Bucs would feed recent college football chaos further with likely upcoming roster move
A current Tampa Bay rookie could be set to rejoin the college game in the coming days.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers operate outside the purview of college football, aside from drafting college players. But the Bucs could soon find themselves tangentially involved in one of college football’s most controversial trends.
Tampa Bay signed former LSU Tigers edge rusher Jack Pyburn as an undrafted free agent this spring, and the Buccaneers have watched him make a push through training camp for a back-end roster spot in their edge rusher room.
That said, despite a solid camp, Pyburn’s chances of cracking the 53-man roster remain a long shot. And according to John Blau of The Advocate in Baton Rouge, if the Bucs waive Pyburn, he will return to college and rejoin the LSU Tigers and Lane Kiffin. Pyburn is part of a group of former players who obtained an injunction in Louisiana for another season of collegiate eligibility.
“Pyburn has expressed his desire to return to college and plans to do so if the Court allows and (the Bucs) release him from his contractual obligations by September 1, 2026,” Blau cites the amended complaint to which Pyburn is a Plaintiff as reading. “If allowed another year, Pyburn plans to return to LSU.”
LSU’s growing list of NFL-to-college returnees
The LSU football program has been the center of controversy in recent weeks, receiving commitments from former college players who went to the NFL and are now heading back to the college level. That list includes former Ole Miss tight end Dae’Quan Wright and defensive lineman Zxavian Harris.
If Pyburn does not end up making Tampa Bay’s roster, he will be the next player to jump from the NFL straight back to the college field, according to court filings Blau cites in his reporting.
Tampa Bay’s roster math works against Pyburn
Right now, it seems unlikely the Bucs will carry more than five outside linebackers. And if they do, they also have Mo Kamara and Chris Braswell as potential options along with Pyburn to consider. That roster math makes it more likely than not that the Buccaneers will end up releasing Pyburn, who appears set to head right back to college football.
Just another sign of the times in the modern NIL and transfer portal era — where the line between the NFL and college football keeps blurring in ways that nobody would have believed years ago.
