LeGarrette Blount Signed By Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Good Move or Bad?

LeGarrette Blount capped his preseason by finding a new home with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Blount, more famous for an on-field sucker punch now than for anything he did with a football in his hands, was waived by the Tennessee Titans this past weekend when they cut the roster down to 53 men.

Blount showed talent, but he also showed his explosive temper might not be entirely tamed as he punched teammate Eric Bakhtiari in the helmet during training camp.

Blount initially made the 53-man roster on Saturday, but was cut on Sunday after the Titans made two waiver wire pickups.

Blount went 118 yards on 31 carries in the preseason, which isn't bad, but it obviously wasn't enough to make a roster that features Chris Johnson and his 2,000-yard performance in 2009.

Now that Blount has made an NFL roster, the question now is if this was a good or bad move for the Buccaneers, who were one of the league's bigger disappointments in 2009.

The Bucs leading running back is Cadillac Williams, who at 28 years old still should be in the prime of his career.

So it's up to Blount to make his way up the depth chart and get the carries in package situations or during garbage time.

With Blount being a waiver wire pickup, the Bucs are saying they're willing to take a chance on the guy, and considering their backfield wouldn't be considered elite, they may be picking up a potential Pro Bowl-caliber player for virtually nothing.

Blount was projected to go much higher in the 2010 draft prior to his now-infamous punch in the Boise State game last year.

His subsequent suspension, and perception that his inability to control his temper would lead to more trouble down the road, killed any chance Blount had of being drafted any higher than the final two rounds.

It turned out no team wanted to use a draft pick on Blount, but the Titans decided to sign him as an undrafted free agent. But their backfield is pretty good, and Blount became the unfortunate odd man out.

Now he has a chance to prove himself in Tampa Bay, and they face an unknown defense this Sunday vs. the Cleveland Browns, whose roster and depth chart is as mercurial as Head Coach Eric Mangini could hope for.

In the end, the results will tell everything, and Blount now has his chance for redemption in the sunny skies of Tampa Bay.