The Buccaneers were linked to Matt Bryant shortly after he was released by the Falcons this week, but the kicker they signed on Thursday doesn’t have any National Football League experience.
Phillip Andersen does have experience in the German Football League, however. Andersen most recently kicked for the Berlin Rebels and caught the eye of the Bucs while taking part in former Bucs kicker Michael Husted’s camp in Mobile during Senior Bowl week.
Andersen is Danish and has spent time with three teams in the Danish American Football Federation in addition to his time in the GFL. He had a workout with the Buccaneers after taking part in Husted’s camp and showed enough to get a contract.
That leaves him as the only kicker under contract for 2019 as Cairo Santos is set to become a free agent after replacing Chandler Catanzaro during the season. Whether it is Bryant or someone else, Andersen will have company on the depth chart soon enough and that company will likely have the inside track on the job.
Given how many kickers the Bucs have run through without finding a reliable option over the last decade, however, you can’t blame them from looking everywhere they can for a potential solution.