Tampa Bay Buccaneers Roster 2013: Latest Cuts, Depth Charts and Analysis

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers reduced their roster Monday in advance of Tuesday’s NFL deadline of 4 p.m. ET to have all rosters at 75 players. The Buccaneers waived or released seven players and added two to the injured reserve list.

On Tuesday Tampa Bay got to 75 players and has until Saturday at 6 p.m. ET to whittle down to 53.

Over the next five days the fate of many players will be decided. Who’ll get cut and who will make the roster?

Here’s a tracker we’ll be updating throughout the chaos.

List of 53-Man Roster Cuts

The Buccaneers terminated the contracts of three players, placed kicker Lawrence Tynes on the reserve/non-football injury list and waived 18 players to make it down to the 53-man roster limit on Saturday.

Here are the moves:

• Sean Baker, S (waived)
• Deveron Carr, CB (waived)
• Jace Daniels, T (waived)
• Dom DeCicco, LB (waived)
• Andrew DePaola, LS (waived)
• Derek Dimke, K (waived)
• David Douglas, WR (waived)
• Ka'llal Glaud, LB (waived)
• Cody Grimm, S (waived)
• Chas Henry, P (waived)
• Lazarius Levingston, DT (waived)
• Matthew Masifilo, DT (waived)
• Andre Neblett, DT (waived)
• Danny Noble, TE (waived)
• Chris Owusu, WR (waived)
• Mike Remmers, T (waived)
• Mason Robinson, CB (waived)
• Cody Wallace, OL (waived)
• Roger Allen, G (terminated)
• Gary Gibson, DT (terminated)
• Jordan Norwood, WR (terminated)
• Lawrence Tynes, K (reserve/non-football injury list)

Safety Cody Grimm's release seems to be a move towards young cornerbacks and fixing the debacle in the defensive backfield from last season.

The Practice Squad

The Buccaneers added seven players to its practice squad on Sunday:

• Deveron Carr, CB 
• Jace Daniels, OL 
• Ka’lial Glaud, LB 
• Matthew Masifilo, DT 
• Danny Noble, TE 
• Chris Owusu, WR 
• Mike Remmers, OT

Tampa Bay added the eight player to its practice squad on Monday, cornerback Marc Anthony. Anthony was a seventh-round pick by the Baltimore Ravens in 2013.

• Marc Anthony, CB

Final Depth Chart

53-Man Roster

Offense (25)

WR: Vincent Jackson, Kevin Ogletree

LT: Donald Penn

LG: Carl Nicks

C: Jeremy Zuttah, Ted Larsen

RG: Davin Joseph, Jamon Meredith

RT: Demar Dotson, Gabe Carimi

TE: Luke Stocker, Tom Crabtree, Nate Byham, Tim Wright

WR: Mike Williams, Eric Page, Russell Shepard

QB: Josh Freeman, Mike Glennon, Dan Orlovsky

RB: Doug Martin, Brian Leonard, Mike James, Peyton Hillis

FB: Erik Lorig

Defense (25)

LDE: Da'Quan Bowers, Daniel Te'o-Nesheim, William Gholston

DT: Gerald McCoy, Derek Landri

DT: Akeem Spence, Chris Jones

RDE: Adrian Clayborn, Steven Means, Trevor Scott

SLB: Dekoda Watson, Jonathan Casillas

MLB: Mason Foster

WLB: Lavonte David, Adam Hayward

LCB: Darrelle Revis, Danny Gorrer, Rashaan Melvin

RCB: Leonard Johnson, Johnthan Banks, Michael Adams

SS: Mark Barron

FS: Dashon Goldson, Ahmad Black, Keith Tandy

Special Teams (3)

P: Michael Koenen

K: Rian Lindell

KO: Michael Koenen

H: Michael Koenen

LS: Andrew Economos

PR: Eric Page

KR: Mike James, Tiquan Underwood

Starters and Injury Notes

Not only has Tampa Bay had to deal with its fair share of bumps, bruises and major injuries during training camp and the preseason, but the team had to evacuate its training facility, One Buc Place, after two players were sidelined with MRSA, a powerful staph infection resistant to many antibiotics.

