Official & Unofficial Practice Squad Chatter
August 31st, 2014
Names are rolling in
Updated 8:05 p.m. – There’s nothing quite like the magical practice squad (kidding), guys who are allowed to practice a limited amount of time each week with a team’s 53-man roster in exchange for earning roughly $6,000 to $12,000 per week, depending on terms they work out.
These players can be signed away by another team at any time. But if they are, the thieving club must put their new man on the active roster and pay him at least the NFL minimum for three weeks.
Teams can carry up to 10 on their practice squad, and the Bucs have lined more than half so far. Per Roy Cummings of The Tampa Tribune, the Bucs have signed offensive tackle Garrett Gilkey, who spent time with the Browns last year, and Bucs have also re-signed Jeff Demps, TE Cameron Brate, LB Brandon Magee and DL Matthew Masifilo to their practice squad, and a deal for rookie wide receiver Solomon Patton is in the works.
The Bucs have made those names official, and added quarterback Mike Kafka.
Joe will update more here as this sunny Sunday rolls on.
Typically, teams will balance the squad by positions. So look for a defensive end and some defensive backs soon.
The Bucs cleared a 53-man roster spot with the release of backup center Josh Allen.
Cornerback Brandon Dixon, Jets' sixth-round pick this year out of NW Missouri State, has been signed to the Bucs practice squad
— Rick Stroud (@NFLSTROUD) August 31, 2014
August 31st, 2014 at 4:22 pm
Gilkey is a little surprising since he’s completely suited to zone blocking and not power running. I know he’s connected to OL Coach Warhop, just like Cousins – so that by itself leaves me wondering about him. I worry that our esteemed offensive line coach has a severe, untreatable case of having his head up his rear where identifying blocking talent is concerned.
August 31st, 2014 at 4:30 pm
Gilkey is not on the practice squad. He was a waiver wire pickup which means he goes straight to the active roster for at least three weeks according to NFL rules. If the Bucs waive him after three weeks he has to go through the waiver process all over again before the Bucs can get him to the practice squad.
My guess is Cousins will be released to make room for Gilkey.
August 31st, 2014 at 4:35 pm
Gilkey’s signing most likely means Cousins is gone but we’ll see.
August 31st, 2014 at 4:36 pm
@ Louis Friend
I fear you may be right. Warhop might not be any better than Lovie at detecting O-line talent, so he is going to, first, go after players he recognizes. “Let’s take that guy! He must be good. I saw him line up as an offensive lineman!”
August 31st, 2014 at 4:41 pm
Warped. The abuse of Warhop is unwarranted and unsubstantiated.
August 31st, 2014 at 4:43 pm
Michael Sam …
August 31st, 2014 at 4:59 pm
That guy Masifilo looked like hot garbage out there last few weeks. Don’t know what anyone sees in him. I also wouldn’t mind seeing Michael Sam come in and compete. Screw the drama. I think this kid would thrive in Lovie’s attack style front line.
August 31st, 2014 at 5:07 pm
Funny how many Gators Lovie had in here to take a look at. Major Wright, Demps and Patton all amongst Gators cut yesterday, and Murphy is still on the team. I think Patton was a bad cut but I also don’t think we have seen the last of him.
August 31st, 2014 at 5:08 pm
“Bucs have also re-signed Jeff Demps”
Jeez. What does it take to sink in that the guy will never…NEVER…be anything worthwhile in the NFL?
August 31st, 2014 at 5:09 pm
I would agree DallasBuc except for the fact that he is way too weak and undersized to play in the NFL IMO without going to WLB and we have a Great one of those
August 31st, 2014 at 5:13 pm
John23 Says:
August 31st, 2014 at 4:43 pm
Michael Sam …
————————–
I don’t want that guy anywhere near this team. We already have guys who can’t run on our DL and we don’t need that kind of circus. Let him join the Jets, they love the circus.
August 31st, 2014 at 5:13 pm
Calling outstanding nfl athletes garbage is rediculous.
Whether they are as good as others is another thing.
But none of them is garbage. Just not the best of the very best.
August 31st, 2014 at 5:14 pm
Who is our kick returner???
Patton and Page were both released. Who is left?
August 31st, 2014 at 5:15 pm
Warhop promised Smith and Licht Gilkey is better than Cousins and Warren. Welcome back Patton and Demps!
August 31st, 2014 at 5:16 pm
Bonzai,
That can be a problem with good coaches. They see a guy with talent they can’t teach, and believe if they just coach the rest up, the player will be great.
Problem here is, Demps had a good coach last year, Byner was excellent.
August 31st, 2014 at 5:24 pm
Well Cousins is still here, reports are they cut Josh Allen our backup center to make room for Gilkey. Strange.
