NFL Free Agency: William Gholston re-ups with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
By John Buhler
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers prioritized re-signing defensive end William Gholston in free agency, inking him to a five-year extension worth $37 million.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers look to be big spenders in 2017 NFL free agency. Tampa Bay has roughly $69,676,655 for general manager Jason Licht to use to make his team better this offseason. He wisely chose to re-sign one of his own in defensive end William Gholston.
According to ESPN’s Adam Caplan, Gholston has agreed to a five-year extension worth $37 million. Of that, $13.5 million is fully guaranteed. Caplan believes that Gholston is one of the better run-stopping defensive ends in football.
While he only has 10.5 career sacks in four seasons with the Buccaneers, Gholston’s ability to bring down running backs is a big reason for getting that big pay day. He has 126 career tackles and 63 assists in four years with Tampa Bay.
Re-signing Gholston to a five-year extension indicates that defensive coordinator Mike Smith doesn’t want a player of his caliber to leave in free agency. Smith used players like Jonathan Babineaux and Tyson Jackson in this role while he was previously the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons.
When Smith’s defense is playing its best, the front-seven plays cohesively and dominates in run-stuffing. The passing rushing is hit or miss and the secondary play is largely boom or bust. However, when the run defense suffers, the whole defense craters.
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Tampa Bay had the necessary capital to retain a promising player like Gholston before free agency hit on Thursday. Getting Gholston on his second NFL contract before Thursday allows Licht to work a little freer heading into free agency. Bringing him back was a huge offseason priority.