Brent Grimes to Buccaneers: Latest Contract Details, Comments and Reaction

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers added a Pro Bowl talent to their secondary Friday with the signing of cornerback Brent Grimes, as the team announced.

Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times first reported the deal, while Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported it's a two-year, $13.5 million deal with the possibility of hitting $16.5 million with incentives.

This comes after Omar Kelly of the Sun Sentinel reported that the Miami Dolphins released Grimes to "create more salary-cap space at the start of free agency." Kelly cited sources that said the Dolphins attempted to get Grimes to restructure his four-year, $32 million deal that was signed in 2014, but the cornerback refused.

Kelly added cutting Grimes created $6.5 million in additional cap space for Miami.

Grimes played for the Atlanta Falcons from 2007 to 2012 before he joined the Dolphins. While he played only one game in 2012, he has been one of the more durable defensive backs in the league the past few seasons and appeared in all but one of Miami's 48 games the last three years.

The 32-year-old cornerback will provide instant value to his new team if he simply continues to stay on the field in the injury-riddled NFL.

However, Darin Gantt of ProFootballTalk broke down some potential off-field concerns that come with signing Grimes:

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His play on the field certainly doesn't merit his release, but Grimes can't be viewed in a vacuum. His wife Miko has become a considerable distraction, ripping quarterback Ryan Tannehill and reporters who cover the team in a Twitter rant.

While that might not necessarily have anything to do with her husband’s level of play, it does make it easier to take a big number off the books.

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Grimes apologized to Tannehill in the aftermath of that incident.

On top of the off-field issues, Ian Wharton of Bleacher Report noted there was more to Miami's decision to cut ties with Grimes:

Grimes may not be the cornerback he was in his prime (Pro Football Focus ranked him as the 41st-best cornerback in 2015), but he is athletic and quick enough to keep up with plenty of receivers. Still, he is only 5'10", which raises questions about whether he will have difficulties against some of the taller pass-catchers in the league.

Even with those questions, Andrew Abramson of the Palm Beach Post called Grimes Miami's "most reliable cornerback" following the 2015 season. He is a four-time Pro Bowler and posted decent stats the past couple of seasons:

Season	Team	Games	Combined Tackles	Interceptions	Passes Defended
2007	Atlanta Falcons	2	12	0	0
2008	Atlanta Falcons	12	34	1	6
2009	Atlanta Falcons	16	66	6	13
2010	Atlanta Falcons	16	87	5	23
2011	Atlanta Falcons	12	49	1	14
2012	Atlanta Falcons	1	6	0	0
2013	Miami Dolphins	16	60	4	17
2014	Miami Dolphins	16	57	5	13
2015	Miami Dolphins	15	49	4	14

There are some understandable concerns with Grimes, especially since he will be 33 years old in the 2016 campaign and will likely lose a step as he gets older, but he provides veteran leadership and a Pro Bowl pedigree to a team in Tampa Bay that is looking to make a playoff run in 2016.