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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers had three veteran players in for workouts today: Tommie Harris, Visanthe Shiancoe and Peyton Hillis. Of the three, only the latter was deemed worthy of a contract -- for now, at least. As first reported by Jenna Laine, the Buccaneers have signed Peyton Hillis to a one-year contract.
The terms of the deal weren't immediately clear, but it's unlikely that Hillis got more than a minimal amount of guaranteed money and a minimum salary deal given his total lack of production over the past two seasons.
Hillis has struggled with injuries and simply bad play since his breakout (and only good) season in 2010. While the big back is, well, big he doesn't have the most nimble feet. He's actually quite similar to Legarrette Blount as a runner, but is much more adept as a receiver and at least has some experience as a fullback, though that hasn't been part of his job description since 2009.
Hillis is likely to compete with Mike James, Brian Leonard, Michael Smith and Matt Brown for the backup running back job behind Doug Martin, while he could theoretically also challenge Erik Lorig for the job of starting fullback. The Bucs will hope he can show some of the form that led him to collect over 1600 yards from scrimmage in 2010, but that form has been missing for quite some time now.
Update: The Buccaneers waived Matt Brown. They had an open roster spot, but presumably they're about to fill that spot, then.