Tampa Bay Buccaneers sign RB Kadarius Calloway

Kadarius Calloway's three-year, $3.1M deal with the Buccaneers earns a C+ Contract Value Index (CVI), landing squarely in fair-deal territory for a depth signing at an offseason price point that carries minimal financial risk for Tampa Bay. At roughly $1M AAV, the contract sits at the lower end of the running back market, which is fitting for a player who profiles as a roster-filler or at best a late-depth contributor rather than a featured back. The CVI reflects a ceiling problem as much as anything else — this is the kind of deal that makes sense on paper as low-stakes insurance, but it only delivers real value if Calloway outperforms his projection and forces his way into a meaningful role. Without guaranteed money disclosed in the structure, the Buccaneers carry no meaningful dead-cap exposure here, which is the clearest upside of the deal — Tampa can move on without consequence if the production doesn't materialize. For a franchise sitting at 8-9 and on the bubble of the NFC playoff picture, filling out the back end of a running back room with sub-$1.1M annual commitments is exactly the kind of roster construction discipline a front office should be exercising this time of year. The CVI holds steady at C+ because this isn't a bad deal — it's just not one that moves the needle in either direction, a serviceable low-floor, low-ceiling addition that rounds out depth without straining the cap.