The Buccaneers got through most of the 2026 preseason without much damage, but Friday night’s 19-0 loss at Jacksonville changed that fast. Two defenders came out of the game hurt, and one of them left with a much bigger cloud hanging over him than the other.
Keionte Scott, Tampa Bay’s fourth-round pick, went down with an ankle sprain after helping on a tackle in the first half. He limped off and never returned. Scott had been in line to compete for a starting nickelback role, with Jacob Parrish moving outside to cornerback to take over for Jamel Dean.
The tougher scene belonged to Mo Kamara. At the 8:44 mark of the third quarter, the outside linebacker suffered a left knee injury that appeared serious right away.
Kamara stayed down grabbing at the knee, writhing in pain, then took off his helmet and threw it in anger. Trainers helped him off the field, but he could barely put weight on the leg.
He had come into the night fresh off a half sack in last week’s win over Kansas City and was making a strong push for another practice squad spot after joining Tampa Bay’s practice squad last year.
On Saturday morning, Todd Bowles gave the latest on both players. Kamara is headed for an MRI, and the coach said, “He’s going to get an MRI this afternoon,” Bowles said of Mo Kamara’s knee injury. “Right now it’s a sprain, but we’ll wait and see what the tests say.”
The outlook around Kamara is not encouraging. The injury looked bad in real time, and the reaction from Kamara only added to the concern that this could be a long-term issue, possibly ending his season.
Scott’s update was much more upbeat. Bowles said the rookie cornerback might still have a shot to be ready for the opener in two weeks at Cincinnati.
“Not as serious I don’t think, but just some nicks,” Bowles said when discussing how Scott and the rest of the Bucs fared health-wise coming out of Friday’s game in Jacksonville. “He just sprained his ankle a little bit.
He should be fine.”
Kamara’s injury also opens the door wider for Jack Pyburn, who kept making noise in the preseason with another big outing against Jacksonville. The undrafted free agent from LSU had two sacks and a tackle for loss in the game, giving him four sacks in three preseason contests. He opened the exhibition schedule with two sacks against the Jets and has forced his way into the conversation for a roster spot or a place on the practice squad.
That climb gets even more interesting now that Kamara is sidelined. Pyburn is effectively sitting behind Yaya Diaby, Rueben Bain Jr., Al-Quadin Muhammad, Anthony Nelson and David Walker on the edge-rusher depth chart, but his production has made him impossible to ignore.
“Pyburn is leading the league in sacks in preseason, so he’s made a great case for himself at a deep position,” Bowles said. “So that’s something we definitely have to look at.”
Pyburn’s path has already drawn attention beyond the field. He had only three career sacks across three years at Florida and one season at LSU, but he made national headlines a few weeks ago when he was one of 15 players to successfully sue the NCAA and receive an extra year of college eligibility. If he doesn’t land on an NFL roster, he could go back to college for the 2026 season and pursue an NIL deal that might pay more than what he’d make on a practice squad in Tampa Bay or elsewhere.
Bowles said the team has discussed the situation, though he hasn’t had a direct update on where Pyburn stands personally. “I haven’t talked to him about that,” Bowles said.
“We have talked about the situation. He didn’t know what he was going to do at the time or how he felt.
He had some people he is talking to, and again, that was probably a week ago. So I don’t know where his mindset is in that regard, but it’s something we have to sort through.”
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 🡒]