Three undrafted Buccaneers have turned a crowded summer into a strong case for roster spots.
Jack Pyburn, Cayden Fordham and Ayden Garnes all made enough noise in camp and the preseason to put themselves in position to stick with Tampa Bay when the final cuts come. None of them had an easy path. Each one entered a room with real competition, and each one had to do more than just look competent to stay in the mix.
Pyburn may have done the most to force the issue. The undrafted rookie walked into an especially packed outside linebacker group, where solid play alone wasn’t going to separate him.
He needed a moment, and he delivered one in the preseason finale against Jacksonville. Pyburn finished that game with two sacks and three tackles for loss, a final exclamation point on a summer that kept showing the same traits over and over: motor, physicality and a knack for being around the football.
Edge spots are never simple to sort out, but Tampa Bay has seen enough to make it hard to imagine him getting pushed out.
Fordham’s path looked different, but the result is the same. The linebacker battle asked him to prove he could be more than a developmental body, and he answered with a camp and preseason that made him look like someone the Buccaneers should keep.
His downhill urgency and physical style kept showing up, and so did the kind of versatility that matters for a reserve linebacker, especially once special teams enter the picture. With SirVocea Dennis and Christian Rozeboom missing most of the preseason action and little depth behind Alex Anzalone and Josiah Trotter, Fordham has positioned himself as the next young depth piece in a rebuilt linebacker room.
Garnes turned what began as a real competition into a spot where it would be a surprise if Tampa Bay let him go. The Buccaneers came into camp with plenty of options and plenty of questions at cornerback, and Garnes used the preseason to separate himself as an undrafted free agent who had been overlooked in the draft process.
Whenever he got chances, he kept making plays, flashing the coverage ability and physicality that made him an intriguing addition in the first place. With Tampa Bay sorting through a group of young defensive backs behind its established starters, Garnes needed to stand out rather than simply survive the shuffle, and he may now be in line as the first corner in the rotation outside the starters.
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 🡒]