Five Tight Ends to Buccaneers’ 53 Man Roster
The Buccaneers have decided to keep a large number of tight ends on the 53 man roster.
The teams of the NFL are on their mad dash to the finish line with their rosters. The teams must be down to 53 players by 4:00 PM on Saturday afternoon. Following the rainy night in Tampa, there is a lot of intrigue as to what the Buccaneers‘ roster is going to look like. There were critical decisions to make.
The Bucs have made their moves, and made an interesting decision that is worth highlighting.
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There was some wonder about whether or not Austin Seferian-Jenkins would keep his job, especially after his outburst the other night. It turns out he didn’t have to worry since the team has kept five tight ends on the 53-man roster, per Greg Auman of the Tampa Bay Times. We will have more analysis of the roster later on, but this tidbit was very much worth isolating.
The five players kept were Cameron Brate, Luke Stocker, Brandon Myers, Austin Seferian-Jenkins, and in a surprise decision, Alan Cross. Obviously it remains to be seen how many of these guys will dress on game day, assuming they are all still here come week one. With all of the cuts looming there are still moves to be made.
As an undrafted rookie, Cross didn’t arrive with much expectation, though he did play a significant role as Paxton Lynch’s tight end at Memphis. He didn’t jump off of the stats page, with only three catches for 27 yards, but the staff apparently did see enough to warrant keeping him around.
The other surprise in this story is that Dan Vitale was not in the group. The “Super Back” was seen as a value pick at the end of the draft, with expectations of making plays in the ground game and out of the backfield as a receiver. He could return to the practice squad, but with his skill set there is no guarantee he will be available to re-sign.
We shall see how this plays out, and if the tight end depth chart changes. We will have more analysis of the roster later on.