The Buccaneers have added a defensive player.
Tampa Bay has agreed to a one-year deal with safety Ifeatu Melifonwu, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Melifonwu, 27, spent last season with the Dolphins. He appeared in 16 games with eight starts, recording 53 total tackles with an interception and a sack.
A third-round pick in 2021, Melifonwu spent his first four seasons with the Lions.
Bucs Clips
Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles addressed defensive tackle Vita Vea sitting out practice during a Wednesday press conference from training camp.
Vea was an observer during the team’s first practice of camp, which was seen by most as part of the ongoing contract impasse that led Vea to request a trade away from the team this week. Bowles said that Vea’s absence from drills was not due to the contract, however, and is a result of the veteran tweaking his back during the team’s conditioning test on Tuesday.
Bowles also said that the team has not had any internal discussions about trading Vea in the wake of his request.
Left tackle Tristan Wirfs is also on the sideline at the moment. Bowles said that he hurt his hamstring during the conditioning test and is considered day-to-day moving forward.
Defensive tackle Vita Vea requested a trade this week, but he is at Buccaneers training camp for the first day of practice on Wednesday.
Vea is not taking part in the practice, however. Multiple reporters shared pictures of Vea on the practice field without a helmet while watching the rest of the team go through its workout.
Vea was also an observer at the team’s mandatory minicamp in the spring as part of his push for a new contract. That contract has not materialized, which led Vea to make his trade demand before training camp officially opened.
The eight-year veteran is set to make a base salary of $17 million in the final year of his current deal.
The Buccaneers announced three roster moves on Tuesday, the day before their first 2026 training camp practice.
The team waived rookie safety Ja’Qurious Conley with a non-football injury designation.
They also placed cornerback Chase Lucas and defensive lineman Haggai Ndubuisi on the active/physically unable to perform list.
Players can be removed from the PUP list after passing a physical.
Conley signed with the Buccaneers as an undrafted free agent out of Charlotte. He played three seasons at North Carolina before transferring to Charlotte in 2024, and in 2025, he registered 64 tackles and three interceptions.
Lucas entered the NFL as a seventh-round pick of the Lions in 2022. He made Detroit’s roster as a rookie and played 18 games in two seasons there, contributing six tackles.
During the 2024 offseason, he signed with the 49ers and ended up on the practice squad for the entire campaign. Lucas then made San Francisco’s active roster in 2025.
In his 15 games played last season, Lucas totaled nine tackles, a pass defensed and a quarterback hit.
Ndubuisi first participated in the International Player Pathway Program in 2022 and was allocated to the Cardinals as an offensive tackle. He saw action in one preseason game before being released by the Cardinals.
The following season, he returned to the NFL through the IPPP, this time going to the Broncos as a defensive lineman. He spent the 2023 campaign on Denver’s practice squad, then signed with Washington in 2024 and landed on the Commanders’ practice squad for the balance of that season.
Baker Mayfield’s deadline for agreeing to a new contract with the Buccaneers has passed.
According to Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times and Greg Auman of FOX Sports, talks between Mayfield and Tampa Bay have finished with the quarterback reporting to training camp on Tuesday.
That differs from what was reported by ESPN, which had noted that there was still an opportunity for the two sides to come to a deal.
Mayfield, who is set to become a free agent in March, had said throughout the offseason that his deadline for negotiations was the start of training camp.
He’s now set to have a cap number of $39.975 million in 2026 on the last year of his deal.
Depending on how the season goes, the Buccaneers could elect to franchise tag Mayfield in the 2027 offseason. That would put Mayfield in a position to earn $47.97 million on the one-year franchise tender.
But Tampa Bay may not find that to be the best use of its resources.
Either way, Mayfield is now set to play out 2026 on an expiring contract.
Quarterback Baker Mayfield is set to report to training camp on Tuesday without a new contract and the two sides have not made significant progress, according to a report from ESPN.
Mayfield has publicly stated that he does not want to continue negotiations past the start of camp. While the report from ESPN indicates Mayfield and the Bucs are not expected to agree to new terms before the first practice on Wednesday, there is still time to sort through things and strike a deal.
Mayfield has just one year left on his current contract. According to ESPN, Mayfield wants a new contract reflecting his performance that is “more in line with what quarterbacks of a similar caliber are making, which includes leading the Bucs to two straight playoff appearances in 2023 and 2024.”
