NFL Free Agency Rumors: Could Julius Peppers land with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers?

Dec 1, 2013; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Chicago Bears defensive end Julius Peppers (90) against the Minnesota Vikings at Mall of America Field at H.H.H. Metrodome. The Vikings defeated the Bears 23-20 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports /

With a lot of the big names making their way off the 2014 NFL Free Agent market, some others are going to start popping up to the surface, and one of them is former Chicago Bears DE Julius Peppers. Since his release this past week, there surprisingly hasn’t been much rumored interest in the former North Carolina Tar Heels two-sport star.

This was something that NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport pointed out, which means that it might be time to start taking a peek at obvious situations where he could land, and one of them is right with his former head coach Lovie Smith and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

At this point, nothing scheduled with Julius Peppers, per @RapSheet. Does have a connection in Tampa with Lovie Smith.
— Around The NFL (@AroundTheNFL) March 12, 2014

Having already signed Cincinnati Bengals free agent Michael Johnson, Peppers would be a more than welcome addition to the Tampa defensive front line that Smith will be building. The only question is whether or not they could get him at a substantial price.

Then again, the team did just save $16 million in cap space by cutting that Revis guy earlier on Wednesday, so maybe this could be more plausible than we think.

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