Projected Starters

QB: Josh Freeman

RB: Doug Martin

WR: Vincent Jackson, Mike Williams, Tiquan Underwood

TE: Luke Stocker

OT: Donald Penn, Demar Dotson

OG: Carl Nicks, Davin Joseph

C: Jeremy Zuttah

DE: Adrian Clayborn, Da’Quan Bowers

DT: Gerald McCoy, Gary Gibson

OLB: Dekoda Watson, Lavonte David

MLB: Mason Foster

CB: Darrelle Revis, Leonard Johnson

FS: Dashon Goldson

SS: Mark Barron

Injury Notes

Carl Nicks, LG (foot, staph infection): One of the players sidelined with a staph infection was left guard Carl Nicks, who has yet to be ruled out for Week 1 of the regular season. Nicks hasn't appeared in a preseason game since surgery on his big toe in November.

Darrelle Revis, CB (knee): Revis has been flirting with hitting the playing field in preseason but has yet to make his Buccaneers debut. He’s slowly inched his way back from a knee injury on the practice field throughout camp.

Lawrence Tynes, K (toe, staph infection): Tynes is out indefinitely after having surgery to remove a staph infection from his toe.

First Round of Cuts

The Buccaneers made the following nine roster moves to get 82 players on their roster (the team added rookie tight end Mike Shanahan in the process). Tampa Bay will need to deal with seven more players (waive, release of move to an injured list) to get to the required 75-man roster limit:

• Carlton Mitchell, WR (waived)
• Ernest Owusu, DE (waived)
• Adam Weber, QB (waived)
• Markus White, DE (waived)
• Derek Hagan, WR (released)
• Spencer Larsen, FB (released)
• Troy Nolan, S (released)
• Michael Smith, RB (injured reserve)
• Anthony Gaitor, CB (injured reserve)

Shortly before the 4 p.m. ET deadline for roster cuts, the Buccaneers announced seven transactions to land at exactly 75 players:

• Jacob Cutrera, LB (waived/injured)
• Zach Miller, TE (waived/injured)
• Terriun Crump, WR (waived)
• Chris Denton, WR (waived)
• Mike Shanahan, TE (waived)
• Adam Smith, G (waived)
• Branden Smith, CB (waived)

There was nothing terribly surprising on this early list of transactions. Hagan offered some special teams value but was either too expensive or didn’t provide enough value to keep around, possibly both.

Previewing 53-Man Roster Cuts & Depth Chart Post 75-Man Roster Cuts

The Buccaneers have their depth chart posted on their website. After removing the seven players involved in Tuesday’s transactions, here’s what it looks like:

