Buccaneers Releasing OT Donovan Smith

According to Jeremy Fowler, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are releasing OT Donovan Smith on Tuesday. 

This has been an expected move, as the Buccaneers need to clear a ton of cap space and Smith is one of the veteran players who doesn’t fit as well in the new phase of their team build. 

Releasing Smith creates nearly $10 million in cap space and almost $8 million in dead money, per Over The Cap.

Smith isn’t an elite tackle but there’s a high value on even competent play at left tackle, so if he’s healthy he should do fairly well for himself in free agency. 

Smith, 29, is a former second-round pick of the Buccaneers back in 2015. He played out the final year of his four-year, $6.068 million contract before agreeing to a three-year, $41.25 million contract with the Buccaneers in 2019 that included $27 million fully guaranteed. 

He was due to make a base salary of $15.25 million in 2023. 

In 2022, Smith appeared in 13 games for the Buccaneers, making 13 starts for them at left tackle. Pro Football Focus had him rated as the No. 66 tackle out of 81 qualifying players.