Many fans might not have heard of Anthony Collins, but the NFL sure knows who he is. He’s been the Bengals’ swing tackle for years and he’s always shown well when given the chance, grading out above average on Pro Football Focus in limited action in every season since 2009. In 2013, he was given his biggest chance yet, with Andrew Whitworth moving to left guard in place of the injured Clint Boling and Anthony Collins taking over at left tackle. Collins played a career high 592 snaps and didn’t allow a sack or quarterback hit all season, finishing as Pro Football Focus’ 24th ranked offensive tackle despite the limited action.

While this deal is an obvious step up from the cheap two-year deal he signed with the Bengals in 2012 to stay as their swing tackle, Collins deserved to be paid like an above average blindside protector and that’s exactly what this deal does. Collins gets 30 million over 5 years with 15 million guaranteed, which is squarely behind what Branden Albert, Eugene Monroe, Jared Veldheer, and Rodger Saffold got this off-season and Collins has every chance to be just as good once he gets a full 16 game season.

I don’t love this deal or anything because Collins is not the secret to the NFL that he is to the common fan, so the Buccaneers had to pay proper market value for him, but it’s still a very solid move by them and they didn’t overpay. Collins will be an upgrade over an aging and overweight Donald Penn, who goes into his age 31 season in 2014 and who was just Pro Football Focus’ 31^st ranked offensive tackle last season. Penn will be cut in a corresponding move, assuming they can’t trade him, either of which will save them 7.4 million in cash and cap space, which is less than Collins will cost. It’s a win for the Buccaneers.

Grade: B+

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The Buccaneers had a gaping hole at defensive end and filled it with Michael Johnson. Johnson is an incredibly athletic edge rusher who went in the 3rd round out of Georgia Tech in 2009 because a lot of his tape didn’t match his athleticism. He eventually put everything together in 2012 in the contract year of his rookie deal, as he recorded 13 sacks and graded out as Pro Football Focus’ 13th ranked 4-3 defensive end.

The Bengals franchise tagged him instead of giving him a long-term deal because they wanted him to prove it again. At first glance, he doesn’t appear to have proven it, recording just 5 sacks, but he also added 16 quarterback hits and 40 quarterback hurries, to go with 7 batted passes. Add in the fact that he was Pro Football Focus’ 2nd ranked 4-3 defensive end against the run and you have a guy who was much better than his raw sack totals. He graded out as Pro Football Focus’ 4th ranked 4-3 defensive end.

Johnson has never had a good year when he wasn’t in a contract year, so there’s some concern he just coasts now that he has a 5-year, 43.5 million dollar deal with 24 million guaranteed. However, when you consider that the Vikings gave a far less proven player in Everson Griffin 42.5 million over 5 years, this deal looks like a steal. The Buccaneers had an equally big need at defensive end, a comparable amount of cap space, and were an equally unpleasing free agent destination, but unlike the Vikings, they were able to fill their need without massively overpaying. Johnson is a much better overall player than Griffen and this is a very solid deal. I was sure Johnson would get 10+ million yearly when I saw Griffen’s deal, but the Buccaneers got him for under 9.

Grade: A-

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I think the Buccaneers might be overrating Josh McCown. Going into last season, Josh McCown was a 34-year-old quarterback who hadn’t posted a quarterback rating of over 70 since 2006. McCown played very solid in limited action with the Bears last season, completing 66.5% of his passes for an average of 8.17 YPA, 13 touchdowns, and 1 interception on 224 attempts, but it’s hard to believe that he suddenly just became a better quarterback at age 34. It was probably a combination of flukiness and the tutelage of Marc Trestman as head coach, neither of which are going to help him in Tampa Bay.

It’s a telling sign that Trestman and the Bears made little effort to bring McCown back as Jay Cutler’s backup. Meanwhile, Lovie Smith’s track record with quarterbacks is far less impressive. The same is true of his track record with offensive coordinators so I don’t trust Jeff Tedford to get the most out of McCown like Trestman and Aaron Kromer did. Sure, a tried and failed quarterback suddenly having a legitimate late career breakout isn’t completely unprecedented. Rich Gannon is a name that comes to mind. However, that’s hardly the norm and even Gannon deteriorated very quickly once he got into his mid-to-late 30s and fell out of the tutelage of Jon Gruden and Bill Callahan.

The money here isn’t really the issue. The Buccaneers are paying McCown 10 million over 2 years, which is comparable to deals that Matt Moore (2 years, 8 million), Matt Cassel (2 years, 10 million), and Chad Henne (2 years, 8 million) have gotten over the last two off-seasons. McCown fits very well with them in that high end backup group. The issue is that the Buccaneers immediately named Josh McCown the starter over Mike Glennon.

Mike Glennon wasn’t perfect in his first year in the league last season, but he was the best of the rookie quarterbacks and showed enough that he deserved another chance to be the starter. He completed 59.4% of his passes for an average of 6.27 YPA, 19 touchdowns, and 9 interceptions, showing some of the tools necessary for him to develop into the type of quarterback that can take this team somewhere. Josh McCown, for all intents and purposes, is still a tried and failed NFL starting quarterback and one going into his age-35 season. He’s not going to be the one to get the Buccaneers anywhere. This move only sets them back a year or so, which is why I was not a fan of it at all.

Grade: D

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The Buccaneers replaced Darrelle Revis at 16 million a year with Alterraun Verner at 6.625 million a year (26.5 million over 4 years with 14 million guaranteed). I still would have kept Revis, even at 16 million, because he’s such a rare talent, and worked to build the coverage scheme around him on an island, rather than forcing him into a zone coverage scheme. However, this is a fantastic value and Verner is a much more natural fit for the coverage scheme that Lovie Smith really wants to run. Grading this move only, and ignoring the Revis aspect, this is a fantastic move.

This was a strong cornerback class in free agency, but all of the other top cornerbacks had warts. Sam Shields, Aqib Talib, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, and Vontae Davis all have inconsistent pasts, while Brent Grimes is going into his age 31 season and has a significant injury history. Verner has never had an truly elite year like any of those guys, but he’s made all 64 starts since being drafted in the 4^th round in 2010 and he’s graded out in the top-24 on Pro Football Focus in all 4 seasons, something only Joe Haden and Jason McCourty can also say. Every other top cornerbacks has either had at least one down year (Brandon Flowers, Vontae Davis, etc) been hurt (Brent Grimes, Darrelle Revis etc) or been in the league less than 4 years (Richard Sherman).

This past season was Verner’s past, as he graded out 11^th overall among cornerbacks. Considering what other cornerbacks have gotten this off-season (Brent Grimes 4 years, 32 million, Aqib Talib 6 years, 57 million, Sam Shields 4 years, 39 million, Vontae Davis 4 years, 39 million) this is an absolute steal, even before you get into how good of a schemetic fit Verner is for what Lovie Smith wants to do.

Grade: A

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