The Tampa Bay Buccaneers need some help at cornerback, and there are a few different ways they can address that need. The first way is through the NFL Draft, where they’ll surely draft someone to fill that role, but the second way is in the second wave of free agency, which is happening as we speak and will pick up after the draft.
The Bucs need cornerbacks who can generate interceptions, as they only had seven throughout the entire year. Jamel Dean has been hurt often and Zyon McCollum wasn’t able to generate picks last year, so Tampa Bay will have to find some corners that can get their hands on the football — and as it turns out, one just became available on the market.
The Las Vegas Raiders released cornerback Jack Jones on Sunday, and Jones has put up five interceptions in the last two years. He’d come cheap, too as Over the Cap values him at $1,101,746 per year
With that in mind, should the Bucs sign him?
No, and for more reasons than just his play.
Starting with his on-field play, Jones’ five interceptions in three years is impressive — but it comes with a cost. Jones will have a good amount of pass deflections and picks, but his overpursuit in coverage will cause him to get burned quite a bit. He gave up a passer rating of 98.5, according to Pro Football Reference, and he gave up a staggering eight touchdowns. That sort of feast-or-famine play doesn’t really gel well with Todd Bowles’ defense, so even with how cheap he’d come, the team isn’t yearning for interceptions that badly.
There’s also the matter of Jones’ off-field incidents. He was arrested on a burglary charge when he was playing at Moorpark College in California, and he was arrested in 2023 for bringing two loaded guns into an airport while playing for the New England Patriots. General manager Jason Licht has often talked about the character he looks for in Buccaneers players, and perhaps that would disqualify Jones from the jump.
While the Buccaneers need cornerback help, expect them to look for a new player in the draft as opposed to looking Jones’ way.
