Bengals
A week is a long time on an NFL roster, and Tampa Bay's has barely stopped moving since final cuts. Between a waiver claim, two rounds of practice squad signings, and one release with an injury designation, the Buccaneers reshaped the group behind their 53 man roster in the days before the trip to Cincinnati. Here is everything that changed, and why it happened.
A waiver swap at cornerback
On September 1, the Buccaneers claimed cornerback Kevin Knowles off waivers from the Kansas City Chiefs, a day after the Chiefs released him in their own roster trimming. Knowles, a Florida State product who went undrafted in 2025, had made Kansas City's initial 53 man roster and appeared in 13 games as a rookie, working mostly as a special teamer and gunner on punt coverage. To create the spot, Tampa Bay waived rookie inside linebacker Caden Fordham, an undrafted signee out of NC State who had made the initial 53, only to be let go after a single day on the active roster once the depth behind him, led by Alex Anzalone, Josiah Trotter, Christian Rozeboom and SirVocea Dennis, made him expendable there.
Murphy-Bunting comes home
The bigger name returned to the practice squad rather than the 53. Sean Murphy-Bunting, the cornerback Tampa Bay drafted 39th overall out of Central Michigan in 2019, signed back to the Buccaneers on September 2 after the Arizona Cardinals released him in their own cutdown. Murphy-Bunting spent four seasons in Tampa from 2019 through 2022 and was part of the Super Bowl LV winning roster that beat Kansas City 31-9 in February 2021, becoming the first Buccaneer ever to intercept a pass in three straight playoff games that postseason. He left in free agency after 2022, started 14 games for Tennessee in 2023, then started all 15 games he played for Arizona in 2024 with three interceptions, before tearing his ACL in a May 2025 practice and missing the entire season on injured reserve. He now returns as a depth and special teams option while he works back from that injury.
The same wave added tight end C.J. Dippre, an undrafted 2024 signee out of Alabama most recently in New England's camp, and safety Silas Walters, an undrafted rookie out of Miami of Ohio briefly with the Baltimore Ravens before Tampa Bay picked him up.
Jackson in, Houston out
A little earlier, on August 26, the Buccaneers signed wide receiver and return specialist Jha'Quan Jackson, a 2024 sixth round pick of the Titans who had bounced through New Orleans' practice squad, the UFL's St. Louis Battlehawks and Houston's training camp before Tampa Bay picked him up two days after the Texans released him. Jackson made Tampa Bay's active roster and remains on it heading into Week 1. His arrival came with a corresponding release: wide receiver Dennis Houston was waived with an injury designation the same day, after a groin injury in the second preseason game against Kansas City limited him to two catches for 23 yards.
A German lineman, and why he does not count against the numbers
Offensive tackle Paul Rubelt, signed as an undrafted free agent out of UCF in May, occupies a different kind of roster spot entirely. Rubelt grew up in Frankfurt (Oder), Germany, on the Polish border, and first saw American football during a high school exchange year in Illinois before starting 10 of 11 games at left tackle for UCF in 2025. He is Tampa Bay's participant in the NFL's International Player Pathway program, which gives every club one exemption to carry a qualifying international player without it counting against the roster limit. During the season, that exemption becomes a 17th practice squad spot reserved for an international player, on top of the usual 16, a reminder that this roster exercise has a direct pipeline back to Europe.
How a practice squad actually works
For readers new to the sport: a practice squad is not the 53 man roster that dresses on game day. It is a separate group of up to 16 players (17 with an international exemption player like Rubelt) who practice with the team and can be signed away by any other club at any time, but who do not play unless called up. Teams can elevate a practice squad player to the active roster for a single game up to three times a season without a corresponding roster move; after a third elevation, that player must be added to the 53 outright to play again. It is how Tampa Bay quietly builds depth without touching its active roster.
None of these moves rewrites Tampa Bay's Week 1 plan on its own. But between an in season waiver claim, a returning Super Bowl champion, and a homegrown pipeline from Germany, the roster behind the 53 man roster looks considerably deeper than it did on cutdown weekend. The full group is listed on the Buccaneers roster page.
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