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The Buccaneers have placed 27-year old linebacker Jon Alston on the Injured Reserve List with an undisclosed injury. Alston played in 9 games for the Raiders (4 starts) last season and he finished up with 23 tackles. Alston has now played in 39 games (8 starts) in his four years in the NFL and he has 66 tackles, 1 pass defensed and 2 forced fumbles. This might hurt the special teams a little bit for the Bucs but that’s about it.
The NFL has suspended 24-year old starting CB Aqib Talib for the season opener against the Cleveland Browns due to a violation of the league’s personal conduct policy. Talib played in 15 games (2 starts) for the Bucs last season and he had 64 tackles, 15 passes defensed and 5 interceptions. In two years with the Buccaneers, Talib has played in 30 games (17 starts) in which he has 87 tackles, 24 passes defensed and 9 interceptions (131 return yards). The Buccaneers are going to miss Talib in the season opener and they hope this suspension helps him realize that he hurt his team with his off field conduct.
The Buccaneers have released 30-year old RB Derrick Ward. Ward played in 14 games for the Bucs last season and he carried the ball 114 times for 409 yards (3.6 ypc) with 1 TD run. He also caught 20 passes for 150 yards (7.5 avg) with 2 TD grabs last season. Kareem Huggins and Earnest Graham will likely see increased touches with Ward out of the picture. I don’t think Ward will be unemployed too long.
The Buccaneers will be without starting QB Josh Freeman for at least the rest of the pre-season due to a fractured tip of his right thumb. Freeman was looking good in the pre-season for the Bucs. In the Bucs first two pre-season games, Freeman completed 6 of 8 passes (75%) for 74 yards with 1 TD pass and 0 INTs (142.7 QB Rating). The Bucs hope that Freeman is ready to go on Opening Day against the Cleveland Browns in Tampa. They think he will improve on the numbers he put up as a rookie in 2009. Freeman played in 10 games (9 starts) for the Bucs last year and he completed 158 of 290 passes (54.5%) for 1,855 yards with 10 TD passes and 18 INTs (59.8 QB Rating). He also carried the ball 30 times for 161 yards (5.4 ypc) as a rookie last year. The Bucs need Freeman to have a speedy recovery because the dropoff to the backups appears pretty big.
The Buccaneers have signed 32-year old G/T Keydrick Vincent to a 1-year deal. Vincent played in 16 games (all starts) for the Panthers last season. He has now played in 97 games (79 starts) in his nine years in the NFL. This was a good signing this late in the game for the Bucs as starting type players are usually not sitting on their couch at home.
