Buccaneers Sign Phillip Buchanon
By Michael Williams (4/3/2007)
Phillip Buchanon had a stop short in the open market and he is back with the Buccaneers. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have signed Phillip Buchanon, an unrestricted free agent cornerback. This moved is perceived as being the team’s way of adding depth at cornerback in the 2007 season.
Buchanon started the last season with Houston Texans and in mid October he joined the Buccaneers. He was extremely successful and he played in 10 games and started 4 of them. The Buccaneers gave Buchanon increased playing time after Brian Kelly was benched because of a nagging turf toe injury. Buchanon made most of this opportunity and ended up fitting well into the Buccaneers’ cover two defense.
Buchanon just became a free agent when the new league year started but the Buccaneers quickly got him back.
Buchanon finished the last season ranked third in the team with 2 interceptions and 28 tackles. He also had 14 punt returns for 95 yards and 5 kickoff returns for 106 yards. Most of this came during his play for the Texans. In his career, Buchanon has played a total of 60 games with 38 starts and 189 tackles. He has 98 punt returns for 986 yards with 3 touchdowns and 7 kickoff returns for 131 yards.
In the 2002 draft, Buchanon was a first round selection and he joined the Texans in 2005 after a trade with Oakland Raiders in which the Texans sent second and third round picks to Oakland. The Texans released Buchanon on October 16, 2006 and the following day the Buccaneers sign him up. |