On Friday, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers waived defensive lineman Earnest Brown and rookie linebacker Antonio Grier, giving them three open spots on the 53-man roster heading into the weekend and Sunday's game against the Carolina Panthers. The Buccaneers had previously created another opening on Thursday by placing safety Christian Izien on injured reserve.
The newly-created roster spots may portend some additional moves before Sunday's game. The team still has to decide whether or not to activate safety Jordan Whitehead and wide receiver Kameron Johnson, who are in their 21-day practice windows as they try to return from injured reserve. In addition, the Bucs will need to add a punter, presumably Jack Browning from their own practice squad, before Sunday. Browning has handled that job for the past three weeks but is out of elevation options.
Brown signed with the Buccaneers as a free agent in May after spending the first part of the 2024 offseason with the San Francisco 49ers. He previously played two seasons with the Los Angeles Rams, getting into 12 games with three starts and contributing 14 tackles and a tackle for loss. Brown played in three games early this season, logging 21 defensive snaps.
Grier joined the Buccaneers as an undrafted rookie in May. He has had two stints each on the practice squad and active roster and has played in seven games. Other than two defensive snaps, all of Grier's action has been on special teams, and he has one kick-coverage tackle.