The second wave of undrafted free agency followed pretty much just after the crest of the first one for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
On Monday evening, the Buccaneers announced the official signings of four more rookies who were not selected in the 2020 NFL Draft, including a pair of productive small-school receivers. This came not long after the team had announced the additions of nine other undrafted free agents earlier on the same day.
Obviously, all of these additions had been in the works since the third and final day of the draft, when all NFL teams begin calling players who were not selected. Without a rookie mini-camp or any other direct contact between players and teams, it took a bit longer to fully complete the deals. Here are the latest four rookies to join the Bucs' roster:
Position, Player, College
- WR John Hurst, West Georgia
- G Nick Leverett, Rice
- CB Parnell Motley, Oklahoma
- WR Josh Pearson, Jacksonville State
Those four join the likes of San Diego quarterback Reid Sinnett and LSU outside linebacker Michael Divinity, whose signings were announced earlier. Hurst and Person give the Buccaneers two more wideout candidates who put up big numbers in smaller programs, like Montana State's Travis Jonsen, one of the first-wave announcements.
Hurst caught 40 passes for 654 yards and seven touchdowns at West Georgia last fall. Montana State's Jonsen was named to the Big Sky Conference first team in 2019 as an all-purpose player after catching 55 passes for 580 yards and rushing 82 times for another 526 yards. In his last two seasons at Jacksonville State, Pearson caught 126 passes for 2,066 yards and nearly a quarter of those completions (30) resulted in touchdowns.
Leverett transferred to Rice and played as a grad student in 2019 after three seasons at North Carolina Central. Leverett played left tackle at North Carolina Central but settled in at left guard for Rice, starting all 12 games and earning honorable mention all-conference accolades. Motley broke up 33 passes during his career at Oklahoma and capped that with an outstanding senior season in which he notched 13 passes defensed and five forced fumbles. Motley was rewarded with first-team all-conference honors.
