Five Buccaneers veterans who may not make the cut
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers enter the 2020 season with still quite the amount of decisions to make.
The Buccaneers are one of the favorites to make the postseason and compete beyond because of the addition of Tom Brady, among others, during the offseason.
As the franchise begins to look at potential roster cuts to get to 53 men, here are five veterans who may not make the cut for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
5. Dare Ogunbowale
No one wants to see Dare Ogunbowale go anywhere.
Ogunbowale has great work ethic and he’s done an excellent job when given the opportunity, but his chances are going to be few and far in-between this season and that could lead to him being without a job relatively early.
Ronald Jones II is the clear-cut starter and newly-drafted RB Ke’Shawn Vaughn is now pegged as the second-stringer and third-down back because of his explosiveness and great strength. While there would still be room for Ogunbowale had Vaughn been the only drafted running back, it might be the addition of Raymond Calais that put it over the edge.
Calais presents a ‘homerun’ threat type of running back and could very easily play special teams. T.J. Logan has been a proven special teamer as well and there’s no reason to keep another running back on the active roster if you’re going to have all of these guys on the depth chart.
Could Ogunbowale simply be the odd-man out?
4. Pat O’Connor
Things just haven’t panned out quite yet for Patrick O’Connor at the linebacker position.
O’Connor has played in just 11 games total during his career and has recorded just six total tackles. While there’s no denying that he has talent, the truth of the matter is that he’s just too far down the depth chart.
O’Connor isn’t a big hit to the salary cap ($750,000), so the Buccaneers could elect to keep him on for another season, but there’s just simply no doubt that the front-seven has plenty of other talent that could go in front of him.
3. Ryan Griffin
Now, this one doesn’t seem too likely on the surface, but then you think about the fact that the Buccaneers are bringing in an undrafted free-agent QB in Reid Sinnett and they signed Blaine Gabbert to another season.
Griffin was the second-string QB last season, but there’s a solid chance that Blaine Gabbert- at ful health- could beat him out.
If the Gabbert wins the second-string job, the Bucs may elect to keep the roster spot open and only have two active QBs, as may teams around the league do.
Griffin could be the odd-man out and that doesn’t even take into account if Sinnett comes in and shows any potential for being an option for the future.
2. Justin Watson
An NFL roster typically takes six wide receivers.
Well, count them and you’ll see why Justin Watson could be on the hotseat heading into training camp.
Chris Godwin, Mike Evans, rookie Tyler Johnson and Scotty Miller are all guarantees. That leaves two spots.
While Watson is a veteran who has played as the fifth or sixth wide receiver for each of the last three seasons, the truth of the matter is that he hasn’t performed at an extremely high level and there’s going to be a lot of competition.
The Bucs have signed three undrafted free-agents at the wide receiver position and there’s always a chance that a veteran needs to move on to some different scenery.
1. Justin Evans
There’s no doubt that Justin Evans has the talent to not only play in the NFL, but to be a starter. Unfortunately, injuries just simply haven’t been kind to him.
With tons of young talent at the safety position, including Antoine Winfield Jr., Jordan Whitehead, Andrew Adams and Mike Edwards, the Buccaneers could choose to move on from Evans if his health is still in question.
No one wants to move on from Evans simply because of the fact that he has so much potential, but when you’re in ‘win-now mode,’ you have to make decisions that benefit the team in the here-and-now, rather than in the future.
Evans would still likely have a spot on the scout team if he was cut, but the expectation should be that he still remains on the active roster- assuming health- when it’s all said and done.