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The Buccaneers have released 28-year old rookie punter Chris Bryan. Bryan played in the first four games for the Buccaneers this year and he punted the ball 23 times for 860 yards (37.4 avg). He placed 7 punts inside the opposing 20-yard line 7 times (30.4%) and he didn’t have any touchbacks. The Bucs have signed 22-year old rookie Robert Malone out of Fresno State to replace Bryan starting this weekend against the Saints.
The Buccaneers have cut 23-year old rookie Brent Bowden and they have signed 28-year old rookie punter Chris Bryan. Bowden was a sixth round pick out of Virginia Tech last April by the Bucs. Bowden played in all 4 pre-season games for the Bucs and he didn’t look too good. Bowden punted the ball 20 times for 729 yards (36.5 avg) during the pre-season for the Bucs. Chris Bryan will be the new starting punter for the Bucs despite never playing football in college. He played in all 4 pre-season games for the Packers this year and he punted the ball 8 times for 336 yards (42.0 avg). This will be interesting to see how well Bryan punts when the real bullets fly this weekend against the Cleveland Browns.
The Bucs have signed 21-year old rookie WR Dezmon Briscoe to the practice squad. They got Briscoe by paying him $310,000 instead of the practice squad minimum of around 100k. This means that they are likely going to call him up from the practice squad soon. Briscoe was a sixth round pick out of Kansas last April by the Bengals. He played in all 5 pre-season games for the Bengals this year and he caught 4 passes for 89 yards (22.3 avg) with 1 TD grab. This was a very rare case where the Bucs weren’t cheap.
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.
The Buccaneers have signed 28-year old safety Sean Jones to a 2-year deal. Jones played in 15 games for the Eagles last season in which he made 61 tackles, defensed 5 passes, he had 1 sack and 2 interceptions. Jones has now played in 75 games in his NFL career in which he has made 347 tackles, he defensed 35 passes, 2 sacks, 2 forced fumbles and he intercepted 16 passes. I like this signing for the Buccaneers as Jones is a good run defender who makes big plays in the passing game.
The Buccaneers have signed 26-year old linebacker Jon Alston. Alston played in 9 games for the Raiders last season and he made 23 tackles including 2 tackles for a loss. He has now played in 39 games in his NFL career and he has made 66 tackles, defensed 1 pass and he has forced 2 fumbles. Alston is a decent backup linebacker and special teams player but there isn’t a lot of upside here.
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.