Tampa Bay Buccaneers sign LB Caden Fordham

Caden Fordham's three-year, $3.1M deal earns a C+ Contract Value Index (CVI) — a depth signing that delivers marginal value at the position without meaningful upside. At $1.034M average annual value, this is a replacement-level linebacker contract, the kind of sub-$1.1M AAV structure teams use to fill out the back half of their linebacker room rather than address a starting gap. The CVI reflects a straightforward exchange: modest guaranteed money in exchange for a proven rotational contributor, with no leverage skew in the Buccaneers' favor but no egregious overpay either. For a team sitting at 8-9 and fighting for playoff relevance in the NFC South with 96 days until the regular season, this is the kind of low-risk, short-term roster move that signals depth building rather than championship-window urgency — useful depth, but not transformative. The three-year structure provides minimal dead-cap risk if the deal doesn't work out, and the total cap hit is negligible relative to Tampa Bay's flexibility. This is a C+ deal because it does exactly what it's meant to do — add a veteran body without absorbing cap risk — but offers no hidden value or upside that would push it higher.