For the second week in a row, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have activated defensive backs Anthony Chesley and Nolan Turner from the practice squad thanks to a rash of injuries in their secondary. Chesley, a second-year cornerback, and Nolan, a rookie safety, will both be eligible to play in Sunday's game at Carolina.
The Buccaneers placed safety Logan Ryan on injured reserve on Tuesday and had ruled cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting out for Sunday's game due to a quad injury. The teams' secondary depth took another hit on Saturday when starting cornerback Carlton Davis was downgraded from questionable to out due to his hip ailment. Chesley and Turner both played in the Buccaneers' Week Six loss at Pittsburgh, though it was solely on special teams.
With those two elevations, the Buccaneers will likely have eight defensive backs available on Sunday: cornerbacks Chesley, Jamel Dean, Zyon McCollum and Dee Delaney; and safeties Turner, Antoine Winfield Jr., Mike Edwards and Keanu Neal. Edwards is listed as questionable on the team's injury report but Head Coach Todd Bowles said he was "on track" to play on Sunday.
The NFL introduced the elevation option in 2020, which allows teams to activate up to two players from their practice squad for each game. Each player on the practice squad can be elevated up to three times during the regular season and an unlimited amount of times in the postseason. After the game, elevated players automatically revert to the practice squad without having to pass through waivers.
This is the second elevation for both Chesley and Turner.
Chesley (6-0, 190) was signed to the Buccaneers' practice squad on September 1, two days after he had been waived by Indianapolis in the final roster cuts. Originally an undrafted free agent with the Cincinnati Bengals out of Coastal Carolina in 2019 and split his rookie year between the practice squads in Cincinnati and Houston. Chesley landed on the Texans' practice squad again in 2020 and played in three games after game-day elevations. He signed with the Colts in 2021 and, between a two-month stint on the active roster and a couple more practice squad elevations, saw action in nine regular-season contests. In his 12 games played overall he has recorded seven tackles and a fumble recovery.
Nelson (6-1, 202), who played his college ball at Clemson, signed with the Buccaneers as an undrafted free agent in May. He played in all three of the Buccaneers' preseason games, with two starts, and contributed six tackles plus another three stops on special teams. Over six seasons at Clemson he played in 65 games with 25 starts and amassed 192 tackles, 3.0 sacks, 13.5 tackles for loss, seven interceptions, 20 passes defensed and two forced fumbles.
