Buccaneers sign Justin Evans, leaving one draft pick unsigned

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers signed safety and second-round draft pick Justin Evans to a four-year contract, the Bucs announced today.

Evans was the team’s second-round pick, number 50 overall. The safety played college football at Texas A&M and, earlier, Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. He started two seasons at A&M, picking off five passes. He had four interceptions and ten passes defensed in his final season.

Evans should compete for a starting position, and should at minimum get playing time in a rotation at safety. The Bucs don’t have any outstanding players at the position, but do have three veterans with the potential to start in Keith Tandy, Chris Conte and J.J. Wilcox. Evans is more explosive than all of them, but also has a lot to learn about the NFL game. Which means Evans will really have to earn his playing time.

The Bucs now have all of their draft picks signed, except for third-round pick Chris Godwin. That shouldn’t take long, though: there’s no real room for negotiations with draft picks, as the NFL effectively has a rigid salary scale for rookie draft picks.