Which Bucs Roster Cut Was The Most Surprising?

Pewter Report’s PR Roundtable
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A new Pewter Report Roundtable debuts every Tuesday on PewterReport.com. Each week, the Pewter Reporters tackle another tough Bucs question. This week’s prompt: Which Bucs roster cut was the most surprising?

Scott Reynolds: Keeping Seven Defensive Tackles Surprised Me

I’m a defensive-minded guy and normally I don’t mind stockpiling talent on that side of the ball. I just found it a little surprising that the Bucs kept seven defensive tackles and only three safeties. With just five cornerbacks making the 53-man roster, that gives Tampa Bay only eight defensive backs. So keeping seven defensive linemen seems a little excessive.

I understand why the team did it. Rakeem Nunez-Roches is 33 years old and A’Shawn Robinson and Vita Vea will both 32 next offseason. Tampa Bay really likes its young defensive linemen, so the team wanted to keep three young reserves to continue to develop and hopefully replace the aging veterans in the very near future. While Vea is under contract for 2027 by virtue of his contract extension, both Robinson and Nunez-Roches only signed one-year deals.

There is a possibility where Elijah Roberts replaces Robinson as the 4i/5 technique defensive tackle, and either Elijah Simmons or DeMonte Capehart could be a reserve nose tackle behind Vea next year, replacing Nunez-Roches. While Simmons brings sheer power, Roberts and Capehart offer a great combination of size and athleticism.

Calijah Kancey, 25, just had his fifth-year option picked up, so he’s also under contract for 2027. With Kancey, Roberts, Capehart and Simmons, the Bucs have four potential powerhouse defensive tackles for the future already on the roster. It came at the expense of the safeties, but the Bucs do have three safeties on the practice squad that they can elevate over the course of the season to help out on gamedays.

Matt Matera: Bucs Could Have Used Another Cornerback

The Bucs kept five cornerbacks on the initial 53-man roster. They’re obviously trimming down in the secondary overall, but cornerback is a position that they should have loaded up on. That position is one where injuries happen to occur more than others. Constantly teams are scrambling to find players to add depth on the back end of the roster, and Tampa Bay is no different.

When considering the five that the Bucs kept, there’s some injury concern and a lot of inexperience. It was great to see Benjamin Morrison play well in the preseason finale, but is anyone confident that he’s going to stay intact for a full year? Let’s hope so. Zyon McCollum also missed time this camp, so that’s already two players that need to be monitored.

Arguably the best story out of camp was undrafted free agent Ayden Garnes making this team. He’s been a delight to watch. With that said, he is a rookie, as is Keionte Scott, Tampa Bay’s fourth-round pick out of Miami. He could get the start at nickelback this season with Jacob Parrish winning the outside cornerback spot opposite McCollum.

They’re the next players up if something happens to Morrison, so it’s a real roll of the dice. Maybe Pepe Williams getting injured in the last preseason game caused a pivot in these plans, but adding one more player with some experience would help. The team does have Williams and Josh Hayes on injured reserve, so perhaps help is on the way after the fourth game of the season.

Adam Slivon: Bucs Safety Room Is Razor Thin With Only Three On 53-Man Roster

As our PR Roundtable indicates this week, there are several surprises when assessing how the Bucs constructed their initial 53-man roster. Evaluating the defensive depth chart, what stands out the most is the safety room. Led by Antoine Winfield Jr. and Tykee Smith, the backend is solidified by two quality starters. Behind them is where it gets concerning.

Right now, the only other safety on the active roster is Miles Killebrew, whose primary role will be leading Danny Smith’s special teams operation. Killebrew is 33 years old and has not played over 100 defensive snaps in a season since 2017, so it is hard to say how much impact he can have on Todd Bowles’ unit should one of Winfield or Smith miss time. Tampa Bay did keep three safeties on the practice squad in Ifeatu Melifonwu, JJ Roberts, and Rashad Wisdom. Perhaps the team believes none of them will be poached, but the depth chart gets razor thin if a starter misses time.

That makes it surprising they simply did not keep a fourth safety after roster cutdown day. Melifonwu made the most sense given his defensive experience, and even Wisdom showed flashes of solid play during the preseason. While the front office kept seven defensive tackles and five inside linebackers, the safety position is in a peculiar place. I would imagine one of the practice squad safeties becomes a weekly elevation throughout the season until someone is added to the 53-man roster.