August 31st, 2014 at 5:29 pm
Sams signed a deal with Dicks Sporting
Goods…
August 31st, 2014 at 5:37 pm
Eric- I must have struck a chord with my “rediculous” comments about that garbage dline player you must like so much. Didnt mean to afflict your delicate sensibilities. There’s a remedy for that. It’s called Mommy hugs!
I don’t recall you once getting compassionate over the merciless and personal thrashing of Freeman, Bowers or any other poor souls on this team. Temper your righteous indignation cupcake.
August 31st, 2014 at 5:48 pm
I’m assuming as soon as Sims is put on IR, Patton will be brought up from the practice squad to the main roster.
August 31st, 2014 at 5:50 pm
Good one rastamon! Bet he will be stocking in the rear!
August 31st, 2014 at 6:06 pm
Carls Toe- you seem well versed in Sam and stocking in the rear. Anything you want to tell the group?
August 31st, 2014 at 6:26 pm
Sign seastrunk please!!!
August 31st, 2014 at 6:34 pm
I like cup cakes.
August 31st, 2014 at 6:41 pm
Dallasbuc has no sense of humor! At least rastamon has a sense of humor. Why aren’t you a cowgirls fan? You should change Jerry’s diaper!!
August 31st, 2014 at 6:45 pm
Joes a tree humper…
August 31st, 2014 at 6:52 pm
I have no sense of humor??? You stretching to push tired Cowboy humor on a dedicated Bucs fan cause you don’t get the joke! Lighten up, meaningful football in 4 days!
August 31st, 2014 at 6:56 pm
Nate tweets- Seastrunk deserves immediate attention from us. I predict other teams feel the same way. Him and Silas Redd look very ready for this league. Washington always seems to have great luck or skill at farming running back talent.
August 31st, 2014 at 7:04 pm
I am surprised we have not seen a move made on Seastrunk here already. I would like to see what he can do compared to Rainey. I still don’t see that much in him.
August 31st, 2014 at 7:06 pm
Fairly ironic, DallasBuc, that you’re whining about righteous indignation during one of the most pretentious, self-righteous posts I’ve ever seen on here. Eric barely said anything. You seem suspiciously threatened and upset for some reason, perhaps homophobia or some insecurity in general?
August 31st, 2014 at 7:07 pm
Redd looked good…he caught my eye…but was not cut…
August 31st, 2014 at 7:21 pm
Um, wonder if the local pen and mic club will be all over the Michael Sam addition?
I bet one of those guys are gonna ask Lovie if the Bucs have thought about him being added to the practice squad.
August 31st, 2014 at 7:34 pm
No Michael Sam in Tampa – don’t even start the speculation! You might as well sign Richie for that…
August 31st, 2014 at 7:37 pm
Ohh..No..what if Sam was left Behind…The Scarlet Pimpernel ….
August 31st, 2014 at 7:46 pm
Vince- my response to Eric was hardly pretentious. To be clear, I challenged him to remind when he came to Freeman’s defense after he took umbrage with me calling our shiny new practice-squader garbage. Then you want to conflate that to some homophobia shame I might be harboring. Your take is confusing and lack of originality is predictable. I’m cool with it if you are but if you want to stick to football and lighten up that might be better.
August 31st, 2014 at 7:51 pm
OK…now back to Richie……I would say our OL sucks….but this is L&l OL…did I say Richie…is better than any swinging dick
@
guard other than Mankins….
August 31st, 2014 at 7:58 pm
Y haven’t we signed a real third string QB. WE HAVE one qb who will be running for his life and another who doesn’t run and fragile frame. Kafka looked terrible even his throwing technique was off. Rather see grossman as third QB or someone with experience playing.
August 31st, 2014 at 8:00 pm
Y haven’t we signed a real third string QB. WE HAVE one qb who will be running for his life and another who doesn’t run and fragile frame. Kafka looked terrible even his throwing technique was off. Rather see grossman as third QB or someone with experience playing. Surprised rah hasn’t pushed fr freeman in DC. Since that was his boy.
August 31st, 2014 at 8:02 pm
are you saying Josh Freeman ?
August 31st, 2014 at 8:07 pm
Thetruth- if our starter is as good as our 3rd stringer I don’t see the point in being concerned about it. Do-no-wrong Lovie and his lapdog GM clearly aren’t concerned with bringing in winning 1st string talent at the QB position so who cares about 3rd string. Same goes for oline…at least right up to the point that they realized they peed the bed and swung for proven talent days ago with Mankins. Sheesh.
August 31st, 2014 at 8:45 pm
“Do-no-wrong Lovie and his lapdog GM clearly aren’t concerned with bringing in winning 1st string talent at the QB position so who cares about 3rd string.”
Was Phillip Rivers cut or available? Do no wrong lovie? That’s a good name, being the season hasn’t started..
