NFL rosters have officially been cut down to size, with teams around the league setting in stone the 53 players they'll carry into the season.
Announcing the 53-man roster wasn't the end of player movement, though. Thousands of players were released over the last 48 hours, and while most will be brought back as practice squad signings, the chaos exposed a few guys to getting poached.
That's what happened with Green Bay Packers rookie quarterback Michael Pratt. He was waived as part of the team's final roster cuts, and the Bucs took full advantage by signing him away from Green Bay.
It's a bizarre move for the Packers. The decision was made to bring back Sean Clifford to the practice squad despite his generally poor preseason and Pratt having higher upside. Green Bay's loss is Tampa Bay's gain, though, as the Bucs were gifted the perfect developmental QB3.
Buccaneers sign former Tulane quarterback Michael Pratt to replace John Wolford
Confirmed #Bucs are signing Tulane QB Michael Pratt to their practice squad. Cut by the Packers, he threw 88 TD passes and 28 INTs in four seasons with the Green Wave. Would figure to be the team's No. 3 QB and a developmental one they considered drafting.
— Rick Stroud (@NFLSTROUD) August 28, 2024
With the arrival of Pratt, it appears John Wolford's time in Tampa Bay is over. He was injured in the final preseason game, but had already been edged out of a backup battle by Kyle Trask.
An amendment to the emergency quarterback rule now limits the number of times a team can call a guy up from the practice squad to the active roster. Last year the Bucs carried Wolford as their QB3, but didn't need to activate him ahead of kickoff in order to have him dress.
If Baker Mayfield and Trask both got hurt, Wolford would be allowed to enter the game. A third quarterback can be carried, but it works more like options on minor leaguers in baseball than being unlimited. That altered Tampa Bay's approach to carrying a QB3, which led them to Pratt.
Tampa Bay was high on Pratt as a potential late-round pick in the NFL Draft this year, but the Packers swooped in and got him first. He looked pretty good in the reps he saw in the preseason, which has left more than a few Packers fans scratching their head over the decision to keep Clifford instead.
Jordan Love is the clear-cut starter and Green Bay traded for Malik Willis to be his backup, so neither Clifford nor Pratt were making the final roster. Now Tampa Bay gets a guy they already wanted and can potentially develop him into a guy who may even end up replacing Trask as Baker's bakup.
That's all way down the line, but at the very least the Bucs can come away from the chaos of the roster cutdown deadline feeling like winners. The 53-man roster is stacked, the practice squad is loaded with guys who impressed coaches, and to round things out the team ended up with a player they missed out on in April.
Jason Licht continues to cook.
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