After weeks of wading through contract technicalities, and waiting for wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson to complete a restructuring to create needed cap room, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers finally reached a long-awaited agreement on Friday with unrestricted free agent quarterback Jim Miller.

The former Chicago Bears starter, who was released last month for salary-cap reasons, on Friday agreed to a one-year contract, ESPN.com learned. The deal includes a base salary of $655,000 and a signing bonus of $25,000.

	Miller

Miller, 32, will compete with former teammate Shane Matthews for the primary backup job behind starter Brad Johnson. Even though the 10-year veteran might not be able to throw with full velocity until June or July, the result of recent rotator cuff surgery, Bucs coach Jon Gruden wanted him for his toughness, savvy and leadership skills.

The two sides visited in Tampa Bay earlier this month, and they essentially agreed to contract parameters at the time, but were unable to complete the deal because the Bucs did not have sufficient cap room available. The club gained about $2.5 million in cap space by reworking Keyshawn Johnson's contract.

There was also an issue of injury protection to be resolved, and that took some negotiation between Tampa Bay officials and agent Joe Linta, which also delayed the deal.

Tampa Bay is expected to use its newfound cap room to also re-sign two players from its Super Bowl roster, offensive tackle Roman Oben and tight end Rickey Dudley, and to pursue free agent linebacker Dwayne Rudd.

In 2001, Miller led Chicago to a 13-3 record and its first divisional title since 1990, but suffered through shoulder, elbow and foot injuries last season. By releasing him, the Bears saved about $300,000 on their '03 cap. Chicago has since signed former Pittsburgh starter Kordell Stewart and is also expected to use a high-round draft choice on a quarterback.

The much-traveled Miller has 27 career starts. Thirteen of those came in 2001, when he completed 228 of 395 pass attempts for 2,299 yards, with 13 touchdown passes and 10 interceptions.

After that season, in which the Bears were eliminated from the playoffs in the divisional round, Miller signed a new five-year, $12 million contract that included a $2 million signing bonus.

He suffered through injuries in 2002, and by the end of the season he was playing on sheer guts alone, with a rotator cuff problem in his shoulder. A series of injuries limited Miller to just eight starts and he completed 180 of 314 passes for 1,944 yards. He had 13 touchdown passes, nine interceptions and a passer rating of 77.5.

In addition to Matthews and Miller, the Bucs are still considering re-signing free agent quarterback Shaun King, who was No. 3 on their '02 depth chart.

Len Pasquarelli is a senior writer for ESPN.com.