Doug Martin "nearing a deal" with Buccaneers for almost $7 million per year

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are getting closer to re-signing Doug Martin. According to Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, the Bucs are "nearing a deal" with Doug Martin for "around $6.85 million per year."

Other reports are a little more cautious. Mike Garafolo says there's still some distance, but the "hunch" was that he'd re-sign. Roy Cummings says it's "too soon to know for sure," while Pewter Report chimes in to say that they're discussing a deal, but there's no agreement yet.

With Chris Ivory signing with the Jacksonville Jaguars for a reported $6 million per year, re-signing Martin for just shy of $7 million per year would make a lot of sense. Martin is easily the better player, and both the Bucs and Martin want a deal to get done -- for the right price. Given that Stroud is so specific about the average per year, I'd expect a deal to get done relatively quickly. Though, again, nothing's over till it's over.