The Tampa Bay Buccaneers began their OTAs under first-year head coach Greg Schiano this morning and have been joined by franchised kicker Connor Barth, who had skipped the team's first voluntary minicamp in early April.
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"Headin back down to Tampa today....excited to see all my teammates again!'' Barth tweeted last week, leading Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times to wonder if a multi-year extension was near.
Barth's tweet was deleted on Monday night, though a tweet from last Friday seeking a loaner car from a dealership in Tampa for the remainder of the offseason was still live as of Tuesday morning. So Barth presumably plans to remain in town for the duration of the OTAs and mandatory minicamp, which concludes on June 14. Stroud reports on Twitter that Barth is at Tuesday's practice, but is not participating in the voluntary workouts.
According to Stroud, Buccaneers general manager Mark Dominik credited Barth for showing up despite not being signed to a contract.
Since joining the Bucs midway through the 2009 season, Barth is 63 of 75 (84 percent) on field goal attempts, including 26 of 28 in 2011, which set a club record with a 92.9 percent success rate. Barth, 26, earned $1.835 million in base salary on a restricted free agent tender last season and his one-year franchise tag is worth $2.654 million in base salary, which will become fully guaranteed once he signs the tender. The two sides have until July 15 to work out a multi-year extension.