Post 75-man Depth Chart

Offense

WR: Vincent Jackson, Kevin Ogletree, Chris Owusu

LT: Donald Penn, Mike Remmers

LG: Carl Nicks, Cody Wallace, Roger Allen

C: Jeremy Zuttah, Ted Larsen, Jace Daniels

RG: Davin Joseph, Jamon Meredith

RT: Demar Dotson, Gabe Carimi

TE: Luke Stocker, Tom Crabtree, Nate Byham, Danny Noble, Tim Wright

WR: Mike Williams, Tiquan Underwood, David Douglas, Eric Page

QB: Josh Freeman, Mike Glennon, Dan Orlovsky

RB: Doug Martin, Brian Leonard, Mike James, Peyton Hillis

FB: Erik Lorig

Defense

LDE: Da'Quan Bowers, Daniel Te'o-Nesheim, William Gholston

DT: Gerald McCoy, Derek Landri, Lazarius Levingston

DT: Gary Gibson, Akeem Spence, Matthew Masifilo, Andre Neblett

RDE: Adrian Clayborn, Aaron Morgan, Steven Means, Trevor Scott

SLB: Dekoda Watson, Jonathan Casillas, Ka'lial Glaud

MLB: Mason Foster, Najee Goode, Dom DeCicco

WLB: Lavonte David, Adam Hayward

LCB: Darrelle Revis, Danny Gorrer, Rashaan Melvin, Deveron Carr, Mason Robinson

RCB: Leonard Johnson, Johnthan Banks, Michael Adams, Anthony Gaitor

SS: Mark Barron, Cody Grimm, Sean Baker

FS: Dashon Goldson, Ahmad Black, Keith Tandy

Special Teams

P: Michael Koenen, Chas Henry

K: Lawrence Tynes, Derek Dimke, Rian Lindell

KO: Michael Koenen

H: Michael Koenen

LS: Andrew Economos, Andrew DePaola

PR: Eric Page, David Douglas

KR: Mike James, Tiquan Underwood

Previewing the 53-Man Roster Cuts

Playing general manager is a wonderful game, but remember only Mark Dominik gets paid to make the decisions, and only he has all the answers. Here's a look at how the Buccaneers might get to 53 players.

• Dan Orlovsky, QB: The Buccaneers would like to make it through the season with just two quarterbacks on the roster. Mike Glennon has played well enough to make Orlovsky expendable.
• David Douglas, WR: Douglas, even with his late-game heroics in the third preseason game, just can't climb the depth chart fast enough. There's too much talent ahead of him.
• Nate Byham, TE: Byham was probably the front-runner for the third tight end spot early in camp, but Noble came on strong late.
• Tim Wright, TE: Wright moved from wide receiver to tight end prior to camp and didn't fare well. Ultimately, however, it was dropped passes that did Wright in, meaning the position change shouldn't have mattered much.
• Cody Wallace, OL: Wallace lost the battle for the ninth offensive line spot to Mike Remmers, who had a much better preseason.
• Roger Allen, OL: Allen's contract was terminated in May and he was re-signed in June. Now he's on his way out again.
• Jace Daniels, OL: Daniels seemed befuddled at times while run blocking and didn't make up for it in pass protection.
• Aaron Morgan, DE: You can't make the team from the training table, and Morgan hasn't been active yet in preseason action.
• Lazarius Levingston, DT: Levingston hasn't impressed at all in run defense and doesn't get into the backfield enough to make up for it.
• Matthew Masifilo, DT: There just isn't enough room on this roster for a fifth defensive tackle.
• Andre Neblett, DT: See Masifilo above, but also know that Neblett, the tryout player, wasn't good enough at stopping the run in preseason games.
• Ka'lial Glaud, LB: Glaud only played 39 snaps in the first three preseason games and has too much depth in front of him.
• Dom DeCicco, LB: DeCicco didn't "wow" anyone and only played a very limited 18 defensive snaps through three preseason games.
• Anthony Gaitor, CB: Gaitor is buried too far down on the depth chart at cornerback.
• Mason Robinson, CB: Robinson felt like just a camp body when he was brought in. His limited time on the field proved that.
• Cody Grimm, S: Grimm has two issues: 1) a problem staying healthy 2) the packed depth chart at safety ahead of him.
• Sean Baker, S: Baker didn't play much at all (just 31 snaps in the first three preseason games) and didn't do much with his time on the field.
• Lawrence Tynes, K: Tynes is dealing with a staph infection in his toe. Not a good situation for a kicker.
• Rian Lindell, K: Dimke is the guy in Tampa Bay. After the preseason Lindell will have to go.
• Chas Henry, P: No team needs two punters and Koenen is one of the best.
• Andrew DePaola, LS: There's only room for one long snapper on the team.

Recently Cut Free Agents Buccaneers Are Rumored to Be Pursuing

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers announced Sunday they had claimed defensive tackle Chris Jones and wide receiver Russell Shepard off waivers.

In corresponding moves the Buccaneers released wide receiver Tiquan Underwood
and waived linebacker Najee Goode.