Bailey Adams: Resolution To Bucs’ RB3 Dilemma Was A Pleasant Surprise

Over the last two weeks of the preseason, there was a lot of talk about the Bucs’ RB3 role. Would Tampa Bay stick with Sean Tucker and pay him $3.52 million to back up Bucky Irving and Kenny Gainwell? Or would the team save some cap, cut Tucker and go with Josh Williams as its RB3? From my recollection, there was little to no talk about the possibility of Tucker accepting a pay cut to stay on as RB3. So as far as surprises with the 53-man roster go, this being the resolution of the RB3 situation is up there for me.

On the one hand, the way Tampa Bay was approaching reps for Tucker and Williams in the preseason made it feel like the team was preparing to move on and roll with Williams in the No. 3 role. It felt like the team had gotten to a point where it wasn’t sure it wanted to dole out $3.5 million for its RB3. On the flip side, even with the topic of a pay cut brought into the fold, I find myself surprised that Tucker agreed to it.

Granted, the $2.5 million he agreed to for 2026 is a $1 million cut but potentially still more significant than what would’ve gotten on the open market at this stage of the calendar. But I still would’ve imagined Tucker exploring that market both for a comparable deal and the potential to contribute as more than an RB3/fringe RB2.

In the end, I think this worked out extremely well for the Bucs. They get a proven player with solid production back at $1 million less than originally thought. They also get Williams back on the practice squad, so in the end, they didn’t have to lose either guy. So it’s all good, right? I’m just pleasantly surprised it worked out the way it did.

Josh Queipo: Keeping Jalon Daniels And Cutting Jake Browning Is A Huge Risk

I was excited when the Bucs signed quarterback Jalon Daniels as an undrafted free agent following the 2026 NFL Draft. I saw a talented player with plus tools who needed to work on some fundamental aspects of playing quarterback at the NFL level. If you want more of my insight into Daniels, plus my film evaluation from his Jayhawks tape, check out my previous Saturday Scouting column on him.

I still feel that way about the Kansas product. He played better than I expected during the preseason. And he 100% earned a spot on the team’s final 53-man roster. With four teams carrying four quarterbacks, most notably Pittsburgh and Cleveland, there is a clear shift in NFL circles regarding the value of a developmental quarterback. The Bucs could not risk exposing Daniels to waivers, where he most certainly would have been claimed after leading the team to comeback victories over the Jets and Chiefs.

But I still believe he is not ready for the QB2 spot on a team with deep playoff aspirations. And even with Daniels’ development I still question cutting Jake Browning to start the season. Does Browning provide a higher ceiling than Daniels? No. But he still provides a higher floor. And if Baker Mayfield goes down for a half, a game or two, I believe Browning is still the better option for the team to steal a win or so. He could have run the operation (and be counted on to handle a snap) better while Daniels continues to learn a pro offense.

Nick Geddes: Keeping Rookie G Billy Schrauth Was A Puzzling Decision

On the surface, the Bucs electing to keep a rookie fifth-round pick on the 53-man roster in 2026 shouldn’t come as a surprise. By now, we know that general manager Jason Licht covets his draft picks, whom he and his staff identify during the draft process and typically give every chance to succeed before cutting bait.

But what makes Billy Schrauth a unique case is that we haven’t seen much of him this summer. The former Notre Dame guard suffered a knee sprain in early August and did not feature in any of Tampa Bay’s three preseason contests. Given those unfortunate circumstances, many — including Pewter Report — were not sold that he would stick on the 53-man roster. Furthermore, we can’t say with confidence that Schrauth’s tape at Notre Dame screams a player with high upside.

While you never want to light a fifth-round pick on fire in year one, it was likely that Schrauth would have returned to the practice squad if the Bucs had cut him. With no preseason film to go off of, it seems unlikely another team would have claimed him. The smarter play here, in my opinion, would have been to keep an extra pass rusher with a solid floor such as Jack Pyburn, or keep an extra safety on the roster as the Bucs decided to only keep three.

But it sure looks like Tampa Bay wanted to keep 10 offensive lineman on the active roster, and they felt Schrauth was worth more investing in than a player like Elijah Klein, who never turned a corner as the organization hoped he would.