Team news: Tampa Bay Buccaneers | Page 5

WR Marquez Callaway plans to sign with the Broncos. Callaway reunites with Sean Payton. In 2021, Callaway had a career-high 46 catches, 698 yards, and six touchdowns in Payton’s offense.

Callaway has never been known as a burner, but there's a chance that this signing is in response to speedy K.J. Hamler going down for four-to-six months with a partially torn pec this week. If the rumors are true about the team shopping Jerry Jeudy/Courtland Sutton, they're going to need some more bodies in the wide receiver room.

Bucs officially released RB Leonard Fournette and TE Cameron Brate.

Related Players: Rachaad White, Chase Edmonds, Cade Otton

The latter may be a little more surprising than the former but they are both aging veterans who can have their production replaced rather easily. Cade Otton had a couple of small flashes with Brate sidelined last season, but we'll have to see how that translates into an offense without Tom Brady.

Buccaneers are signing former Broncos’ running back Chase Edmonds to a one-year deal.

Related Players: Javonte Williams, Samaje Perine, Rachaad White, Ke'Shawn Vaughn

Edmonds will more than likely split snaps with Ke'Shawn Vaughn and possibly even another late-round running back in Tampa Bay.

The Bucs are finalizing a deal with former No. 1 overall pick Baker Mayfield. Mayfield finished his fifth NFL season strong after landing with the Rams. Now he gets a chance to take over for Tom Brady in Tampa and is still only 27. It's a one-year, $8.5M deal for Baker.

Related Players: Kyle Trask

Mayfield will be battling it out with 2021 second-round pick Kyle Trask. Trask didn't have a chance to log a start underneath Brady last season. Mayfield should have the leg-up in the competition and it honestly isn't too bad of a landing spot at the time of writing, but there have been rumors swirling of a Mike Evans trade, so he may lose a weapon before he even dons a uniform.

Sterling Shepard will be back with the #Giants on a 1-year deal for the 2023 season. Allows Shep to continue his rehab from ACL here rather than elsewhere.

Fun fact: Sterling Shepard hasn't averaged less than 50 yards receiving per game since his rookie season (2016). He had back-to-back 10-target games in Week 2 and Week 3 prior to his injury.

Per Leonard, "I hate when people be on here just talking saying I’m out of shape etc do y’all understand I’m playing with a lisfranc in my foot every week can barley push off my foot but through the Grace of God I’m going to keep proving y’all wrong."

Related Players: Rachaad White, Ke'Shawn Vaughn

While it's admirable that Fournette is plugging away on an injured foot, he's also averaging 3.6 yards per carry on the season and has such lowlights as his three-week stretch between Weeks 7-9 when he accumulated 62 yards on 26 rushes (2.3 YPA). Look for Rachaad White to continue seeing a bigger role over the final two weeks of the season.

Saying he was “bored” not playing football, retired tight end Rob Gronkowski contacted the Bucs last month about a possible return to the team. The Bucs had several conversations with Gronkowski around Thanksgiving about him possibly reuniting with quarterback Tom Brady to help the struggling squad secure a playoff berth.

Related Players: Cade Otton, Cameron Brate

Even if he were to return, it is very unlikely it would have an impact on typical redraft leagues, but what a crazy wrench it would throw into playoff-only leagues. Gronk went 8-110-2 in the 2020 postseason and followed it up with a 9-116-1 performance in two 2021 postseason games.