The Buccaneers are expected to sign center Joe Hawley today, Adam Caplan of ESPN.com tweets. Hawley was a former starter for Atlanta but he was released by the team this offseason.
Hawley, 27 in October, was on his way to returning from the ACL surgery that ended his 2014 season prematurely. However, the Falcons jumped at the chance to add center Gino Gradkowski when he was waived by the Broncos, and Hawley was quickly displaced.
Hawley wasn’t playing exceptionally well in the early going last season, but he appeared in 16 games with seven starts in 2013 and the team was counting on him to start in ’14. This year, Hawley started the first two preseason games for Atlanta but he was moved to the bench for the final two contests.