It was recently reported that Mayfield would be willing to play under the franchise tag in 2027, which would be a one-year deal worth $47.97 million. But that, of course, depends on the Buccaneers electing to tag him.
Mayfield signed a three-year, $100 million deal during the 2024 offseason, after leading the Bucs to a 9-8 record and a postseason victory in 2023. Last year, Mayfield threw for 3,693 yards with 26 touchdowns and 11 interceptions as Tampa Bay finished 8-9 and missed the playoffs.
Buccaneers tight end Devin Culp is good to go for training camp.
Culp who missed minicamp with an undisclosed injury, is full go today for the first practice of of training camp, according to Greg Auman of Fox Sports.
A 2024 seventh-round draft pick, Culp was used primarily as a blocker and special teamer last season, although he did catch the touchdown pass that put the Buccaneers ahead in the second half of last year’s game against the Falcons in Tampa Bay -- a game remembered primarily for the Bucs blowing their late lead in a 29-28 loss.
Culp will likely have to compete to make the 53-player roster on a team that might only keep one tight end behind Cade Otton and Payne Durham.
Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield has made it clear that his deadline for getting a new deal done is the start of training camp. With Buccaneers veterans reporting on Wednesday, July 29, the clock is ticking. Loudly.
The Bucs reportedly are trying to get something done. Of course, they tried to extend defensive tackle Vita Vea’s deal; that has resulted in Vea requesting a trade.
Mayfield’s play apparently would be to finish the final year of his three-year, $100 million deal and see what happens next.
Over the weekend, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN reported that Mayfield would be willing to play under the franchise tag in 2027, at a one-year tender of $47.97 million. The question is whether the Bucs would use it.
The challenge continues to be putting the right new-money value of an extension. The ultimate question, in our view, is whether it starts with a 4 or a 5.
However it plays out, Mayfield has shown a willingness to bet on himself, at all times. If the bet ends up resulting in a fully-guaranteed 2027 salary of $47.97 million with a second tag in 2028 at $57.56 million (or free agency then), that wouldn’t be a bad outcome.
Buccaneers defensive tackle Vita Vea is attending the team’s mandatory minicamp, but he did not participate. He is expected to attend training camp, too, to avoid fines, but he could hold in.
Mike Garafolo of NFL Media reports that Vea has officially requested a trade after failed attempts at a contract extension.
Vea, 31, is entering the final year of a $71 million contract extension he signed in January 2022. He is scheduled to make $17 million in base salary in 2026.
His $17.75 million annual average ranks 19th among defensive tackles.
The 2018 first-round pick is a two-time Pro Bowler who has played 112 career games and has totaled 256 tackles, 35 sacks and 79 quarterback hits.
Patrick Mahomes has made a remarkable recovery from a torn ACL and LCL in his left knee. The Chiefs quarterback injured his knee in a Dec. 14 game and underwent surgery the following day.
A little over seven months later, he is cleared for training camp.
Mahomes said he consulted with several players who went through a similar rehab.
“I talked to Tom [Brady] early in the process because he had the same injury, a very similar injury that I had,” Mahomes said Friday, via Pete Sweeney of the Kansas City Star.
Brady tore the ACL and MCL in his left knee during the season opener in 2008 before winning Comeback Player of the Year in 2009.
“It’s just talking to guys that have been through this process and just saying how you have to stay on top of it,” Mahomes said. “It’s a long process. I remember sitting on the table and watching us play those last few games and how much it hurt me, but I knew that if I continued to work, I could be at this spot where I get cleared for practice. Now I’m just trying to get to that spot where I’m cleared to play in the regular season on that first week.”
Mahomes also talked to former Chiefs safety Tyrann Mathieu and veteran tight end Zach Ertz. Mathieu tore the ACL and LCL in his left knee in 2013 and had another ACL tear in 2015, and Ertz tore his ACL a week before Mahomes’ injury.
His conversations with Ertz turned into a rehab competition.
“We kind of had like competitions on where we were at, and where we were rehabbing,” Mahomes said of Ertz. “It would start off as how much deadlift — what you’re deadlifting, where you’re at — and then [we would] send little videos. He’s jumping and doing certain acceleration things, and I’m sending him next week doing cutting and stuff like that.
“It keeps the competition going because it’s a long process and you feel like sometimes you’re lonely because you’re doing stuff by yourself, and you’re just competing against yourself, so it gave me someone else that I can compete with to push my competitive drive.”
