And again we seem to find decent enough, starting-material players still without a team after most have made their key free agency signings. Major Wright, with the Chicago Bears until now, might try and reconnect with his former head coach as he might become a Tampa Bay Buccaneers player next season.
Wright, who played under Lovie Smith in Chicago is visiting with the Bucs and is going to find some familiar faces: Not just head coach Lovie Smith, but safeties coach Mikal Smith (the coach’s son) and cornerbacks coach Gill Byrd in Chicago. The Bucs intend to sign Wright before he leaves town and not just bring him in for a visit while they weigh their options.
Wright played three seasons for Smith before the coaching change in Chicago. The 25 year-old was a third round pick in the 2010 NFL Draft coming out of Florida where he won a BCS championship. He remained a starter under the new regime in Chicago, starting 15 times last season.
He has nine career interceptions and three forced fumbles, all coming in the last three seasons. He has also scored a defensive touchdown, taking an interception all the way, in each of the last three seasons. As with the rest of the Bears defense in 2013, he had plenty of highs but also quite a few low moments in what seemed to be a down year for what is usually one of the best defensive units in the NFL.
The Bucs do have Dashon Golson and Mark Barron starting for them at safety, so it is unlikely Wright is heading to Florida in order to become a starter, or at least not right away. It’s more likely that he’ll be a backup to the two and feature more in sub packages and simply improve the team’s depth if he ends up signing with them.