The Buccaneers have not lost many free agents this offseason, but they will see one of their depth players depart. The Texans agreed to terms with tight end Antony Auclair on Tuesday night, according to the Houston Chronicle’s Aaron Wilson.
Auclair played four seasons with the Bucs, starting 20 games. He started two games for last season’s Super Bowl champion Bucs squad, working as a supporting-caster for a team that featured Rob Gronkowski and Cameron Brate.
After attending college in Canada, Auclair joined the Bucs as a UDFA in 2017. He topped out at a 30% snap rate for the 2018 Tampa Bay edition. The Bucs mostly utilized the 27-year-old tight end as a blocker. Auclair, whom the Bucs activated at the midseason point last year after he spent several weeks on IR, was inactive for each of the Bucs’ four playoff games.
The 6-foot-6 tight end will join a less flashy tight end stable. The Texans released Darren Fells earlier this year but still have Jordan Akins on their roster. Houston also signed former New England tight end Ryan Izzo and has Pharaoh Brown and ex-third-round pick Kahale Warring on its roster.
Tampa Bay is planning to return O.J. Howard to its historically deep tight end crew next season. Howard suffered a season-ending Achilles tear last October, but Bruce Arians expects the former first-round pick to participate in offseason work and rejoin Brate and the recently re-signed Gronkowski.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Leave a Reply