August 31st, 2014 at 9:35 pm
Posey- no, Rivers was busy. However, it is amazing to me that a career backup with zero winning starter experience in 12 years is considered the answer for the HC but somehow the fanbase can see no wrong in the logic. So no, he isn’t Rivers or Brees or Rodgers but when you name McCown the starter from FA in March you are not even trying.
August 31st, 2014 at 10:07 pm
How do we know they clearly aren’t concerned? Of course they have to say certain things to the media and the team, but behind closed doors you don’t think they are doing everything they can to improve the team? I highly doubt either of them believe Josh is a long term answer. That’s kinda obvious. With my job on the line and no much else to do via the draft and free agency I would stick with a vet that just came off a good season and low turnovers in the meantime.
August 31st, 2014 at 10:42 pm
“How do we know they clearly aren’t concerned?” Look at the roster. They’ve had since Lovie’s hire date at the beginning of 2014 to show us otherwise and our starter since the opening salvo of FA has been Josh McCown. If Schiano or Morris make a move like this there would be boycotts and other dramatic fan outrage but since it is Lovie Smith some how the right decision is being made and I am the Ahole for questioning it! Do-no-wrong is about you more than Lovie. I want to win on Sundays and I am tired of seeing the Bucs funnel in vessels of zero hope behind center season after season. It may not have worked out but at least Morris and Dominik had the stones to try and bring some hope to this position with Freeman. Once you install mediocrity behind center in March, as far as I am concerned, you aren’t even trying.
August 31st, 2014 at 11:39 pm
The new Warhop pet started one game for the Browns and was awful! So no, somebody should tell WarFLOP to do his job for once and leave selecting talent to Licht. Warhop should be punished for bringing Worthless Cousins in the first place, not rewarded with another Worthless Pet!!! I guess Licht is busy trying to spend his extra $2 million from keeping the Rookie Kicker on Incognito!!!
August 31st, 2014 at 11:56 pm
Rostaman :hell no on freeman saw enough overthrows and under thrown passes to no he is what he is. The knock on him in college continued thru his pro career.
I agree if schiano had these two Qb’s going into season , radio host would be asking for his head and telling everyone y they know more football than a head coach.
Get incognito and shore up the line so we know what we really have , just concerned these qb’s don’t make it through the season.
September 1st, 2014 at 12:31 am
Bowers is on the IR.
I want a write-up on this Scott Solomon guy… who is he?
September 1st, 2014 at 12:31 am
Owlykat- “somebody should tell WarFLOP to do his job for once and leave selecting talent to Licht.”
Since when do oline coaches sign players instead of HC/GM? More of the do-no-wrong Lovie mindset in action. Hate to break it to you but Cousins, Meredith and Omameh are all specific choices made by Lovie and Licht. I am not so confident it is a good idea that Licht is in charge of selecting talent.
September 1st, 2014 at 12:48 am
Yup. Look, Bucs new regime was in charge since the first week of January. They had eight months to update the offensive line after gutting it. It took until the 11th minute of the 11th hour for an upgrade.
September 1st, 2014 at 6:41 am
DUNKANEERS HOOOOOO!!!!!!
Gilkey played left tackle for the Eagles and also spent some time on the school’s basketball squad, suggesting some versatility that could serve the Bucs well.
“As is often the case, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ “final” roster on Saturday was only final for about 24 hours. With hundreds of players coursing through the waiver wires on this most active of NFL weekends, it’s more common than not for teams to tweak the last couple spots on the roster.
The Buccaneers did so on Sunday, claiming offensive lineman Garrett Gilkey off waivers from the Cleveland Browns and waiving offensive lineman Josh Allen. An undrafted rookie out of Louisiana-Monroe, Allen was one of the surprises on the first 53-man roster that resulted from the team’s final cuts on Saturday.
Gilkey (6-6, 315) was a seventh-round pick by the Browns in 2013 and he made the active roster as a rookie. He eventually appeared in six games, starting the season finale at Pittsburgh at left guard. Cleveland made Gilkey the 227th overall pick in the 2013 draft after a collegiate career at Chadron State in which he appeared in 37 games with 34 starts. Gilkey was one of only three Division II players to be invited to the Senior Bowl in 2013 and he was also just the third player ever drafted out of Chadron State, which is located in Nebraska’s panhandle. He spent his NFL rookie season under the tutelage of George Warhop, who is now the Buccaneers’ offensive line coach.
The Buccaneers also signed six players to their initial practice squad on Sunday. They have four more spots to fill and will likely do so quickly, with practice for the regular-season opener against Carolina due to begin on Monday.
”
http://WWW.BUCCANEERS.COM
September 1st, 2014 at 8:39 am
Gilkey couldn’t make the Browns roster.
Misplaced enthusiasm.