After being released by the Philadelphia Eagles last offseason due to a high cap number and immediately signing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a three-year deal, veteran defensive end Vinny Curry could find himself back with the Eagles next season.
The Buccaneers announced on Tuesday that they have released the 31-year-old defensive end. With the move, Tampa Bay will be saving $16.5 million in cap space over the next two seasons.
As previously mentioned, Curry signed a multi-year deal with the Bucs last offseason but did not produce this past season. In 12 games, he only had 21 total tackles, seven quarterback hits, five tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks.
Between the lack of production and not fitting into Tampa’s 3-4 defense under new defensive coordinator Todd Bowles, it was time for both parties to mutually part ways.
With Curry now free to sign anywhere, the questions will start popping up on whether he could re-join the Eagles on a cheap deal. This offseason, we’ve already seen former Atlanta Falcons defensive end Brooks Reed sign a one-year, $2 million deal with the Arizona Cardinals.
Reed’s stats from this past season are almost comparable to what Curry did with the Bucs. Therefore, if he is willing to take a cheap one-year deal, then you could certainly see a reunion between the two sides.
Heading into the new league year, the Eagles could lose both defensive ends Brandon Graham and Chris Long due to various circumstances.
Graham might hit the jackpot in a loaded free agent edge rusher class, while Long is non-committal about his NFL future. With that being said, the Eagles will need some extra depth behind potential starters Derek Barnett and Michael Bennett.
In his final season with Philly, Curry started opposite of Graham and did a solid job pressuring the quarterback. The former second-round pick racked up 42 total tackles, 18 quarterback hits, 10 tackles for loss, and three sacks. He also played 56.1-percent of defensive snaps, which was ranked third behind Fletcher Cox and Graham.
However, Philly should exhaust all of their options first and think about re-signing Long before bringing back Curry.
