The Buccaneers are bringing in a possible free agent addition for a visit.
According to multiple reports, they are meeting with defensive end Al-Quadin Muhammad on Thursday. Muhammad was the No. 59 player on PFT’s list of this year’s top free agents.
Muhammad set a career high with 11 sacks while playing a rotational role for the Lions during the 2025 season. Muhammad also had three sacks in nine games after joining the team the previous year.
Muhammad also played in 80 games for the Saints, Colts and Bears before landing with the Lions.
The Buccaneers lost a defensive lineman when Logan Hall agreed to sign with the Texans this week.
Bucs Clips
The Lions are adding to their secondary.
Detroit is signing cornerback Christian Izien to a one-year deal, according to multiple reports.
Izien, 25, joined Tampa Bay as an underrated free agent in 2023. He appeared in 17 games with four starts as a rookie before playing 14 games with 10 starts in 2024. He was on the field for 14 games with one start in 2025, getting 50 percent of special teams reps in games played, along with 20 percent of defensive snaps.
He’s tallied five passes defensed, three interceptions, and three forced fumbles in his 45 career games.
The Buccaneers did not place a restricted free agent tender on Izien earlier this month, making him an unrestricted free agent available to sign with any team. The Bucs reportedly had interest in bringing him back, but were unable to do so.
The rivalry between the Panthers and the Buccaneers has gotten a little boost.
NFL Media reports that former Panthers defensive lineman A’Shawn Robinson will be signing a one-year, $10 million deal with Tampa Bay.
Via NFL Media, Robinson had been due to make $8.5 million with Carolina in 2026. If that’s accurate, the Panthers should have traded him.
Robinson, 31, was a second-round pick of the Lions in 2016. After four years in Detroit, he spend three years with the Rams, one with the Giants, and two with the Panthers.
He has 143 regular-season appearances, with 106 starts.
The Buccaneers are bringing in a new backup quarterback.
Per Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, Jake Browning plans to sign with Tampa Bay on a one-year deal.
Browning, 29, had been with Cincinnati since 2021. His longest starting stint came in 2023 after Joe Burrow suffered a significant wrist injury. That season, Browning completed 70.4 percent of his passes for 1,936 yards with 12 touchdowns and seven interceptions, leading the Bengals to a 4-3 record in his seven starts.
Things did not go as well for Browning in 2025 after another Burrow injury, as he completed 64.8 percent of his passes for 771 yards with six touchdowns and eight interceptions, going 0-3 in his three starts. The Bengals traded for Joe Flacco, who started the rest of the way until Burrow returned.
Browning entered the league as an undrafted free agent with the Vikings in 2019, sticking with the team through 2021.
He’ll now head down to Florida to back up Baker Mayfield.
Here’s reason number 2,335,795 why the change in Twitter ownership has made the platform far less valuable.
A blue-checked account purporting to belong to Buccaneers receiver Emeka Egbuka posted this on the app at 2:27 p.m. ET on Wednesday: “Is CTE even real?”
The gold-checked Buccaneers Communications account reposted it exactly an hour later with this message: “The below account is neither owned nor operated by Emeka Egbuka. It is in no way affiliated with Emeka or the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.”
Complicating the situation is the fact that the account is followed by the gold-checked account of the NFL Players Association. It also has more than 7,500 followers.
It looks like Egbuka’s account. Especially since it carries the blue check that, under prior management, meant something. Nowadays, it’s nothing more than a source of confusion.
The Texans have agreed to terms with free agent defensive lineman Logan Hall on a two-year, $7 million deal, Tom Pelissero of NFL Media reports.
Hall, who turns 26 next month, entered the NFL as a second-round pick of the Buccaneers in 2022. He spent his first four seasons in Tampa.
Hall has played all but two games in his career.
In 2025, he appeared in all 17 games, with 16 starts, and totaled 39 tackles and 1.5 sacks.
He has recorded 101 tackles, 10 sacks, 23 quarterback hits and four passes defensed in his career.
Teddy Bridgewater is returning as Jared Goff’s backup.
Detroit has agreed to terms with the quarterback, NFL Media reports, though terms were undisclosed.
Bridgewater originally signed with the Lions in 2023, and he came out of retirement late in the 2024 season to return to Detroit. In 2025, he left for Tampa.
Bridgewater, 33, has not started a game since 2022, throwing only 15 passes since then.
NFL Media also reports the Lions are re-signing cornerback Rock Ya-Sin to a one-year, $4 million deal.
Ya-Sin, 29, joined the Lions in 2025. He appeared in 17 games with six starts, seeing action on 611 defensive snaps and 186 on special teams.
He totaled 47 tackles and nine pass breakups in 2025.
The Buccaneers will be parting ways with one franchise cornerstone with wide receiver Mike Evans set to join the 49ers and it may not be long before we know whether another one will be back in Tampa next season.
Linebacker Lavonte David said last month that he was undecided about playing a 15th season in the NFL, but it sounds like he’s close to making up his mind. His agent Ron Butler said on WDAE on Tuesday, via Evan Closky of WTSP, that he anticipates “a decision coming soon.”
Butler also said that the Bucs are the only team that David will be playing for if he does decide to continue his career.
“Those are the two options, I will say that,” Butler said.
David had arthroscopic knee surgery after the end of the 2025 season and Butler said that the knee bothered David a lot last year. David was able to play in every game, however, and finished the year with 114 tackles, 3.5 sacks, an interception, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries.
Linebacker Alex Anzalone was one of the players to land a job with a new team after the free agent negotiating window opened on Monday.
Anzalone agreed to sign a two-year deal with the Buccaneers after spending the last five seasons with the Lions. In a farewell message posted to Instagram, Anzalone suggested that his first choice wasn’t to move on from Detroit.
“The business side of football doesn’t always line up with exactly how things should go,” Anzalone wrote. “Contracts end, decisions are made and sometimes paths diverge. It’s bittersweet, no doubt. I leave with nothing but appreciation.”
Running back David Montgomery, left tackle Taylor Decker, defensive lineman Roy Lopez, quarterback Kyle Allen, and cornerback Amik Robertson are other Lions set to move on to other teams for the 2026 season. All of the moves signal a bigger shift away from the Lions team that made a run to the NFC Championship Game after the 2023 season and the success of the revamped roster in 2026 will determine whether even more sweeping changes are in store in Detroit.
After twelve years in Tampa Bay, receiver Mike Evans is moving on. Ownership of the franchise has bid him farewell, while also making it clear he’ll have a spot in the team’s Ring of Honor.
“Saying goodbye to a legend such as Mike Evans is never easy, but today we are filled with appreciation and gratitude for all that he did during his extraordinary 12-year career as a Buccaneer,” the Glazer family said in a statement. “Our goal was always to ensure that Mike would play his entire career as a Buccaneer, but as we got further in the process it became clear he was looking for a new challenge.
“He leaves as the most accomplished offensive player in franchise history — a six-time Pro Bowler and a Super Bowl champion — but it was his dedication to making a difference off the field that will define his lasting legacy in our community. We wish Mike continued success in his next chapter and thank him for all that he has done for the Buccaneers and Tampa Bay.
“When the time comes, we look forward to gathering once again to honor his many accomplishments and celebrate his eventual Hall of Fame career.”
Evans has been a cornerstone of the franchise through a dozen years as a Buccaneer. His career will now continue, if not conclude, in San Francisco.
