Richard Sherman Inks One-Year Deal With Buccaneers

The defending Super Bowl champion Buccaneers have added another former Pro Bowler to their roster: cornerback Richard Sherman.

Sherman, 33, announced his decision to sign a one-year deal with Tampa Bay on Wednesday during his new podcast, "The Richard Sherman Podcast." Sherman said that he received a phone call from none other than quarterback Tom Brady, who lobbied Sherman to sign with the team.

Sherman spoke to the media after Tampa Bay's practice today, saying he needs a full week of practice before he can play. That likely rules him out on Sunday night against the Patriots.

Talk of Sherman signing with Tampa Bay began last week, when starting corner Sean Murphy-Bunting was placed on injured reserve with a dislocated elbow. This left Jamel Dean to fill the role as CB2 for the Bucs. Dean suffered a knee injury early against the Rams on Sunday, leaving Dee Delaney and Ross Cockrell as the only other cornerbacks on the active roster.

Delaney and Cockrell each took their turns being torched by Rams receiver Cooper Kupp, leaving Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht no choice but to bring in the veteran cornerback. The move was suspected even before the game when the team restructured guard Ali Marpet's contract to open up $4 million in cap space. It's a move that Licht and vice president of football administration Mike Greenberg have used in the past to keep its core roster intact and bring in other veterans.

Sherman is a five-time Pro Bowler and three-time All-Pro who first made his name on Seattle's "Legion of Boom" defense from 2011-2017. Sherman spent the last three seasons with the 49ers, earning a Pro Bowl nod in 2019 and contributing to San Francisco's run to the Super Bowl that season.

The Buccaneers roster now includes star veterans such as Brady, Sherman, Rob Gronkowski, Antonio Brown, Ndamukong Suh, Jason Pierre-Paul and Leonard Fournette. Now imagine telling Buccaneers fans in 2017 that the team would look like this in 2021.