Bucs sign four tryout players from rookie minicamp
Sports are one of those things that can be majestic. As much as fans love to watch greatness and cheer on championship performances, they also love a great underdog story. And that's part of what makes the offseason camps interesting. Players who failed to realize their dreams of hearing their names called in the NFL […]
Sports are one of those things that can be majestic. As much as fans love to watch greatness and cheer on championship performances, they also love a great underdog story.
And that's part of what makes the offseason camps interesting. Players who failed to realize their dreams of hearing their names called in the NFL Draft are fighting and scrapping for a chance to even have a chance to prove themselves in fall camp. It's the first part of a multi-tiered process in their hopes of making a final NFL roster.
And it was no different in Tampa last weekend. 27 players participated in the team's rookie minicamp on tryout contracts. They took their first step in trying to find what former tryout players Cameron Brate, Adam Humphries, and Mike Greene did: their name on the locker room at One Buc Place.
And at least four will have that opportunity. Out of the 27, the Bucs signed WR David Moore, OLB Markees Watts, DL C.J. Brewer, and S Kedrick Whitehead, per the Bucs and Brewer's agent.
As Rob Leeds noted, Moore is an experienced NFL veteran with 78 catches through 5 NFL season. That kind of experience isn't found in your typical NFL rookie camps, so the ceiling is there for the Bucs to find a quality backup to their top 3 wide receivers.
Watts, a 6'0", 234-pound outside linebacker out of Charlotte, has the potential to be a pass-rushing specialist and situational OLB depth player. His 21.5 career sacks at Charlotte backup his physical strengths.
Brewer went undrafted in the 2022 NFL Draft, but earned a practice squad spot in Buffalo and was called up and saw game experience twice last season. He just finished up his first XFL season with the Houston Roughnecks, where he recorded 2.5 sacks and a fumble recovery.
Whitehead had a Tampa Bay connection coming into camp… at least tangentially. He played high school football for Chris Godwin's father-in-law at Middletown High School in Delaware, per Auman. Whitehead was a 2022 AFCA first-team FCS All-American at Delaware.
The road ahead is long for these four players to make the final 53-man roster, but all showed something the Bucs valued last weekend.
