The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will likely retain cornerback Eric Wright for the 2013 season, according to a report from Roy Cummings of the Tampa Tribune, despite several indications earlier in the offseason that his release was imminent.
Eric Wright rumors: Buccaneers CB likely back in 2013
In his first season with the Buccaneers, Wright was suspended for four games after a failed PED test.
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Wright, 27, was given a five-year, $37.5-million contract in the 2012 offseason, but played in only 10 games after a four-game PED suspension. He also didn’t make much of an impact on the Buccaneers defense, as it finished with more passing yards allowed than any team in the NFL.
Due to his suspension, Wright’s 2013 guaranteed salary was voided, meaning that the Buccaneers could release him to avoid his $7.75 million cap hit for the year. A move that Rotoworld said the Buccaneers would “almost certainly make.”
However, the team still believes that he can be a contributor, as head coach Greg Schiano told Cummings that the Buccaneers think he’s a reliable player for the secondary:
“He had some things that kind of tripped him up (last year), but he has been reliable - not only here but in other places where coaches on our staff have been with him. If I didn’t feel there was good there, we would have already separated from him, but there is good there.”
With a non-guaranteed salary, though, the Buccaneers can now bring him to training camp and release him at any point prior to the season without salary cap ramifications.
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