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The 2015 free agency period is still five days away, but the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are taking care of a little roster business during the lead-up.
On Thursday, the Buccaneers re-signed veteran cornerback Mike Jenkins to a one-year deal. The team also extended the necessary qualifying offers to exclusive rights free agents linebacker Danny Lansanah and Bradley McDougald to ensure their return in 2015.
McDougald has already had an opportunity to sign his offer, which then serves as his one-year contract for 2015. Lansanah is expected to do the same when he gets the opportunity.
The NFL's new league year – and thus, restricted and unrestricted free agency – begins next Tuesday, March 10, at 4:00 p.m. ET. In the meantime, teams are free to negotiate with their own pending free agents, as was the case with Jenkins. Both Lansanah and McDougald were almost certain to return, since exclusive rights free agents may only negotiate with their original team as long as that team extends the necessary qualifying offer prior to the start of free agency.
All three players re-signed Thursday could figure prominently in the Buccaneers' defensive efforts in 2015. Jenkins, who played his college football at nearby South Florida after starring as a prep in Bradenton, returned to his home town on a one-year deal as an unrestricted free agent last March. He competed with then second-year man Johnthan Banks for the starting right cornerback job and was expected to see significant playing time before his season ended abruptly with a pectoral injury in Week One.Lansanah went from a relatively obscure pickup off the New York Jets' practice squad in December of 2013 to a very versatile and valuable role in the Bucs' defense in 2014. Making his first NFL start at the age of 29, Lansanah eventually opened 11 games and became the first player in franchise history to start at least one contest at three different linebacker positions in the same season. After ranking third on the team with 78 tackles and second with three interceptions – including two returned for touchdowns – Lansanah is a prime candidate to start from Day One in 2015.
"Coming into this offseason, I just know I'm going to be called on a lot," McDougald said. "I have to show up and be more accountable."
"I'm really busy and tied up during the season, I really like to take time to get away," said McDougald. "Like, I go home (to Ohio) and it's 11 degrees outside. I like to sit in the house. I'm a homebody type of guy. I take the first month off and just relax, get away from football. I talk to Lovie and a lot of the coaches, just get away from it but when you come back - it's time to come back, get in the weight room. That's probably the first thing I do when I get back, get in the weight room."
"My girlfriend and I plan to go to Aruba," McDougald said. "I think we'll be there for five days."
"That month I take off, I usually don't eat the best food," said McDougald. "I definitely transition my diet to a lot of fish and fruit. I cut a lot of snacking out and replace it with fish, fruit, salad and stuff."
"I go to the recreation center every time I come home," McDougald said. "It's three minutes from my grandma's house, it's where I grew up playing. That's a place where I grew up and got into football and basketball so I go back and play with the kids or go back and play with some of the guys I grew up with."
"I go visit my high school football and basketball coaches," McDougald said. "I make sure I see those guys every time. It's always good to see them. I have such close relationships with both my high school football and basketball coaches. They definitely get a lot of credit to where I'm at today. They did a lot for me academically, staying on my grades in high school. They really got me motivated to want to venture out and play college sports, because I knew nothing about it coming into high school, I was just playing. They saw the potential in me and made sure I took advantage of it."
"I visit family," McDougald said, "people I don't get to see a lot during the season when I'm away. My grandma, I mean, I have a very big family. My grandma, my uncles… no one specific because everyone's always around. Everyone's close so when I come home everyone comes together, it's not like a one-person deal."
"I train down in Dallas in the offseason with one of my old college teammates, Chris Harris," said McDougald. "I work out with him. Chris has a place there, I go down there and stay with him for maybe a week at a time or so. We have a coach we work out with."
McDougald is another rising player on the Bucs' defense, having gone from a 2013 waiver-wire claim to the starting lineup near the end of 2014. Tampa Bay's trade of safety Mark Barron to the St. Louis Rams at last year's deadline was motivated in part by the belief that McDougald could develop into a strong two-way performer in the secondary, excelling in both coverage and run support. In 15 games played and five starts, McDougald contributed 46 tackles, one interception and seven passes defensed.
