The contracts of all 19 players who finished the 2024 season on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' practice squad or practice squad/injured list expired on Monday, as is the established process when a team's season comes to an end. That finally happened for Tampa Bay on Sunday night with a Wild Card round loss to the Washington Commanders, which turned Monday into the first day of the 2025 offseason for the Buccaneers.
However, 17 of those players weren't without a contract for long. They were re-signed to reserve/futures contracts on Tuesday, deals that take effect after the conclusion of the Super Bowl. That group includes rookie Michael Pratt, who could compete for the Buccaneers' number-two quarterback job in 2025, and several players who saw game action at certain points during the regular season, including linebacker Deion Jones, cornerback Dallis Flowers and wide receiver Marquez Callaway.
The players who got futures contracts on Tuesday were:
- S Marcus Banks
- WR Marquez Callaway
- CB Dallis Flowers
- DT Mike Greene
- T Garret Greenfield
- LB Antonio Grier
- LB Daniel Grzesiak
- OL Luke Haggard
- WR Dennis Houston
- LB Deion Jones
- WR Tanner Knue
- T Lorenz Metz
- T Raiqwon O'Neal
- QB Michael Pratt
- TE Tanner Taula
- RB D.J. Williams
- S Rashad Wisdom
All 17 of these players will get another opportunity to take part in an offseason program in Tampa and, potentially, another training camp and a shot at making the active roster. Three of the 14 players signed in the first wave of reserve/futures contracts a year ago ended up making the Bucs' active roster in 2024: defensive lineman C.J. Brewer, wide receiver Ryan Miller and outside linebacker Jose Ramirez. Several others are still with the team in some capacity a year later, whether they were back on the practice squad like Haggard and Taula or on a reserve list like tackle Silas Dzansi.
Defensive lineman Adam Gotsis, who was just added to the practice squad last week, and wide receiver Cody Thompson, who was on the practice squad/injured list for much of the season, we're not re-signed on Tuesday.
The expansion of practice squads to 16 spots (17 for the Bucs this year due to Lorenz Metz's international exception) and the introduction of the game day elevation options in recent years has allowed teams more continuity and more flexibility with those players. Ten of the 16 players who finished the season on the Bucs' practice squad – Banks, Green, Grzesiak, Haggard, Metz, O'Neal, Pratt, Taula, Wisdom and Williams – were signed in Week One and spent all 19 weeks on that crew. Grier was also either on the active roster or the practice squad for 17 of those 19 weeks.
Most of the players on the above list are still very early in their NFL careers, but Jones is an exception. He joined the team late in the season to provide depth for an injured linebacking corps. He was elevated to play in the last three games and saw his first action on defense for Tampa Bay in the Wild Card game, contributing two tackles and a pass defensed. On Monday, Head Coach Todd Bowles acknowledged the small sample size but said he liked what he had seen from Jones and hoped to have him back in 2025. Jones played his first six seasons in Atlanta before stops in Cleveland and Carolina, and has appeared in 111 games with 91 starts.
