Chris Conte, Tampa Bay Buccaneers Reportedly Agree to 2-Year Contract

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers reportedly re-signed Chris Conte after agreeing to terms on a two-year deal worth $5 million, including $2.5 million guaranteed, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter. Greg Auman of the Tampa Bay Times confirmed the signing.

Schefter noted Conte can earn up to $7 million total if he reaches incentive thresholds.

Conte appeared in 14 games in each of his first two seasons in Tampa. During that time, he collected 178 combined tackles and four interceptions.

The 28-year-old was absent for Tampa Bay's victories in Weeks 13 and 14 after he got injured while tackling Seattle Seahawks tight end Jimmy Graham in his team's 14-5 victory.

"I knew something was wrong as soon as I hit him," said Conte, per Auman. "I don't know exactly what happened, but every time I took a breath, it felt like my lung would fill up with blood and I'd be coughing up blood. That was a new one."

The Buccaneers defense took a step forward against the pass in 2016, particularly in the second half of the year. The Tampa Bay defense ranked 26th in pass defense DVOA (defense-adjusted value over average) in 2015 compared to sixth this past season.

Pro Football Focus' Matt Claassen listed the Bucs secondary as the 15th-best unit in the NFL, but he credited some of that turnaround to Conte's replacement:

"

[Conte] looked more like the player we saw during his last season in Chicago before Keith Tandy took over at free safety. The swing in performance from Conte to Tandy was about as big as it could have been. Conte ranked 90th out of 91 safeties in overall grade, while Tandy was the highest-graded safety over the final five weeks of the season, allowing a passer rating of just 34.3 into his coverage.

"

Tandy is set to earn $840,000 in 2017 before becoming an unrestricted free agent. Between that and his strong play toward the end of 2016, it seemingly made more sense to insert Tandy rather than Conte as the starting strong safety in Week 1.

Instead, Conte would appear to have the inside track after signing a new deal with the Buccaneers.

Should Conte prove to be a liability again, head coach Dirk Koetter knows he can at least turn to Tandy to turn things around again.