Bucs won't tender Danny Lansanah; McDougald and Shepard get $1.67 million

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers won't be offering a tender for linebacker Danny Lansanah, according to Greg Auman of the Tampa Bay Times. That's understandable given the price tag and Lansanah turning 31 this year. Finding a capable, part-time strongside linebacker isn't that difficult -- and the Bucs may look at Bruce carter as a possibility there. Or the Bucs could simply try to re-sign Lansanah at a lower number. The market for 4-3 linebackers isn't that great, after all.

Lansanah spent the past two years as a strongside linebacker, playing about half the defensive snaps in both years and managed to put up quite a number of splash plays. He especially stood out in pass defense, with three interceptions, 12 passes defensed and 2.5 sacks in two seasons. Those are pretty impressie numbers, but not enough to pay him $1.671 million.

Meanwhile, the Bucs will be paying Bradley McDougald and Russell Shepard that $1.671 million for their services this year. Those are the price tags associated with restricted free agent tenders at a right of first refusal, according to Howard Balzer. Earlier reports suggested that the Buccaneers would tender Shepard and McDougald, and those tenders are almost certain to be right-of-first-refusal tenders with no compensation if these players sign elsewhere -- an unlikely event, with the Bucs having the cap space to match any offer.

Shepard has been a special-teamer only who has at times flashed as a receiver, but has seen very little time there. Even when the Bucs were starting undrafted free agents at the end of last season, Shepard remained on the bench for the vast majority of plays. That's unlikely to change this season, though Koetter did hire a new wide receivers coach in Todd Monken. McDougald was a starter at strong safety for most of the season, though he lost it at the end of last year. That could be attributed to the general malaise among Bucs defensive backs, and he should at least compete for a starting job this season.