The Buccaneers have signed 25-year old punter Sam Paulescu to a 1-year deal.  Paulescu will replace the injured Dirk Johnson for the rest of the 2010 season.  He has punted the ball 3 times this season for 150 yards (50.0 avg) when he played with the Redskins earlier this year.  Paulescu has now played in 12 games in his NFL career and he has punted the ball 61 times for 2,584 yards (42.4 avg).  He has 5 touchbacks (8.2%) and he has pinned the opponent inside their 20-yard line 15 times (24.6%) in his career.  The Bucs found themselves a decent punter to finish out the season.

The Buccaneers have signed undrafted rookie QB Rudy Carpenter off the practice squad of the Cowboys.  He was a darn good QB at Arizona State but he will likely be slotted as the #3 QB for the Bucs.  That could mean that Byron Leftwich is on his way out….stay tuned.

The Bucs have signed 23-year old kicker Connor Barth.  Barth played in 10 games last season for the Chiefs as a rookie and he made 10 of 12 field goals (83.3%) and all 24 of his extra point attempts.  He averaged 5.4 points per game as a rookie.  Barth doesn’t get great length on his kickoffs so they better make sure that they tackle well.

The Bucs have signed 26-year old cornerback Marcus McCauley.  McCauley played in 10 games last season for the Vikings but he only made six tackles.  He has now played in two seasons in his NFL career and he has made 70 tackles and has defensed 8 passes.  The Buccaneers need all the help they can get so it was worth taking a chance on McCauley.

The Bucs have signed 27-year old WR Yamon Figurs.  He is on the small side at 5′11″, 185 pounds  but the Bucs need anyone who can catch a football.  He played in 3 games for the Lions this season and he caught 1 pass for 7 yards.  He has now played three years in the NFL and he has caught 3 passes for 86 yards (28.7 avg) with 1 TD grab which shows what kind of home run speed he has.  Figurs is also good insurance in case something happens to KR/PR Clifton Smith.  Figurs has returned 39 punts in 309 yards (7.9 avg) with 1 TD return and 75 kickoffs for 1,746 yards (23.3 avg) with 1 TD return.  To make room on the roster for Figurs the Bucs have released backup linebacker Matt McCoy who made 1 tackle this season.