A day before taking on the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers made a change to their offensive line depth.
Second-year offensive tackle Reid Fragel was promoted from the Buccaneers' practice squad to the active roster on Saturday. To make room for Fragel, the team released second-year guard Matthew Masifilo.
The Buccaneers may have to test that depth on Sunday against the Jaguars. Starting center Evan Smith is not expected to play, missing his third straight game due to an ankle sprain. Starting left guard Logan Mankins missed practice on Thursday and Friday after suffering a groin strain during Wednesday's field session. Mankins was listed as "questionable" for the game on Friday's injury report.
This is the second time in less than two weeks that the Buccaneers have promoted Fragel. On Wednesday prior to their Week Four contest against Carolina, the team moved him up from the practice squad to the 53-man roster. However, a day before the Carolina game, the Buccaneers waived Fragel in order to promote rookie cornerback Jude Adjei-Barimah.
Fragel (6-8, 308) first joined the Buccaneers as a waiver claim from Atlanta a few days after the 2015 NFL Draft. He started Tampa Bay's last three preseason games at right tackle after an injury to Demar Dotson and actually made it to the initial 53-man roster after the final round of mandated cuts on September 5. However, Fragel was then waived the next day when the team claimed five new players off the wire, then signed to the practice squad.
Masifilo, who converted from defensive tackle to the offensive line during the 2015 offseason, had been on the active roster since the beginning of the season. He was active for Games One and Four against Tennessee and Carolina, respectively. Masifilo had been with the Buccaneers since they signed him off the San Francisco 49ers' practice squad in November of 2012. He made the conversion to offense after spending most of the 2013 and 2014 seasons on Tampa Bay's practice squad.
