Tampa Bay Buccaneers News & Rumors

Buccaneers To Sign WR Sterling Shepard To Active Roster

Sterling Shepard has made a pair of appearances with the Buccaneers this season as a gameday elevation, but he is now set to receive a more permanent opportunity. The veteran wideout is being signed to Tampa Bay’s active roster, NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reports.

Players can be designated as a gameday elevation from the practice squad up to three times, so Tampa Bay could have taken that route once more before making today’s move. However, Jalen McMillan and Trey Palmer are both dealing with injuries, leaving the Bucs thin at wideout behind Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. Shepard represents a veteran candidate for the WR3 role on a temporary basis.

The 31-year-old remained with the Giants for an eighth season in 2023, doing so after an Achilles tear. Shepard was used sparingly, though, and his 15% snap share was by far the lowest of his career. He took a deal with the Buccaneers in June after being recruited by former college teammate Baker Mayfield. That agreement did not leave Shepard on the team’s initial roster, but to little surprise he re-signed to the practice squad after cutdowns. Now, the Oklahoma product is positioned to handle a rotational role in Tampa.

Shepard was not targeted during his Bucs debut, but he was much more involved on Sunday during the team’s win against the Eagles. The former second-rounder caught three of five targets for 51 yards, and a continuation of that production would help complement Evans and Godwin while Tampa Bay deals with other injuries in the receiving corps. Shepard could of course help his value on a new deal in the offseason by enjoying a strong spell on the active roster over the coming weeks.

To make room on the roster, the Buccaneers waived Ben Stilleper a team announcement. The 26-year-old has made 15 appearances in his career, including three this season. Stille will be a practice squad candidate for Tampa Bay provided he clears waivers.

Tom Brady Strongly Considered Bears During 2020 Free Agency

A free agent ahead of his age-43 season, Tom Brady‘s decision produced numerous headlines four years ago. Nearly a third of the NFL was connected to the all-time QB great, with the passer-turned-broadcaster’s final decision believed to be a Buccaneers-or-Chargers call.

That may well have been the case, but Brady — doing his fourth regular-season broadcast for FOX (h/t FOX Sports’ Ralph Vacchiano) — confirmed the Bears were part of his decision-making process. We heard in September 2020 the Bears made an offer to the then-20th-year quarterback but lost out due to multiple factors, but Brady said Sunday he gave “serious consideration” to choosing Chicago.

When the Bears-Brady connection surfaced four Septembers ago, the NFC North team was described as “in the running.” A cold-weather city did not appeal to Brady at that point, and the quarterback was intrigued by throwing to Mike Evans and Chris Godwin while playing closer to his oldest son, Jack, whose mother is actress Bridget Moynahan. Brady also mentioned Bruce Arians playing a key role in convincing him to sign with Tampa Bay, which gave him a fully guaranteed $50MM deal over two years.

The Bucs and Chargers were both agreeable to Brady’s terms by the end of the process, pointing to the Bears potentially finishing third here. The ageless passer had been interested in his hometown 49ers, who stuck with Jimmy Garoppolo, and replacing Drew Brees — had he chosen to retire, which the future Hall of Famer did not — as well. Among realistic options, Chicago joined L.A. in needing to take another route after the high-profile FA’s decision.

At that point, Chicago was coming off an 8-8 season — a step back from its 12-4 2018 showing — and had begun to determine Mitch Trubisky was not going to be the franchise option they’d envisioned. The Bucs and Chargers did not have starting QBs under contract, with Jameis Winston and Philip Rivers each free agents. This Bears’ pursuit also differed from the Raiders’ effort, as Las Vegas then bowed out early — as Brady has famously discussed — and had a second-contract QB (Derek Carr) rather than a former first-round pick playing on a rookie deal.

That Bears edition rostered Allen Robinson, who was heading into his third season with the team; Darnell Mooney arrived weeks later as a fifth-round pick. Chicago had Matt Nagy calling plays with an offensive line that included the likes of Cody Whitehair, James Daniels and veteran tackles Charles Leno and Bobby Massie. Pieces from Vic Fangio’s defenses still comprised much of Chicago’s depth chart on that side, with Khalil Mack, Roquan Smith and Akiem Hicks anchoring the unit. The Bucs, however, checked more boxes and were quite willing to accommodate their free agency prize in free agency and trades.

