Buccaneers sign nine to futures contracts

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have signed nine players to futures contracts, which means they'll stick around for the offseason until the Bucs decide that other players are more valuable to keep on the roster.

The players the Bucs signed today:C Josh Allen

WR Andre Davis
G Antoine Everett
C Ben Gottschalk
S Gerod Holliman
DE Martin Ifedi
DT Derrick Lott
CB C.J. Roberts
CB Joel Ross

All of these spent some time on the Bucs' practice squad this year. The most notable name on there may be Gerod Holliman, a seventh-round pick for the Pittsburgh Steelers safety out of Louisville who got some pre-draft hype for grabbing 14 interceptions in his sophomore season, and intercepting Jameis Winston twice in one game.

Mostly, though, these players are unlikely to be much more than training camp backups, if that. The players the Bucs really wanted to keep for the offseason were signed to the roster last week, when they placed several players on injured reserve just to make room to promote practice squad players.