The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have signed their off-season acquisition Kellen Winslow to a six-year contract. Winslow, acquired from the Cleveland Browns on the first day of the off-season, has put pen to paper on a deal worth a reported US$36.1 million (Dh132.6m), potentially rising to $42.1m with incentives. Those figures would make him the highest-paid tight end in the NFL.
Winslow, a Pro Bowl selection in 2007, has averaged five receptions and 55.9 yards per game in his NFL career since being drafted sixth overall by Cleveland back in 2004. The Bucs traded a second-round 2009 draft pick and a fifth-round 2010 pick to land Winslow from Cleveland, where a previous contract dispute with the front office made him expendable. "It's a contract we feel comfortable with as an organisation," said the Bucs general manager Mark Dominik, who added it was rare to acquire someone so talented via trade.
"You want to lock him up for a long period of time," he said. "We feel very comfortable with him in the short amount of time he's been here. We feel comfortable with him being a leader. He is already getting involved in the community and planning to bring his camp down here and his wife is starting to get involved, too." The cornerback Samari Rolle has re-signed for the Baltimore Ravens two weeks after being released by the franchise.
Rolle was waived on March 18 as the Ravens signed the free agent cornerback Domonique Foxworth as a probable starter and Chris Carr as a nickel back. "Eventually I knew this was where I needed to be," he said. * Agencies
