The Tampa Bay Buccaneers activated cornerback Dallis Flowers and linebacker Deion Jones from the practice squad on Saturday, making them eligible to play in the team's Week 18 home game against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday afternoon.
The NFL introduced the practice squad elevation option in 2020, allowing teams to activate up to two practice squad players for each game. The elevation of Flowers and Jones gives the Buccaneers 55 available men to play against the Saints at Raymond James 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 second elevation for both players; Flowers was called up for the Week 14 game against Las Vegas and Jones played last week against Carolina.
The elevation of Jones gives the Buccaneers' four off-ball linebackers for Sunday's game, as he joins Lavonte David, J.J. Russell and K.J. Britt. The team recently released linebackers Antonio Grier and Vi Jones from the active roster. Similarly, the Bucs will now have four cornerbacks available on Sunday after Jamel Dean was ruled out of the game with a knee injury. Flowers joins Zyon McCollum, Josh Hayes and Tyrek Funderburk.
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, Flowers played in four games and had nine tackles for the Colts. He 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.
Deion Jones is very familiar with NFC South rivalry games after spending the first six seasons of his career with the Atlanta Falcons, plus one year with the Panthers in 2023. A second-round draft pick in 2016, Jones finished third in that year's Defensive Rookie of the Year voting, then earned a Pro Bowl berth in his sophomore campaign.
Jones has played in 109 regular season games with 91 starts, recording 731 tackles, 50 tackles for loss, 12.0 sacks, five forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries. During his peak he was one of the NFL's best coverage linebackers, as evidenced by his 53 passes defensed and 13 interceptions, five of which he returned for touchdowns.
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.
