Amobi Okoye signs one-year deal with Tampa Bay Buccaneers

This news broke late last night: the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have signed defensive tackle Amobi Okoye to a one-year deal. According to Adam Caplan, the deal is worth $2 million with $700,000 in guaranteed money. By signing Okoye, the Bucs have added quality depth to a position with a lot of uncertainty. Although the team has two very talented, young defensive tackles in Brian Price and Gerald McCoy, the pair has struggled to stay healthy - and the team had no quality depth behind those two players. In fact, the loss of Gerald McCoy early last season was the start to an eventual 10-game losing streak, where the defense played increasingly worse.

Former first-round pick Okoye should help alleviate some of those problems. Although Okoye is just 24, he's already entering his sixth season in the NFL. Drafted 10th overall in the 2007 NFL Draft by the Houston Texans, Okoye failed to deliver on his considerable promise. But spending the 2011 season in Chicago seemed to resurrect his career, as the 3-technique defensive tackle collected four sacks and created problems for opposing lines as a backup. While he's far from a top-notch starter, he should be an improvement over other backups, and he could even push Brian Price for a starting job.