20 NFL bold predictions after the 2021 NFL Draft
By Randy Gurzi
17. Jason Pierre-Paul released in favor of Joe Tryon
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers won it all this season and then they were able to keep the entire team intact — which isn’t the norm when a team wins the Super Bowl. Usually, there’s an exodus of players who look to cash in on the publicity from the playoff run and championship.
This time, Tampa was able to convince everyone to return and some even took less than they could have on the open market. All 22 starters are back but that doesn’t mean there won’t be some change.
In fact, there could be a move at one of their more important positions as the Buccaneers used the 32nd pick in the 2021 NFL Draft on an edge rusher. Tampa tookJoe Tryon out of Washington and he’s a great fit for this defense.
Listed at 6-5 and 259 pounds with 34-inch arms, he looks as though he was built to play the stand-up pass-rushing position that he will be taking on with his NFL team. And if he proves to be capable from the start, he could end up making someone such as Jason Pierre-Paul expendable.
As it stands now, JPP is third on the team with a cap hit of $12.8 million. They could stand to save $5 million of that to move on and while a $7 million dead money cap hit is a lot, the Bucs could still prefer to have more money to use this season to either role into 2022 or make some more moves with extensions or free agency moves.