Brady undoubtedly would have elevated the Bears’ setup, with Rob Gronkowski — and, for better or worse, Antonio Brown — presumably following wherever his Patriots QB went. But it is safe to say his Bucs decision was correct, seeing as he piloted Tampa Bay to its second Super Bowl title that season and earned second-team All-Pro honors at age 44 in a statistically superior campaign a year later.

The Bears are now multiple starting QBs removed from that what-if, having drafted both Justin Fields and Caleb Williams after letting Trubisky walk in 2021. After Brady’s decision, Chicago traded for Nick Foles as a player to push Trubisky. Although the latter opened the season as the team’s starter and reclaimed his job from Foles down the stretch — en route to an 8-8 season that did produce a playoff berth — the former No. 2 overall pick has been unable to prove worthy of a starting job since.

Minor NFL Transactions: 9/30/24

Today’s minor moves:

Los Angeles Chargers

Miami Dolphins

  • Promoted: WR Dee Eskridge

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Minor NFL Transactions: 9/28/24

Minor transactions and practice squad callups for the Week 4 weekend:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Cleveland Browns

Denver Broncos

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Rams

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

  • Elevated: G Kyle Hergel

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Washington Commanders

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 9/25/24

Today’s practice squad moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Cleveland Browns

Detroit Lions

Las Vegas Raiders

New England Patriots

  • Signed: WR John Jiles

New York Giants

San Francisco 49ers

  • Signed: DT Shakel Brown

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Trenton Gill has caught on with the Buccaneers practice squad after getting cut by the Broncos back in August. Gill spent the previous two seasons as the Bears full-time punter, with the 25-year-old averaging 46 yards per punt while landing 28.6 percent of his punts inside the 20. As Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times notes, this addition is a sign that Bucs punter Jake Camarda may be on the hot seat. The former fourth-round pick is averaging a career-low 39.8 net yards per punt.

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 9/24/24

Here are Tuesday’s taxi squad moves:

Baltimore Ravens

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Detroit Lions

  • Signed: DB Morice Norris

Green Bay Packers

  • Released: TE Johnny Lumpkin

Indianapolis Colts

Los Angeles Chargers

  • Released: TE Luke Benson, CB Nehemiah Shelton

New England Patriots

  • Signed: WR John Jiles

New York Giants

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

  • Signed: LB Marcus Haynes
  • Released: TE Matt Sokol

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

This year’s ‘Mr. Irrelevant,’ Key did not make the Jets’ initial 53-man roster. The 24-year-old was retained via the practice squad, but he did not see any regular season action. Now a free agent, Key will look to latch on with another organization.

Ross signed with the Eagles in May as part of his bid to return to the NFL. The former Combine 40-yard dash record holder was released during roster cutdowns, however, after he was unable to carve out a depth role on offense. Ross will rejoin the team in a bid to provide Philadelphia with a complementary receiving option as the team deals with a number of injuries at the WR spot.

Minor NFL Transactions: 9/24/24

Tuesday’s minor moves around the NFL:

Chicago Bears

 Detroit Lions

Las Vegas Raiders

New York Giants

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Patrick was among the Broncos’ final roster cuts but he quickly landed a deal with the Lions on their practice squad. Healthy after back-to-back years featuring major injuries, the 30-year-old has twice been a gameday elevation so far this year and logged a 44% offensive snap share. He will aim to remain in a depth role while now permanently on the active roster.

Covey will be sidelined for at least the next four weeks given today’s move. His injury is particularly notable given the fact A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith are both injured at the moment, thinning out the team’s receiver room. Covey, 27, received seven targets across the past two games and Philadelphia will need to turn to other options for a complementary role at wideout (along with the return game).

Minor NFL Transactions: 9/21/24

Today’s minor NFL transactions:

Arizona Cardinals

Baltimore Ravens

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

Philadelphia Eagles

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Players like Hollman, Vigil, Webb, and Quarterman will now be getting called up for the third time this season. The NFL rules limit a practice squad player to three standard gameday elevations per contract. If their teams want to get them into more games in the future, the normal route is for them to be signed to the active roster after this weekend then released/waived and signed to new practice squad deals, starting their three-game count over.

