View some of the top photos of WR Adam Humphries from the 2017 season.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers started their nine-week offseason workout program on Monday. They also finished their free agency to-do list.
Fourth-year wide receiver Adam Humphries, who had become a restricted free agent on March 14, signed the qualifying offer the Buccaneers had extended to him prior to that date. That offer thus becomes a one-year contract for Humphries; he is now due to hit unrestricted free agency next spring if he doesn't get a new deal prior to the start of the 2019 league year.
Humphries and the Buccaneers took care of that last bit of free agency business just four days prior to the April 20 deadline for restricted free agents to sign their tenders. That deadline always falls roughly a week before the draft because restricted free agency carries with it the possibility of draft-pick compensation. There was no significance of the timing for Humphries other than that deadline; Monday just happened to be the first day he had been at team headquarters in a while.
The ranks of restricted free agents have shrunk in recent years because, since 2011, all draft picks get four-year deals (with a team option for a fifth year on first-round picks). That means that a draft pick who completes his first NFL contract skips right past restricted free agency to unrestricted free agency. Players with three accrued seasons of free agency credit get the restricted treatment; once they get their fourth year they become unrestricted.
Thus, the only players who end up in restricted free agency are draft picks who are cut before their original four-year deals are finished or players who entered the league as an undrafted free agents. Humphries falls into that second group; he signed with the Buccaneers out of Clemson in 2015.
Humphries has developed from those humble origins – he actually first came to Tampa as a tryout player for a rookie mini-camp in 2015 – into one of the NFL's most productive slot receivers and a key part of the Buccaneers' highly-ranked passing attack. Earlier this spring, Tampa Bay locked down wide receiver Mike Evans and tight end Cameron Brate with long-term deals; now they've kept another important piece in place with Humphries' one-year deal.
Humphries, in fact, was the Buccaneers' second-leading pass-catcher last year, hauling in a career-high 61 passes for 631 yards and one touchdown. He brings a specific element to a Tampa Bay aerial attack that ranked fourth in the NFL in net passing yards, as he is particularly adept at turning short screens into big gains.
Over his first three NFL seasons, Humphries has recorded 143 receptions for 1,513 yards and four touchdowns. He is also a sure-handed option as a punt returner, with 30 returns for 286 yards (9.5 avg.) over the past two seasons.
