The Tampa Bay Buccaneers made a handful of roster moves on Tuesday, most significantly re-signing Kimario McFadden to help a safety position that has been hit with a rash of injuries. To make room for McFadden on the 53-man roster, the Buccaneers waived defensive end Lawrence Sidbury.
The remainder of the team's moves all applied to the practice squad. Defensive end Ronald Powell, just signed last week, was placed on injured reserve and wide receiver Andre Davis was released. That opened two spots on that 10-man crew, which were immediately filled by the signings of safety Akeem Davis and defensive end Martin Ifedi.
Tampa Bay began its Week Nine game against the New York Giants without safeties Major Wright, who was inactive for the second week in a row due to a hamstring injury, and D.J. Swearinger, who had sustained a toe injury in practice leading up to the game. Safety Bradley McDougald then left Sunday's game after suffering a concussion. That left the team with only Chris Conte and Keith Tandy as healthy safeties by the end of the contest.
McFadden (5-11, 197) had a month to learn the Buccaneers' defense in the summer, signing with the team just before the start of training camp. He was waived on August 30, but not before playing in three of Tampa Bay's preseason games and recording six tackles and one tackle for loss. McFadden also spent three weeks on the Buccaneers' practice squad in September of 2014. He originally entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent with the Atlanta Falcons in 2014, and he also spent time on the practice squads in Atlanta and Carolina last fall.
McFadden played his final two college seasons at South Carolina State after first attending Alabama A&M. In his two campaigns with the Bulldogs, he played in 24 games and racked up 129 tackles, three interceptions, 13 passes defensed, 3.5 sacks, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery. In 2013, he was named a second-team All-Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference choice.
Sidbury, who also went to training camp with the Buccaneers this summer, was just re-signed by the team last week after defensive ends Jacquies Smith and William Gholston suffered injuries in a Week Eight win at Atlanta. Andre Davis, who played his college football at nearby South Florida, got in two weeks on the Bucs practice squad before his release. Powell technically gets a "practice squad injured reserve" designation, but that is functionally the same thing as regular injured reserve.
Akeem Davis (6-1, 200) has already played two regular-season games this season for the New Orleans Saints, recording one forced fumble. He signed with the saints on October 24 and saw action in wins over Indianapolis and Denver before being waived last Wednesday. He also appeared in 13 games for the Washington Redskins as a rookie last year after signing as an undrafted free agent out of Memphis. He actually first attempted to crack an NFL roster in 2013, attending a tryout camp in Seattle, but he did not sign with any team until joining the Redskins in the spring of 2014. At Memphis, Davis played three seasons at safety and one at linebacker as a senior and collected 150 tackles, four forced fumbles, three interceptions and 2.5 sacks.
Ifedi (6-3, 275) was Davis' teammate at Memphis from 2011-12, and he finished his career in 2014 as the team's all-time sack leader with 22.5. He was drafted by St. Louis in the seventh round (227th overall) this past spring, and he went to camp with the Rams before being waived in the final round of roster cuts. At Memphis, he played four seasons and recorded 140 tackles, 36 tackles for loss, four forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and four passes defensed.
