As the deadline for exercising the fifth-year option of players picked in the first round of the 2011 draft approaches, a recent first-round pick in Tampa Bay is inching closer toward being thrown overboard.
Per a league source, it’s doubtful that the Buccaneers will pick up the fifth-year option on defensive end Adrian Clayborn.
The 20th overall pick that year, Clayborn has 35 career regular-season appearances and starts. In 2013, he started every game, notching 5.5 sacks. Clayborn had 7.5 sacks as a rookie.
While the Bucs likely won’t pick up Clayborn’s option, the source says they also have no intention of trading him to a team that perhaps would want to exercise the option. Or to trade him at any point after the May 3 deadline for picking up the option.
Thus, if Clayborn stays in Tampa beyond 2014, it’ll happen under a contract that isn’t driven by a first-year salary of $6.9 million, which is the amount of the option the Bucs likely won’t be exercising.