3 questions surrounding the Bucs 53-man roster
- A thin secondary may raise issues
- Future running back shift?
- It's all about Baker Mayfield
By Ryan Heckman
The dust has mostly settled, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 53-man roster is set.
This isn't the same team fans are accustomed to seeing, as there is no more Tom Brady and the roster, as a whole, features a good amount of youth.
As the regular season approaches, this roster faces a few key questions. Let's dive into three questions, in particular.
1. Does the secondary have enough depth?
One of the most impressive aspects of this Bucs roster is the fact that six undrafted rookies made the squad. That is a huge number, and quite impressive by both the Bucs for finding these guys and also on the players for taking advantage of their opportunities.
In the secondary, specifically, the Bucs have three undrafted rookies backing up the starters. At safety, Tampa Bay kept just four, with starters Antoine Winfield Jr. and Ryan Neal. Behind them are both undrafted guys, Kaevon Merriweather and Christian Izien.
Behind starting corner Jamel Dean is another undrafted rookie, Derrek Pitts.
Should an injury occur, which is likely when considering the health of this secondary over the past few seasons, then it is all on the shoulders of these unproven rookies. Do the Bucs really have that much faith in these guys if something were to happen? The short answer is, well, that they have to.