![\"J.T.](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2254521278-e1774052928828.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Tampa Bay Buccaneers safety J.T. Gray. <\/p>\n
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers<\/a> weren\u2019t very good at anything in 2025, but the 1 thing they were really, really bad at was special teams.<\/p>\n How bad were they? Head coach Todd Bowles admitted late in the season that his team was purposely kicking touchbacks and giving opposing teams the ball at the 35-yard line because he had zero faith in Tampa Bay\u2019s tackling ability.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why it\u2019s mildly concerning to see 3-time NFL All-Pro special teamer J.T. Gray<\/a> walk out the door in free agency.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Eagles<\/a> have agreed to terms with safeties Marcus Epps<\/a> and J.T. Gray, both of whom get one-year deals, after trading S Sydney Brown<\/a> to the Falcons<\/a>,\u201d NFL Network\u2019s Ian Rapoport wrote<\/a> on his official X account on Friday. \u201cEpps spent 2019-2022 in Philly, while Gray has been All-Pro three times.\u201d<\/p>\n Bucs Signed Gray Late in Miserable Season<\/p>\n The Buccaneers signed Gray to the practice squad<\/a> on November 21 ahead of their Week 12 road game against the Los Angeles Rams<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 what would end being a 3rd consecutive loss.<\/p>\n This will be Gray\u2019s fourth team this season, following stints with the New Orleans Saints<\/a>,\u00a0Baltimore Ravens<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Denver Broncos<\/a>.<\/p>\n Tampa Bay finished the season 8-9 and missed the playoffs for the 1st time since 2019.<\/p>\n \u201cThe counter move for adding safety J.T. Gray to the practice squad was Bucs releasing offensive lineman\u00a0Karsen Barnhart<\/a>,\u201d Fox Sports NFL reporter Greg Auman\u00a0wrote on his official X account<\/a>\u00a0on November 21.<\/p>\n Gray, 29 years old, played for the Saints<\/a> for 8 seasons.<\/p>\n \u201cIn seven seasons with the Saints, Gray played 98 games and became known as one of the NFL\u2019s best special teams players,\u201d\u00a0Buccaneers.com\u2019s Scott Smith wrote<\/a>\u00a0after Gray signed. \u201cIn 2021, he led the\u00a0NFL<\/a>\u00a0with 16 kick-coverage spots, earning an invitation to the Pro Bowl as a special teamer. He was also a first-team Associated Press All-Pro in that category in 2021 and earned second-team selections in 2019 and 2024. In his career, he has 103 tackles, one tackles or loss, two quarterback hits, one pass defensed, one forced fumble and three fumble recoveries.\u201d<\/p>\n From Undrafted to NFL Special Teams Star<\/p>\n Gray, 6-foot and 202 pounds, is a Clarksdale, Mississippi, native who stayed in-state to play for Mississippi State, where he played both linebacker and defensive back. He ran the 40-yard dash in 4.50 seconds at Mississippi State\u2019s Pro Day and made the Saints as an undrafted free agent in 2018.<\/p>\n If the Saints weren\u2019t in a year where they were trying to tank on an epic scale and cutting salaries everywhere they could, it\u2019s likely Gray would have remained with his original team.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the more perplexing moves the New Orleans Saints have made in recent weeks was the decision to cut J.T. Gray,\u201d\u00a0Saints Wire\u2019s John Sigler wrote<\/a>\u00a0on September 2. \u201d \u2026\u00a0 anyone who has watched a lot of Saints games since Gray made the team back in 2018 can tell how important he\u2019s been to their success \u2026 He was named a team captain for the first time before that breakout 2021 campaign and core the captain\u2019s patch through 2022, 2023, and 2024. He\u2019s regularly ranked among league leaders in tackles on special teams. There just haven\u2019t been many players who can shed a block and get downfield to cover a punt or kickoff like him. So why cut him?\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tTony Adame<\/a> covers the NFL for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Washington Commanders, Dallas Cowboys, Baltimore Ravens, Philadelphia Eagles and Denver Broncos. A veteran sports writer and editor since 2004, his work has been featured at Stadium Talk, Yardbarker, NW Florida Daily News and Pensacola News Journal. More about Tony Adame<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Buccaneers\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Tampa Bay Buccaneers safety J.T. Gray. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers weren\u2019t very good at anything in 2025,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":199875,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":{"0":"post-199874","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa","8":"tag-tampa","9":"tag-tampa-headlines","10":"tag-tampa-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199874\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/199875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}