Bucs bring in OL Collins for $30M

Anthony Collins signed with the Buccaneers on Thursday. (USATSI)

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The Buccaneers kept up their aggressive free-agency approach on Wednesday, striking a deal with offensive tackle Anthony Collins.

The former Bengals tackle will reportedly get a five-year deal for $30 million. That's a hefty payday for someone with just seven starts last season.

But Collins not starting the entire year was more a byproduct of the Bengals depth. With a stout line that included Andrew Whitworth at left tackle and Andre Smith on the right side, Collins didn't have room to start until Kevin Zeitler went down and he stepped in on the left side.

Collins was quite good in left tackle relief though, with Andy Dalton only getting sacked three times during his five-game stretch of starts to end the season. Pro Football Focus graded out Collins as the 14th-best tackle in pass protection for the entire season.

He'll immediately slot in as the starter on the left side of the line as the Buccaneers released Donald Penn on Thursday afternoon.

An interesting note on Collins: Jonathan Jones of the Charlotte Observer reports that Collins got a similar monetary offer from the Panthers but chose the Bucs instead. That's devastating for Carolina, who's got a major hole on the line with Jordan Gross retiring. And it's a little surprising since he could step in and start at left tackle from the get go in Carolina.

On the other hand, Florida has no state income tax, which is always a bonus. Literally.

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Buccaneers already tab newly signed QB Josh McCown as starter



Quarterback Josh McCown didn't receive just a $10 million contract from the Buccaneers on Wednesday; he also got a starting job.Head coach Lovie Smith put any notion of a competition between McCown and second-year QB Mike Glennon in the dirt with three little words during a press conference. When asked if McCown is his quarterback, Smith simply replied, "Yes, he is."



I have no problem with a new head coach hand-picking his QB. However, that announcement is just a tad surprising, no? Glennon wasn't awful in his first year. He went through growing pains as rookies do. He completed about 60 percent of his passes, put up a 19:9 touchdown-to-interception ratio in 13 games. He faltered late in the season, but there was a stretch during the middle portion -- Week 6 through Week 12 -- where he was putting up high-end QB2 fantasy numbers. Yet, it looks like Smith really doesn't want anything to do with him.Instead, he is going with McCown right away. Yes, he was great in relief of an injured Jay Cutler last year. But McCown had been basically forgotten since the mid-2000s before his breakout in Chicago. Before that, he most notably spent some time as the Cardinals' starting quarterback from 2002-2004 and was pretty brutal. I know that was a long time ago, but the Bucs are putting a lot of confidence into a quarterback coming off of the first good year of his career, and he turns 35 in July.First-year offensive coordinator Jeff Tedford has received worthy praise for his work with quarterbacks in the college ranks. Aaron Rodgers is his most famous pupil, but he has coached six QBs who became first-round picks. Can he get the same results out of McCown that the Bears, with head coach/QB guru Marc Trestman, got in 2013? I am skeptical. The good news for McCown is that he will be helped out by a nice trio of weapons in Vincent Jackson, Mike Williams, and running back Doug Martin. But I would not draft McCown off of his 2013 numbers. He will be the Bucs' No. 1, but he should be your fantasy backup at best.Tampa Bay's general manager Jason Licht stressed competition a few weeks ago, especially at the quarterback position. "New coach, new regime, you just can't hand the keys over and say this guy is our starter."That's pretty much exactly what Lovie Smith did Wednesday.