Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
The Buccaneers have officially reduced the roster to the standard 53 man roster that will head into Sunday’s tilt with the New York Jets. Here’s the list of who did not make the cut.
Waived: Sean Baker (S), Deveron Carr (CB), Jace Daniels (T), Dom DeCicco (LB), Andrew DePaola (LS), Derek Dimke (K), David Douglas (WR), La’lial Glaus (LB), Cody Grimm (S), Chas Henry (P), Lazarius Levingston (DT), Matthew Masifilo (DT), Andre Neblett (DT), Danny Noble (TE), Chris Owusu (WR), Mike Remmers (T), Mason Robinson (CB), Cody Wallace (C)
Contract Terminated: Gary Gibson (DT), Roger Allen (G), Jordan Norwood (WR)
The biggest surprise on the list is clearly DT Gary Gibson. He was expected by many to be a part of the defensive line rotation, but with the emergence of rookie Akeem Spence, Mark Dominik decided Gibson simply wasn’t worth it. The odd part about the move however is that the Buccaneers roster is now left with just three defensive tackles, Spence, Gerald McCoy, and Derek Landri. For a position that has experienced injuries in the past, that seems awfully thin to me, we’ll just have to wait and see if they’ll add another. However, there are six DE’s on the roster.
WR Chris Owusu was one of the early standouts in camp, but his poor performances in the preseason games coupled with his injuries were likely the reason he’s not on the final roster.
Kicker Derek Dimke was let go and Lawrence Tynes was placed on the non-football injury list. That leaves the Buccaneers with just the single kicker being Rian Lindell.
With the injuries to both Danny Gorrer and Anthony Gaitor, it’s a bit of a shock to see Deveron Carr’s name on the cut list. He was another hot name a month and a half ago. Similar to Owusu, he didn’t show much in the preseason, and it cost him a spot on the roster.
Safeties Cody Grimm and Sean Baker were also waived. This probably effectively ends the Grimm experiment in Tampa Bay. He had a tumultuous run that included some highs and lows, but there simply wasn’t space behind Mark Barron and Dashon Goldson.
Four players from the Rutgers were let go leaving the final roster with four.
Danny Noble seemed to be coming on, and the injury of Tom Crabtree made it seem as though Noble might make the team. However, his release should signal positive news on the Crabtree injury front.
The Buccaneers did not waive or terminate a single running back. This leaves the final 53 with four running backs. Doug Martin, Brian Leonard, Peyton Hillis, and Mike James all made the roster. With Leonard clearly stepping up as the backup and Eric Page looking like he’ll be the return man, it will be interesting to see how Schiano opts to use Hillis and James.