The Tampa Bay Buccaneers elevated second-year cornerback Richard LeCounte and fifth-year defensive tackle Deadrin Senat from the practice squad on Thursday afternoon, making them eligible to play against Buffalo in the evening. That gives the Buccaneers added depth options on the defensive front and in the secondary, with safety Kaevon Merriweather ruled out for the game and defensive tackle Vita Vea considered questionable.
The NFL introduced the practice squad elevation option in 2020; it allows teams to activate up to two practice squad players for each game. By utilizing both options in Week Eight, the Buccaneers have increased their game day roster to 55 players for their matchup with the Bills. They will be able to keep 48 of those player active for the game, naming seven inactives prior to kickoff.
While elevations and other roster moves must be made by Saturday for Sunday games, teams can make those moves on the day of the game for Monday and Thursday night contests, with the deadline being 4:00 p.m. ET.
Each player on the practice squad can be elevated up to three times during the regular season and an unlimited amount of times in the postseason. After the game, elevated players automatically revert to the practice squad without having to pass through waivers. This is the first elevation of the season for LeCounte and the second for Senat.
The Buccaneers signed LeCounte, a Georgia product late in training camp and he played in the preseason finale against Baltimore, recording five tackles. He first entered the NFL as a fifth-round draft pick by the Cleveland Browns in 2021. He played in nine games as a rookie and then one more in 2022 before being waived in October and re-signed to the Browns' practice squad for a two-week period. After the Browns waived him again, LeCounte landed on the Rams' practice squad in December and was then re-signed by Los Angeles to a futures contract in 2023. LeCounte played in the Rams' preseason opener against the Chargers and tallied four tackles before being waived two days later.
Senat spent most of the 2022 season on the Buccaneers' active roster. He appeared in 12 games last season and contributed 17 tackles, one sack and two quarterback hits. Senat re-signed with the Buccaneers in March and went to training camp with the team before being waived in the final roster cutdown. Senat returned to the Bucs' practice squad in Week Two of the regular season. He spent three-and-a-half seasons with the Atlanta Falcons after being selected in the third round of the 2018 draft out of the University of South Florida.
The practice squad elevation option was introduced as part of the new collective bargaining agreement in 2020. The new rule was something of a compromise, as it did not expand the active rosters beyond 53 players but did give teams a few more options on game days.
