The Tampa Bay Buccaneers entered this offseason with 13 unrestricted free agents. As of Monday afternoon, that number is down to 12 thanks to a two-year contract signed by quarterback Luke McCown. According to Adam Schefter of NFL.com, McCown's contract is worth $7.5 million and contains a signing bonus and various other incentives that could make the deal worth as much as $14 million.
This probably means the end of Jeff Garcia's time in Tampa Bay, as it's hard to imagine the Buccaneers would pay McCown and then bring back the 38-year-old Garcia. Aside from McCown, the Buccaneers also have Brian Griese and Josh Johnson on the roster, while McCown and Griese, presumably, would compete for the starting job in training camp.
In 2008, the Buccaneers used both Garcia and Griese while former head coach Jon Gruden seemed to have a difficult time deciding which player would be the best option to lead the team.
After Garcia struggled in a week 1 loss to New Orleans, Griese took over the following three weeks and went through his own series of mishaps, which opened the door for Garcia to reclaim the job for 11 of the final 12 games of the season. He finished the year with a 90.2 passer rating, completing nearly 65% of his passes and throwing only six interceptions.
As for McCown, he was a fourth-round pick of the Cleveland Browns back in 2004 and has played sparingly over the first five years of his career. In 2007, he started four of the Bucccaneers' final five games, throwing five touchdowns.
