The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are desperate for pass, rush on defense.
How desperate?
Three weeks ago they signed Jason Pierre-Paul to the practice squad. The veteran pass rusher hadn’t played in the game since 2023 after sitting out all of last season. That’s just how bad the Bucs pass rush has been.
Their big ticket free agent signing, Haason Reddick, hasn’t been the reclamation project they hoped he would be, with just one and a half sacks on the year and injuries that have kept him in and out of the lineup. Last year’s second-round pick, Chris Braswell, looks to be a bust, and while Yaya Diaby has flashed, he has yet to show he can take over games. Anthony Nelson has been steady, but will miss this game with an injury.
All that leads to another elevation for Pierre-Paul. Bucs teammates have spoken about the juice he’s brought to practice, but he played in just 12 snaps last week against the Panthers, and failed to record a stat. On Friday, head coach Todd Bowles said he is still learning the system and once he has that down, he’ll get more playing time.
"His is really just grasping the system, obviously, and getting used to playing again. So, there are different things that he's got to grasp that will increase his workload. As he gets more comfortable with that, he'll get more playing time."
Bowles said that it hasn’t been as much about the physical part as Pierre-Paul came back in excellent shape. However, football shape is different. He’s been getting ramped up over these past two weeks and the Bucs like where he’s at.
"They're all different. I don't know -- you can't get back into football shape unless you play football, so he's been playing and getting used to everything the past couple of weeks. Back then, he was playing every day. He was retired here now that he's coming back, so that's a little different. We like where he is right now, it is just getting the mental part caught up with the physical [part]."
The hope is that Pierre-Paul can give the Buccaneers pass rush the extra boost it’s been missing without Calijah Kancey in the line up, who may be back as soon as next week.
"He's ramping up. He looked quick, he looked good hitting bags, so we'll just keep ramping him up and getting him ready."