not all of this is Feeney's fault — and I'm sure with a full offseason and preseason under his belt, he would look better. However, I think the Bucs should look towards younger players with higher upside both in free agency and in the draft to fill that need for interior offensive line depth.

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