Demar Dotson signs three-year contract extension with Buccaneers

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have signed right tackle Demar Dotson to a contract extension, the team announced. According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the extension is worth close to $18 million, a decent amount but nowhere close to the top of the market. Dotson should be under contract through the 2019 season.

The Bucs attempted to re-sign Demar Dotson last season, after the left tackle staged a short-lived holdout. At the time, Dotson was one of the most underpaid linemen in the NFL. An injury that kept him out for most of the season stopped the Bucs and Dotson from reaching an agreement, though. With Dotson’s contract expiring next year and his turning 31 in October of this year, the Bucs could have opted to let him walk. Instead, they locked up arguably their best lineman for a couple of more years.

Dotson has been a consistently good pass-blocker, and a decent run blocker throughout his career. He’s one of the better right tackles in the league, and has been a stalwart for the Bucs offense for four seasons now — pretty impressive given the fact that he entered the league as an undrafted free agent who had never played tackle in college: he was a defensive tackle for one year, after spending several years on the Southern Miss basketball team.