Bucs Wanted Koutouvides To Be The Sam

The Bucs were interested in signing Niko Koutouvides (LB, Seattle) over the weekend, but he wound up going with Denver. The contract Tampa Bay offered him was nearly identical to the one he eventually signed with Denver, but he liked his opportunity better there.

"I signed with Denver because of the opportunity to play middle linebacker," Koutouvides said. "Tampa was pretty much looking at me to be their Sam (strongside) 'backer and back up at Mike. But I've been a middle linebacker all my life. I'm extremely excited."

This strikes me as weird because as far as I knew, all the starting linebacker spots were filled. Cato June is the starting strongside linebacker and he did a great job at it last year. I assumed June would move to the weakside when Derrick Brooks retired, but that's not happening this year. So what is giving Niko (I tried referring to him by his last name, but it's just too hard to type) the impression that he could be "their Sam"?

Is that the problem in getting high profile guys to sign in Tampa? Are the Bucs not being forthright about which starting positions are up for grabs and which ones are locked down?