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Buccaneers re-sign Ryan Griffin

Will Tampa Bay finally give the 29-year-old a chance to be Jameis Winston’s backup?

NFL: Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Miami Dolphins Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

The Buccaneers had two quarterbacks set to be unrestricted free agents on Wednesday, but they made sure one of them didn’t get to that point. Ryan Griffin, who has been the team’s No. 3 for the last four seasons, was re-signed to a two-year deal on Tuesday.

Griffin will turn 30 in November, but has yet to take a regular season snap in the NFL. In each of his preseason stints with Tampa Bay, he has shown signs of potential. This past preseason, the Tulane product completed 68 percent of his passes and threw for 518 yards and four touchdowns to no interceptions. In four games of action, he had a passer rating of 105.3.

Toward the end of the 2018 season, the Bucs decided to make Griffin active as Jameis Winston’s backup. Despite that, he was never given a look, even when the team’s season was lost.

As of now, Griffin would seem to be locked in as Winston’s backup in 2019. He and Winston are joined by Joe Callahan, who is under a reserve/futures contract, as the only three quarterbacks on the roster. That doesn’t mean the Bucs won’t sign another free agent or draft a quarterback in one of the later rounds of April’s draft, but for now, it looks like Bruce Arians and his staff want to give Griffin a shot at the No. 2 spot on the depth chart.

Thoughts?