While roster cuts may be far off, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers already have several players on their roster than may have become obsolete after the draft.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers currently have 86 players on their roster heading into the summer before the 2020 NFL season. The Bucs are going to have to cut this number down to around 65 to keep the roster and the practice squad fully staffed.
With 19 players on the chopping block, at least, the majority of these players will get a chance to earn one of the 65 spots during training camp, but some players have likely already been replaced.
While training camp is all about seeing what a player can do, the Buccaneers have spent too much money and other capital on draft picks and free-agent signings to keep some of these low-ceiling veteran players on the team.
Age and mediocre/questionable production are not good characteristics for a player trying to remain on an NFL roster.
Rookies may be viable options for the practice squad and will have two real opportunities to make the team, but for the veterans, their only option is to make the active roster.
These five veterans could find themselves on the hot seat this summer and could be looking for a new team before the start of the season.
Running back Dare Ogunbowale is a player that no fan would want to see leave. His work ethic is evidenced by his earning an essential role on the active roster for the Bucs after time on several different practice squads.
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After making the roster for the Buccaneers in 2019, Dare took over the majority of the third-down opportunities and was also named the captain of special teams. As a young player, hard work and leadership at his level are both hard to find.
Despite his compelling story, Ogunbowale didn’t have a significant presence in 2019 on the field or through special teams. This could have been chalked up to his first year in the NFL, and the transition from a dominant preseason performance is tough, but it appears as though the Buccaneers are ready to move on.
The drafting of Ke’Shawn Vaughn was likely not the nail in the coffin for Ogunbowale’s Buccaneer career, but Raymond Calais may be.
Before people even watched his tape, Vaughn was already pegged as the new third-down back for the Buccaneers. As a decent blocker with hands who can legitimately threaten the run, Vaughn does have the skillset to play the role well.
Calais may be more of a project piece, but Bruce Arians may find that Calais could perform Ogunbowale’s special teams duties while also bringing more as a change of pace back on offensive downs.
Tampa Bay doesn’t need more than three running backs on the active roster at a time, and with Ronald Jones as the starter and T.J. Logan as a larger special teams threat, Dare Ogunbowale could be facing an uphill battle to make the final roster.
The next player on the hot seat for the Buccaneers is wide receiver, Justin Watson. After two seasons playing for the Buccaneers, Watson hasn’t had a considerable impact, and Tampa Bay could try to take a chance elsewhere during training camp.
With the Bucs using a fifth-round pick to draft Tyler Johnson and with Scotty Miller‘s emergence at the end of last season, Watson could be looking at playing WR5 or WR6 in his third season.
This would not be an easy decision for the Buccaneers, but with the roster constructed in the way that it is, the best option may be to move on from Watson.
Watson, like Ogunbowale, was a draft pick before Bruce Arians arrived with the team, and sometimes coaches in a win-now scenario want to have their own players on the roster rather than those from an older regime.
With three undrafted free agents signed to the roster at wide receiver following the draft along with several options from last season who have special teams skills, the smart money is on Bruce Arians passing the torch to one of his players rather than Watson.
Watson will likely get a fair chance during training camp, but the odds are certainly stacked against his making the team when the final roster is announced.
When linebacker Kendell Beckwith was drafted back in 2017, no one would have expected that he would only play in a single season. Beckwith performed admirably in his first season in 2017 but has since missed two full seasons, and his time in Tampa Bay may be short.
After ending two seasons on injured reserve, the writing on the wall is starting to show that Beckwith’s NFL career could have come to a very premature end.
The worst part of the situation is that Beckwith is a very talented linebacker, and could have been the starting inside linebacker in this current defense instead of Devin White if the former could’ve stayed healthy.
Regardless of any future outlooks, it may be time for the Buccaneers to stop holding out hope on a return any time soon. For a team that is looking to compete for a deep playoff run, keeping players on injured reserve that will likely never return becomes a dangerous game to play.
The best-case scenario is that Beckwith will make a miraculous recovery soon, but that seems like a long shot at this point. Bruce Arians will likely not have many reasons to keep a player on the roster that he has never seen play and who seems unlikely to ever touch the field while he is the coach.
Continuing with the same reasoning from Beckwith, safety Justin Evans could find himself replaced soon if constant injuries don’t recede.
In a similar scenario to Beckwith, Evans was able to play for almost two full seasons before he was sidelined with injuries. After being drafted in 2017, Evans has ended all three seasons on injured reserve.
Evans’ talent is undeniable, but constant injuries and question marks surrounding an eventual return are just the tip of the iceberg for the obstacles that remain in the way of a full NFL return.
The biggest of these problems is the drafting of Antoine Winfield Jr. by Tampa Bay in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft. Winfield was a steal where he was selected and stands to start at free safety from day one of training camp, the position that Evans played when healthy.
The Buccaneers could start Winfield alongside Evans, but that would also be leaving out Jordan Whitehead-who had a solid 2019 season, Andrew Adams-who just got an extension to stay in Tampa Bay, and Mike Edwards-a 2019 draft pick who is best suited to play the strong safety role.
With the pieces already on the roster and with Evans’ constant injuries, there is a genuine chance that Tampa Bay decides to cut Evans before the start of the season or trade him for whatever compensation that they can receive before any negative consequences surface.
The final veteran that will face an uphill battle to make the active roster for the Buccaneers is outside linebacker, Patrick O’Connor. O’Connor has received limited opportunities, but his opportunities haven’t led to much success, and the coaching staff may look to a younger prospect with a higher potential ceiling.
O’Connor could pan out in the NFL, but his role will likely be almost non-existent on the current roster, and a change of scenery could be to his advantage.
As it stands, O’Connor is at best, the fourth or fifth outside linebacker on the depth chart for the Bucs behind Shaquil Barrett, Jason Pierre-Paul, and Anthony Nelson as the defined top three.
There is also a very high chance that the Buccaneers will pursue a veteran pass rusher before the start of the season, and that would push Nelson back and O’Connor even further towards a point of limited impact.
When taking into account O’Connor’s role in 2019, the Buccaneers would be better off letting players like Kahzin Daniels, Cam Gill, and Michael Divinity Jr. learn on the active roster as there would be little drop off in production.
O’Connor has a group of young players that are gunning for his spot, and the best option for Tampa Bay may be to let one of these rookie players take over the role to develop.