3 Buccaneers playing themselves out of a job in 2023 preseason

When the Buccaneers lost Russell Gage to a season-ending injury, it opened up a pathway for someone to take advantage of his absence. Kaylon Geiger was one of those guys but he was quickly swallowed up and passed over by guys like Trey Palmer and Rakim Jarrett.

Geiger had a pretty rough outing against the New York Jets in the Bucs second preseason game, too. He was running bad routes, failed to come up with as many catches as he probably should have, and didn't do much to make the case that he's on the same level of the two standout rookies.

When it comes down to making final cuts, that's a factor that's going to count.

Entering the final week of the preseason, Geiger finds himself third on the depth chart at slot receiver and firmly on the outside of the roster bubble. Assuming the Bucs carry six receivers into the season, this is probably what the group would look like:

Geiger joins Thompkins as a holdover from last year's undrafted rookie class, but he loses the tiebreaker for a roster spot thanks to the latter's kick return abilities. The difference between Geiger and Thompkins comes down to special teams value, which is a losing battle.

Even if he ends up as a roster cut before Week 1, Geiger has enough connections in the building to remain with the Bucs on the practice squad. He might need to have a strong performance in the preseason finale to beat out potential competition in Ryan Miller and Kade Warner.