Should the Buccaneers go after Super Bowl-winning safety Juan Thornhill in free agency?

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers need some safety help. The team brought back Jordan Whitehead in 2024 after he played with the New York Jets for two years, but that experiment didn't work out, and they could end up cutting him and looking for a new player to slot in.

NFL free agency hasn't started yet, but players are always either expected to hit free agency or are released a little early in anticipation. One of those players is safety Juan Thornhill, who the Cleveland Browns released Monday after signing him to a three-year deal in 2023.

The #Browns are releasing veteran S Juan Thornhill, sources say. The team and Thornhill’s camp spoke in recent days and the decision was made to part ways now, giving Thornhill a few weeks before free agency to find his next home.

Thornhill had one year at $7m left on his deal. pic.twitter.com/CcNQpn5jc2
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) February 24, 2025

The Buccaneers need safety help, and Thornhill is a Super Bowl-winning safety with the Kansas City Chiefs. So should the Bucs take a chance and try to bring him on?

Should the Buccaneers sign Juan Thornhill?

No.

Thornhill played some good football with the Kansas City Chiefs, defending 20 passes and netting 234 combined tackles over the four years he was there. Gambling on that Thornhill for cheap wouldn't be a bad idea, but Juan Thornhill has not been Kansas City Chiefs Juan Thornhill for two years.

Cleveland Browns safety Juan Thornhill catches the ball during warm-ups. | Scott Galvin-Imagn Images

He's only played 22 games in the last two years for the Browns, and his production has not been nearly as notable because of that. He's only defended four passes in the last two seasons and gave up a staggering passer rating of 141.7 last year, per Pro Football Reference. That's quite bad, and it wouldn't be a good replacement for Whitehead, who gave up 125.5. That's still bad, but it's better than Thornhill's efforts.

For those reasons — and the fact that Thornhill is more of a free safety when Jordan Whitehead's potential replacement would need to be more of a strong safety — the Bucs should pass on him in free agency.

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