The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are getting healthier in their pass-catching corps but they still elected to cement some insurance at the receiver and tight end spots leading up to Sunday's game in Indianapolis.
Tampa Bay submitted its four-man list of practice squad protections on Wednesday and it includes wide receiver Breshad Perriman and tight Darren Fells. The other two spots went to kicker Jose Borregales and cornerback Blidi Wreh-Wilson, as the Week 12 list was identical to the one from Week 11.
The option to protect a limited number of practice squad players from being signed away by other teams was one of a number of new rules adopted regarding the practice squad in 2020 to give teams more roster flexibility during the pandemic. The NFL elected to keep those rules in place for 2021.
Each week, a team can submit a list of up to four players on its practice squad that other teams are prohibited from signing to their active rosters. In most, that protection starts at 4:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday and extends through game day; after a team plays on Monday night, however, it must wait until Wednesday to submit its list. No players are protected for close to two days following a game, so every practice squad player in the league still has an opportunity each week to sign with another team's active roster. In fact, the Jacksonville Jaguars signed wide receiver Jaydon Mickens off the Bucs' practice squad this Tuesday.
Perriman has been elevated from the practice squad to help a receiving corps thinned by injuries in each for each of the two games since he signed with the Bucs on November 10. He only played two snaps in the Week 10 loss at Washington but was on the field for 18 plays in Monday night's win over the Giants, catching two passes for 16 yards.
Though wide receiver Antonio Brown remains sidelined by an ankle injury, the Bucs' receiving corps did get a boost on Tuesday when Scotty Miller was activated from injured reserve. Tampa Bay also got tight end Rob Gronkowski back on the field Monday night and did not have to elevate a tight end from the practice squad for just the second time in the last eight games.
