The Tampa Bay Buccaneers selected eight players in the 2019 NFL Draft and are expected to add some additional rookies from the undrafted free agent pool. As such, some corresponding roster moves were needed, and on Monday the Buccaneers waived five players, including second-year linebacker Riley Bullough, who played in nine games with three starts last season.
Those moves, along with the waiver of quarterback Joe Callahan over the weekend, which was also officially announced Monday, clear six spots on the 90-man offseason roster. NFL teams are allowed a maximum of 90 players on the roster in the offseason, including rookies who have yet to sign their initial contracts.
The other four players waived on Monday were kicker Phillip Andersen, defensive end Hunter Dimick, punter Hayden Hunt and defensive end Nick Thurman. All four were originally signed earlier in the 2019 offseason, as was Callahan. Hunt was signed prior to the team's acquisition of punter Bradley Pinion in unrestricted free agency, and Andersen was added before the Buccaneers subsequently selected Utah kicker Matt Gay in the fifth round of last weekend's draft.
Bullough first joined the Buccaneers as an undrafted rookie out of Michigan State in 2017. He spent most of that season on the team's practice squad before getting a December promotion to the active roster and appearing in three games. After going back to training camp in Tampa last summer, Bullough was waived/injured at the end of the preseason. He was re-signed in October and played in the Bucs' last nine games. Bullough's totals over those 12 regular season games included 15 tackles, one tackle for loss, one pass defensed and three stops on special teams.
