TAMPA, Fla. -- The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are re-signing defensive tackle Rakeem Nunez-Roches on a one-year deal, a source confirmed Friday.
Nunez-Roches, 32, had spent the past three seasons with the New York Giants but saw action in only nine games last season due to ankle and toe injuries that landed him on injured reserve. Still, he made five starts with a career-high 3.0 sacks, 23 combined tackles and a pass deflection.
Before that, he was a member of the Buccaneers from 2018 to 2022, helping secure a victory in Super Bowl LV in 2020. In that span, he played in 68 regular-season games for the Buccaneers, with 22 starts.
A 2015 sixth-round draft pick out of Southern Mississippi, Nunez-Roches spent the first three seasons of his career with the Kansas City Chiefs. In total, he has played in 142 regular-season games with 62 regular-season starts and eight playoff game appearances.
Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles said at the NFL league meetings earlier this week that a team goal was to get back to being bigger and more physical along the defensive line. Bowles mentioned Nunez-Roches by name while also pointing to the free agent signings of defensive lineman A'Shawn Robinson and outside linebacker Al-Quadin Muhammad.
"They had edge. I don't know if we were sturdy enough upfront defensively from a size standpoint. We've had, like you said, we've had [William] Gholston and we've had [Nunez-Roches] and we've had [Ndamukong] Suh," Bowles said. "... So we haven't had the sturdiness, so to speak. And with A'Shawn coming in, I think he brings some of that and Al brings that type of attitude too. So we're trying to get back to having a stout defensive front that can help everybody else."
The Tampa Bay Times first reported Nunez-Roches' signing.