Cecil Shorts to Buccaneers: Latest Contract Details, Comments and Reaction

Free-agent wide receiver Cecil Shorts is set to sign with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, as first reported by Mark Berman of Fox 26 on Tuesday. ESPN NFL Insider Adam Caplan later confirmed Berman's report and added that a one-year deal is in place. 

Shorts was on the market for just three days after being cut by the Houston Texans on Saturday.

He spent one season with the organization, racking up 484 yards on 42 receptions. But after the Texans drafted wide receivers Will Fuller out of Notre Dame and Braxton Miller out of Ohio State, Shorts became expendable at the position. 

But given his experience in the league, it was clear that he wouldn't spend too much time as a free agent. In each of the past four seasons, Shorts recorded at least 40 receptions, though he has seen his yards decrease every year from 979 in 2012 as a member of the Jacksonville Jaguars to 484 last year. 

That career year of 2012 with the Jaguars came under offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter, who is now the head coach of the Buccaneers. 

With the 2016 season rapidly approaching, Koetter suddenly was in desperate need of wide receivers after the Buccaneers lost Louis Murphy for "at least" the first six weeks of the season due to knee surgery as well as Donteea Dye, Kenny Bell and Bernard Reedy in the final two weeks of preseason play, per Greg Auman of the Tampa Bay Times. 

Behind Vincent Jackson and Mike Evans, the Buccaneers weren't left with much else on the depth chart heading into Week 1:

Player	Career Receptions	Yards	TD
Adam Humphries	27	260	1
Russell Shepard	7	91	1
Evan Spencer	0	0	0

With the addition of Shorts, second-year quarterback Jameis Winston will get a bona fide third-string receiver behind Jackson and Evans. 

Shorts becomes even more valuable because he can be inserted into the slot as an inside option while Tampa Bay's first two receivers continue to be deep threats on the outside.

Stats courtesy of Pro-Football-Reference.com.