Buccaneers sign Daryl Smith to one-year contract

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are signing linebacker Daryl Smith to a one-year contract, according to Peter Schrager and Adam Schefter.

Smith is a veteran linebacker who started every game in the past three season for the Baltimore Ravens. He notched 71 solo tackles, one interception, three passes defensed and three sacks last year. Prior to joining the Ravens, he played for the Jacksonville Jaguars for nine years after being drafted in the second round of the 2004 NFL draft. The first four of those years he played under then defensive coordinator Mike Smith, who is now the defensive coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Bucs head coach Dirk Koetter was the Jaguars' offensive coordinator for one of those years, while Bucs linebackers coach Mark Duffner was Smith's position coach for seven of his nine seasons in Jacksonville.

Smith will likely be the team's strongside linebacker, which would mark the first time in his career that he's assigned a part-time role. Lavonte David's obviously not moving to a part-time role, and second-year linebacker Kwon Alexander seems to be shoe-in for the starting middle linebacker job this year after a stellar rookie season -- though it's possible that Mike Smith sees that differently. Still, given Daryl Smith's age (he's 34) and the fact that he looked more and more like a liability in coverage in Baltimore, it's safe to bank on him coming off the field on passing downs.