Buccaneers spend $300K to protect Baker Mayfield with priciest undrafted free agent with incredible story

Billy Heyen

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Buccaneers spend $300K to protect Baker Mayfield with priciest undrafted free agent with incredible story image

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers aren't taking anything to chance.

They had a huge target, literally, during undrafted free agency. And to land him, they paid him the reported biggest UDFA contract of this draft cycle.

The player: Benjamin Chukwuma. He's an offensive lineman from Georgia State.

And according to NFL reporter Aaron Wilson, the Bucs shelled out $300,000 to land him. That's the highest value out there for an UDFA, according to Wilson.

Chukwuma is 6-foot-6 and 310 pounds, a mountain of a man.

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He's got an amazing story.

Chukwuma moved to the United States from Nigeria in 2017.

He played one season of high school football, that year, then joined Georgia State's team as a walk-on in 2020.

Now, five years later, he's in the NFL.

Teams can never have too many offensive linemen, and Chukwuma is the latest heading to Tampa Bay.

His contract suggests he was clearly desired by a number of teams, and in landing with the Bucs, he's got a chance to protect the always energetic Baker Mayfield, potentially for years to come. 

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Billy Heyen

Billy Heyen is a freelance writer with The Sporting News. He is a 2019 graduate of Syracuse University who has written about many sports and fantasy sports for The Sporting News. Sports reporting work has also appeared in a number of newspapers, including the Sandusky Register and Rochester Democrat & Chronicle