3 Buccaneers on the hot seat after the preseason opener

The Buccaneers have to be picky at inside linebacker

Grant Stuard 

Grant Stuard has been a fun story to follow at camp about a player overcoming adversity and stepping up to the plate when he finally got his chance, but last night’s game showed that he is far away from making the 53-man roster.

Stuard’s play wasn’t bad, but his teammates did far more with their opportunities. Lavonte David, Devin White, and Kevin Minter are obvious locks to make the roster, and K.J. Britt and Joe Jones were far more efficient at stopping the run and dropping into coverage.

Jones already has experience at the NFL level in special teams roles, and Britt looks like he could eventually play the Kevin Minter role as the three very well, so Stuard looks like the odd man out through little fault of his own.

Regardless, the Bucs have to keep making decisions that are for the best of the team rather than supporting the feel-good stories.

Stuard still has a chance to make the practice squad, but even that is a long shot based on what we’ve seen. The final pick in the recent draft gives every bit of himself to get in on plays, but you can still see when watching the game that he is even far off from some of the backups, but players have overcome more in the past.

Stuard still has a few more weeks to make an impact, but the window is quickly closing for him to make the needed push to stay with the team.

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