The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have added a well-known outside linebacker to their defense.
The Buccaneers announced on April 3 on the team’s official X account that they’d reached an agreement with outside linebacker Randy Gregory, an eight-year veteran.
Gregory began 2023 with the Denver Broncos and ended the season with the San Francisco 49ers after being traded from Denver for two late-round draft picks in 2024.
Gregory Has Controversial History in NFL
Gregory has a well-documented history of off-field challenges since the Dallas Cowboys picked him from Nebraska in the second round of the 2015 NFL draft.
In Feb. 2016, the NFL suspended Gregory for four games for breaking the league’s substance abuse policy, followed by a 10-game suspension for violating the league’s substance abuse policy in Sept. 2016.
Gregory played in the final two games of the regular season but broke another drug test and was suspended for the 2016 postseason and the entire 2017 season. Gregory played in 2018, then was suspended indefinitely for violating the league’s substance abuse policy in Feb. 2019 and missed the entire 2019 season.
Gregory returned to the Cowboys in 2020 and had a breakout year in 2021 with a career high 6 sacks and 3 forced fumbles.
Broncos Gave Gregory Large Amount of Money in Free Agency
The Denver Broncos gave the opportunity of a lifetime to Gregory in March 2022, when they signed him to a five-year, $70 million contract with $28 million in guaranteed money.
Gregory only played six games for the Broncos in 2022 because of a knee injury. He played in four games with Denver in 2023 before he was traded to San Francisco, where he played 10 regular-season games and three postseason games, including an overtime loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVIII.
The Buccaneers let go of outside linebacker and two-time Super Bowl champion Shaquil Barrett on March 13 and Barrett signed a free-agent contract with the Miami Dolphins on March 18.
