Though the NFL's first round of mandated cuts is still several days away, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers trimmed their roster by three players on Thursday afternoon. Defensive end Quintin Anderson, wide receiver Armahd Lewis and tackle Mike VanDerMeulen, all undrafted rookies, were waived on the eve of the team's third preseason game on Friday night against New England.
VanDerMeulen, who played his college ball at Toledo, was one of 14 undrafted players the team signed immediately after the draft. Anderson, a Wagner product, participated in the Buccaneers' rookie mini-camp on a tryout contract a few days later and was subsequently signed to the offseason roster. Lewis, of Central Washington, was added two weeks later, on May 17.
Lewis played in each of Tampa Bay's first two preseason games, while Anderson and VanDerMeulen appeared in one contest each.
The three moves on Wednesday reduced the Bucs' roster from 90 players to 87, and they will be required to get that number down to 75 by 4:00 p.m. ET next Monday. In practice, many teams across the NFL will take care of the roster reduction over the weekend prior to beginning a final week of preseason work on Monday.
A second round of cuts will be required by next Friday, August 31, at which point all teams must get down to the regular-season limit of 53 players.
