The Tampa Bay Buccaneers elevated guard Ted Larsen and quarterback Drew Stanton from their practice squad on Saturday, making both players eligible to play in Super Bowl LV on Sunday. Since the Buccaneers currently have no players on the reserve/COVID-19 list, they could only elevate a maximum of two players this weekend.
The elevation of Larsen was expected, as the Buccaneers are currently carrying only seven offensive linemen on the active roster, and both reserves are primarily offensive tackles. Teams are allowed to keep 48 players active on game day, but only if that includes eight offensive linemen, so Larsen is likely to be active for the game as well, serving as the team's primary interior-line reserve.
This is the fifth time that Larsen has been elevated from the practice squad for game day since he was signed to the practice squad on December 8. The 11th-year veteran, who has started 88 games in his NFL career, has now been added to the active roster for all four postseason games, and he played in the wins at Washington and New Orleans. Larsen is back with the team for which he saw his first career NFL action, starting 11 games for the Buccaneers as a rookie in 2010. He played four seasons in Tampa before stints with Arizona, Miami and Chicago.
This is the first time that Stanton has been elevated from the practice squad for a game. He first joined the Buccaneers on December 25 after quarterback Josh Rosen had been signed off Tampa Bay's practice squad by the San Francisco 49ers. Originally a second-round draft pick by the Detroit Lions in 2008, Stanton spent four seasons (2014-17) playing under current Buccaneers Head Coach Bruce Arians in Arizona. He had a 9-4 record as a starter for Arians' Cardinals and overall has played in 38 games with 17 starts and an 11-6 record in those starts.
The option to elevate up to two players from the practice squad for each game is new in 2020 and not related to the roster rule revisions instituted this summer to help teams deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to those two options, teams can also elevate as many additional players as they currently have on the COVID list. In the playoffs, a player can be elevated an unlimited number of times.
