The Tampa Bay Buccaneers gave the players their first training camp day off on Wednesday. When they return to the practice field on Thursday evening it will be with a slightly-tweaked 90-man roster.
The Buccaneers signed rookie wide receiver Matthew Eaton and first-year tight end Scott Orndoff on Wednesday. The team was also awarded second-year offensive tackle William Poehls after putting in a claim following his waiver by the Indianapolis Colts on Tuesday.
To make room for those new additions to the roster, the Buccaneers waived tight end Donnie Ernsberger, safety Orion Stewart and tackle Riley Mayfield. Stewart was waived with an injury designation. Ernsberger and Stewart are both first-year players while Mayfield is a rookie who signed with the Buccaneers as an undrafted free agent in May.
Eaton (6-4, 202) had a brief stint with the Green Bay Packers in May after going undrafted out of Iowa State. He played his final two collegiate seasons with the Cyclones after starting out at Temple and making a stop at Pearl River Community College in between. Eaton was a starter at ISU last year, and in the last two seasons he played in 26 games and produced 48 catches for 512 yards and six touchdowns.
Orndoff (6-5, 260) most recently went to training camp last summer with the Jacksonville Jaguars. He first entered the league as an undrafted free agent out of Pitt in 2017 and has since spent time in Pittsburgh, Detroit and Cincinnati, as well as Jacksonville. With the Panthers, Orndoff played in 58 games and contributed 58 receptions for 897 yards and 13 touchdowns. He peaked as a senior in 2016, hauling in 35 passes for 589 yards and five scores.
Poehls (6-8, 344) also began his NFL career as an undrafted free agent, signing with the Tennessee Titans in 2014. He spent the entirety of the next two seasons on Tennessee's practice squad, then followed with practice-squad stints in Buffalo and Chicago in 2016. Poehls went to camp with the Bears in 2017 and the Jaguars in 2018 then signed with the Colts this past February.
Ernsberger spent three weeks on the Bucs' practice squad last season and then appeared in the last two games of the 2018 campaign after being promoted to the active roster. Stewart signed with the Tampa Bay in April after he had played in the AAF's abbreviated season. Mayfield, as noted, signed with the Buccaneers in May as an undrafted free agent out of North Texas.
