The Tampa Bay Buccaneers activated punter Jack Browning and cornerback Dallis Flowers from the practice squad on Saturday, making them eligible to play in the team's Week 14 home game against the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday.
The NFL introduced the practice squad elevation option in 2020, allowing teams to activate up to two practice squad players for each game. The elevations of Browning and Pratt give the Buccaneers 55 available men to play against the Panthers at Bank of America Stadium. They will be able to keep 48 of those player active for the game, naming seven inactives prior to kickoff.
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 first elevation of the season for both Browning and Flowers.
Browning will get his first shot at handling the Bucs' punting duties following the release of Trenton Gill on Monday. Gill had previously taken over the job after the team moved on from third-year punter Jake Camarda in Week Eight. Browning will also presumably serve as the team's kickoff specialist and the holder on placekicks, as the two previous punters had done.
Browning will be making his NFL debut on Sunday. He signed with the Buffalo Bills as an undrafted free agent out of San Diego State this spring and later spent time in training camp with the Baltimore Ravens. At SDSU, Browning handled the punting and placekicking jobs, averaging 45.8 yards on 122 punts over two seasons and making 35 of 47 field goal tries and all 53 of his extra point attempts.
Flowers joined the Buccaneers' practice squad on October 16, a week after being waived by the Indianapolis Colts. Originally an undrafted free agent out of Pittsburgh State, he cracked the Colts' active roster as a rookie and played in 13 games with one start, contributing 14 tackles, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery. He began his second season as a starter and had 15 tackles and three passes defensed in four games before suffering a season-ending Achilles tendon injury. This season, he played in four games and had nine tackles for the Colts. Flowers also has experience as a return man, as he returned 25 kickoffs for 764 yards (30.6 average) and three punts for 13 yards (4.3 average) for Indianapolis.
The Buccaneers needed help at the cornerback position, which had been thinned by injuries in recent weeks. Cornerback Troy Hill was placed on injured reserve on Friday due to foot and knee ailments, and cornerback Josh Hayes suffered a hamstring injury in practice that same day and was added to the injury report. On Saturday, the Buccaneers downgraded Hayes to out for the game on Sunday.
The practice squad elevation option was introduced as part of the new collective bargaining agreement in 2020. The new rule was something of a compromise, as it did not expand the active rosters beyond 53 players but did give teams a few more options on game days, particularly in regard to dealing with injuries.
