The Tampa Bay Buccaneers round of roster moves on Monday led to another handful of maneuvers on Tuesday involving some of the same players.
Cornerback Rashard Robinson was signed to the 53-man roster off Tampa Bay's practice squad, where he has been since signing with the team on September 21. To open a spot on that roster, the Buccaneers waived second-year guard John Molchon, who had just been activated from injured reserve the day before. The Bucs also used the practice squad spot opened by Robinson's promotion to bring back wide receiver Jaydon Mickens, who had been released the day before.
Robinson actually played in three of the Buccaneers' last four contests as a player elevated from the practice squad for game day (once as a COVID replacement). However, he is out of standard elevation options and thus had to be moved to the active roster if the Buccaneers wanted to get him into any more games.
Robinson has so far only seen action on special teams but Head Coach Bruce Arians has said on several occasions that he is confident that the fifth-year veteran could help on defense if needed. The Buccaneers are currently playing without three injured cornerbacks in Carlton Davis, Sean Murphy-Bunting and Richard Sherman. Jamel Dean is holding down one outside starting spot and Ross Cockrell has taken over in the slot, but the Bucs' options opposite Dean now include Pierre Desir, Dee Delaney and Robinson.
"Both those guys [are options], and Rashard has done really good in practice," said Arians on Tuesday before Robinson's promotion." I'm comfortable with what we got that we'll play with."
Robinson has seen a significant amount of regular-season NFL action, playing in 42 games for three different teams and making 18 starts. He began his career as a fourth-round draft pick of the San Francisco 49ers in 2016 and he started 6 games as a rookie, contributing 28 tackles, one interception and eight passes defensed. He started seven more games for the 49ers in 2017 before being traded at midseason to the New York Jets.
Robinson spent most of last season on the Dallas Cowboys' practice squad but was promoted to the active roster in December and got into four games with three starts. Overall, he has recorded 85 tackles, two interceptions, 15 passes defensed and two fumble recoveries. Robinson played his college football at LSU.
Originally an undrafted free agent, Molchon split his 2020 rookie season between injured reserve and the practice squad in Tampa. He also started this season on I.R. due to a leg injury after initially making the 53-man roster.
Mickens has handled the Buccaneers' punt and kickoff return duties in five of the first six games of the season. He has averaged 6.4 yards per punt return on eight tries and 25.8 yards per kickoff return on five runbacks. Rookie wide receiver Jaelon Darden now moves to the top of the depth chart at both spots. In his one game of action this season, against the Rams in Week Three, Daren returned one punt for four yards and two kickoffs for 48 yards.
