A commercial flight from Houston to Tampa, or vice versa, takes about two hours, a fact Kourtnei Brown has likely committed to memory by this point.
Brown made that trip once again this week when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers claimed him off waivers from the Houston Texans. That marks the second time in less than three months that the Buccaneers have acquired the pass-rushing defensive end in that manner. To make room for Brown's return to the 53-man roster, Tampa Bay waived defensive end Lawrence Sidbury.
Brown, obviously, has split the 2015 season between the Bucs' and Texans' rosters. He went to training camp with Houston but was waived in the final round of roster cuts in early September, allowing the Buccaneers to make a claim. After two weeks on Tampa Bay's 53-man roster, Brown was released and signed to the Bucs' practice squad, but that made him eligible to be signed by another team, as long as the new team was adding him to their active roster. The Texans did just that on September 30, then eventually waived him last Saturday in order to promote another player from their practice squad.
Brown (6-4, 253) played in one game for the Buccaneers during his first brief stint with the team. He was inactive for each game he was on the Texans' active roster. He first entered the league as an undrafted free agent out of Clemson with the San Francisco 49ers in 2012, then went on to spend time in Washington, Buffalo, Detroit, St. Louis and Houston, first joining the Texans' practice squad last year.
Though his appearance in the Buccaneers' Week Two win at New Orleans marked his first NFL regular-season experience, Brown did have an eventful preseason in Houston, which was captured by HBO's "Hard Knocks" program. His totals in August games included three sacks, a fumble recovery and an interception returned 69 yards for a touchdown.
Sidbury has also had two stints on the Buccaneers' active roster this season, both in November. Most recently, he signed on Nov. 18 and saw action in Sunday's win at Philadelphia, without recording any statistics. He was also on the roster but inactive for the Buccaneers' Week Nine game against the New York Giants.
Behind-the-scenes photos of the Buccaneers vs. Eagles game at Lincoln Financial Field on November 22nd.
