The Buccaneers filled out their practice squad on Sunday, signing 16 players and bringing the group to 16 of a possible 17 spots.
Fifteen of those additions were already familiar faces from Tampa Bay’s training camp, including tight end Devin Culp, wide receiver Garrett Greene, outside linebacker Yasir Holmes, defensive lineman Jayson Jones, guard Henry Lutovsky, safety Ifeatu Melifonwu, cornerback Roman Parodie, wide receivers Dean Patterson IV and Eric Rivers Jr., safety J.J. Roberts, tackle Paul Rubelt, guard Ben Scott, running back Josh Williams, safety Rashad Wisdom and linebacker Javin Wright.
Rubelt, who is part of the International Player Pathway Program, does not count against Tampa Bay’s practice squad limit.
The lone newcomer is quarterback Easton Stick, who landed with the Buccaneers after the Indianapolis Colts waived him on Sunday, August 30.
Stick comes to Tampa Bay with six NFL games under his belt, all with the Los Angeles Chargers. He made four starts there, completing 112 of 175 passes for 1,133 yards, three touchdowns and one interception, good for an 85.7 passer rating.
The Chargers picked Stick in the fifth round, No. 166 overall, in the 2019 NFL Draft. He spent six seasons with the franchise before later joining the Atlanta Falcons in 2025 and the Colts in 2026.
At North Dakota State from 2014-18, Stick started 52 of 55 games and finished as the FCS’s all-time winningest quarterback at 49-3. He also left school as the Bison’s career leader in passing yards with 8,693, passing touchdowns with 88, total offense with 11,216 and touchdowns responsible for with 129.
Stick helped North Dakota State win four FCS national championships, three of them with him at quarterback. As a senior in 2018, he earned first-team Associated Press All-America honors and was named Missouri Valley Football Conference Offensive Player of the Year.
The Omaha, Nebraska, native will wear No. 16 in Tampa Bay.
In Other News...
Bucs Settle Quarterback Depth Question With Late Veteran Addition
The Buccaneers added another layer to their quarterback room late in the week, signing veteran Easton Stick to the practice squad as a depth move behind Baker Mayfield and Jalon Daniels. Stick, a North Dakota State product and former fifth-round pick, brings NFL experience from stints with the Chargers and Falcons, and he arrives with a familiar face in the building thanks to his prior working relationship with offensive coordinator Zac Robinson.
It is the kind of quiet roster move teams make when they want to settle a question before it becomes a larger one, especially at quarterback. Tampa Bay had been exploring its options after Jake Browning declined a practice squad offer, and Stick now gives the Bucs an experienced fallback as they continue sorting out the backup picture behind their top two passers. [Read more 🡒]
Bucs Final Roster Cuts Included A Few Notable Veteran Decisions
The Buccaneers have trimmed their roster down to 53 as the regular season approaches, and the final wave of cuts included a few names that stood out beyond the usual end-of-August churn. Tampa Bay released quarterback Jake Browning and safety Ifeatu Melifonwu as part of a broader set of moves, while also waiving several other players who could still circle back if they clear waivers and land on the practice squad.
The roster picture is not fully settled yet, though. The Buccaneers also placed two players on injured reserve with designations to return, and now the attention shifts to assembling the practice squad once the waived players pass through waivers. For a team trying to preserve depth and keep familiar pieces close, the next day or two should reveal how much of this group stays in the building. [Read more 🡒]
Buccaneers Just Created A Strange New Waiting Game With Jack Pyburn
The Buccaneers made one of the more curious moves of their roster-cutdown period by waiving undrafted rookie linebacker Jack Pyburn before the final deadline. Pyburn had stood out in the preseason, finishing with the most sacks on the team, which made his status worth watching as Tampa Bay worked through the last wave of decisions. Instead, his future now shifts to the waiver process, where every team gets a look before the next chapter begins.
Pyburns next step is unusual enough to make this more than a standard roster note. Because of an ongoing legal challenge to NCAA eligibility rules for players with professional experience, there is at least a path for him to potentially return to college football at LSU. LSU and other players are involved in that litigation, and preliminary injunction hearings are scheduled, leaving Pyburn in a waiting game that stretches beyond the NFL waiver wire and into a broader eligibility fight. [Read more 🡒]