The Tampa Bay Buccaneers make great moves with roster cuts

Roster cuts are never anything to take lightly, but the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are off to a great start finalizing their roster for 2020.

Roster cuts are always the hardest part of the NFL season. Every year, approximately half of the players who start the preseason lose their jobs before the regular season begins. It is always a tough process, but the Buccaneers are a business, and these moves have to be made.

There is never an “easy” roster cut, but there are moves that end up being right in the end. The Bucs will have a challenging few months coming up, but they have to be right when reducing their roster if they hope to play at the expected levels.

So far, Tampa Bay appears to have been right with the moves they have made. In the past two days, the Bucs have made five cuts. Tight end Jordan Leggett and safety Deiondre’ Hall were waived on Thursday, and Friday saw the departure of wide receivers Jaydon Mickens and Spencer Schnell and pass rusher Nasir Player.

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This is just the start of a process that will take place over the entire month, but the Buccaneers made justified decisions.

As far as the receivers and Leggett are concerned, their odds were long to make the team from the start. The Bucs have five receivers that are apparent locks to make the final roster with an opening for one more. Tight end looks to be more of the same, with even less wiggle room.

Safety is another position with a large amount of depth, making it hard to justify keeping another safety on the roster when that group is still far too large.

Finally, Nasir Player comes as a slight surprise, but only because the Bucs don’t have a lot of depth at pass rusher currently. The coaching staff must have decided that they liked some of the other newcomers more than Player and that their best chance to find contributors was elsewhere.

The roster cuts will continue over the coming weeks, and hopefully, some of these Bucs find a way onto the practice squad with a chance to make the roster down the road.