Shy Tuttle‘s foot injury will keep him off the field for Week 3, as the Panthers announced that the defensive tackle has been downgraded from doubtful to out. The Panthers called up Williams to temporarily take the open roster spot. The defensive end started 10 of his 16 appearances for the Panthers last season, and he landed back on Carolina’s practice squad last month after spending the preseason with the Bills.

The Browns announced a handful of moves ahead of their game with the Giants tomorrow. Notably, the team didn’t promote any offensive tackles, which provided some optimism surrounding the availability of their injured tackles. While Jedrick Wills Jr. is expected to play (per Chris Easterling of the Akron Beacon Journal), Jack Conklin will not (per Tony Grossi of 850 ESPN Cleveland). Conklin hasn’t played since Week 1 of the 2023 season while recovering from a torn ACL and MCL. He practiced this week and was initially listed as questionable for tomorrow’s game, but it sounds like a new hamstring injury is the culprit for his Week 3 absence.

With both Joe Mixon and Dameon Pierce set to miss Sunday’s trip to Minnesota, the Texans are bringing up Taylor off the practice squad. Taylor will back up Cam Akers and Dare Ogunbowale against the Vikings this weekend.

Minor NFL Transactions: 9/20/24

Friday’s minor transactions to end the week:

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

After not seeing the field since 2022, Brewer has been called up as a standard gameday practice squad elevation in each of the first two weeks of 2024. With the NFL rules restricting practice squad players to three elevations in one contract, this was going to be necessary eventually in order for Brewer to appear in a fourth game. If Brewer is waived and re-signed to the practice squad, his three-game limit should reset.

After spending his rookie season as an undrafted cornerback for Tampa Bay in 2023, Isaac was waived before the start of this year. He was claimed by the Panthers, but his time in Carolina didn’t last long as he was waived a week and a half later. He re-signed with the Buccaneers amidst a number of injuries in the secondary before today’s departure.

NFL Injury Updates: Bell, Herbert, Armstead, Rodgers, Vea, Pacheco

The Browns were able to escape Duval with their first win of the year but saw wide receiver David Bell carted off the field in the third quarter. According to Josh Alper of NBC Sports, head coach Kevin Stefanski told the media that Bell had been diagnosed with a dislocated hip.

While surely a painful situation, Bell seems to have avoided a more serious outcome. Despite leaving the field on the cart, Bell will be able to fly home with his teammates and seek treatment in Cleveland.

Here are updates on a few other injuries from around the NFL this week:

  • On a big day for the Chargers, there was a moment of worry when quarterback Justin Herbert got “rolled up” in the game, per Kris Rhim of ESPN. Los Angeles performed an x-ray on their starting passer, but more tests will be necessary to determine the extent of Herbert’s injury. The 26-year-old was noticably limping after the game.
  • While the notable injury in Miami on Thursday night was clearly that of quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, left tackle Terron Armstead was also notably absent from the second half of the Dolphins‘ loss to Buffalo with a shoulder injury. In an update the next day, head coach Mike McDaniel clarified that Armstead avoided the worst-case scenario and would be returning “sooner than later,” per Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. There was initially some fear that the injury could be a season-ending ailment, but it seems Armstead’s absence will only a couple weeks at most.
  • After sitting out the entire 2023 season due to a gambling suspension, Eagles cornerback Isaiah Rodgers missed the team’s 2024 season opener with a hand injury. This week, we found out from Rodgers that his hand was broken on the last day of training camp when a teammate went to punch out a ball and punched his hand instead, according to Andrew DiCecco of 975TheFanatic. His hand is improving, and he has returned to practice.
  • Buccaneers defensive tackle Vita Vea suffered a knee injury in today’s win over the Lions. Following the game, it was reported by NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero that Vea is believed to have suffered an MCL sprain. The veteran lineman will undergo further MRI testing tomorrow to determine the severity of the injury, but the team is optimistic.
  • Lastly, from the afternoon slate of games, Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco suffered an ankle injury in the team’s walk-off win over the Bengals today. Per ESPN’s Jeff Darlington, Pacheco is set to undergo tests and x-rays on his ankle. The team was extremely cautious with the young rusher, though, as he was seen leaving the stadium on crutches and in a walking boot.