Buccaneers sign John Wolford to active roster for rest of the season

In one of the most anticipated days of the NFL season, the Trade Deadline was filled with a flurry of trades before time expired on teams being able to make a deal. Overall, there were nine trades made, highlighted by the Commanders trading star defensive ends Chase Young and Montez Sweat to the 49ers and the Bears, respectively, the Seahawks landing defensive end Leonard Williams from the Giants, and the Eagles acquiring free safety Kevin Byard from the Titans.

Amid all of the league-wide transactions, the Buccaneers were one of the 16 teams to not make a trade, even with a clear needs that could boost their chances the remainder of their season. Ahead of their week eight matchup against Houston, Tampa Bay is 3-4, third in the NFC South standings, and two games back of Atlanta for first place.

With no intentions of improving or degrading their roster by drastic margins, the Buccaneers will move through the rest of the season with little to no player transactions. Tampa Bay did make a move, however, signing veteran quarterback John Wolford to their 53-man roster, while cutting defensive lineman Pat O' Connor to create a roster spot.

After serving as Wake Forest's starting quarterback from 2014-2017, capped off with 3,192 passing yards, 29 passing touchdowns, six interceptions, and an 8-5 record in his Senior season, Wofford entered the 2018 NFL Draft, only to become an undrafted free agent. During the 2018 offseason, Wofford would be signed by the Jets, only to cut ahead of the upcoming season.

Soon after, Wofford decided to sign with the Arizona Hotshots of the Alliance of American football (AAF) league for the 2018 season. In eight starts, Wofford completed 130-206 (63.1%) pass attempts for 1,617 passing yards, 14 passing touchdowns, seven interceptions, and a 95.9 passer rating to lead Arizona to a 5-3 record.

Due to his solid showing in the AAF, Wofford garnered interest from multiple teams in the following offseason, but decided to join the Rams' practice squad for the 2019 season. For the next three seasons, Wofford served as the primary backup to Jared Goff and Matthew Stafford, but still managed to play in seven games, four of which were starts.

During the 2020 season, Wofford was thrusted into the starting lineup after Goff injured his right thumb in week 16 versus Seattle. With Los Angeles needing a win against Arizona in week 17 to make the playoffs, Wofford completed 22-38 pass attempts for 231 passing yards to lead the Rams to an 18-7 victory over the Cardinals.

After the Rams traded Goff to the Lions for Stafford, Wofford only made just two more starts. Fortunately, the acquisition of Stafford proved to be the missing piece for Los Angles, who defeated the Cincinati Bengals 23-20 in Super Bowl LVI.

Even while receiving interest from the Rams and the Vikings, Wolford will officially be a Buccaneer for the rest of the season and will now serve as the third-string quarterback behind Baker Mayfield and Kyle Trask.

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