The Tampa Bay Buccaneers Players in the Most Danger of Being Cut
Newsweek · C · trust 46/100
0 Share Newsweek is a Trust Project member See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. Training camp is officially underway for several NFL teams while others will be easing into camp throughout the next week.
The Arizona Cardinals and Carolina Panthers kick off the 2026 preseason with their Hall of Fame Game clash on Thursday, Aug. 6 on NBC, and Week 1 of the preseason officially kicks off the following week on Aug. 13.
As we count down the days until the start of the NFL regular season — which kicks off with a Super Bowl LX rematch between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots on “Sunday Night Football” on Sept. 9 — we continue to look at key offseason storylines for each of the league’s 32 teams.
This week, we’re looking as the players most in danger of being cut during the preseason, and we’ve arrived at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers .
Despite losing Mike Evans to the San Francisco 49ers in free agency, the Buccaneers are actually in a pretty good spot with their wide receiver corps.
Emeka Egbuka and Chris Godwin Jr. are the unquestioned WR1 and WR2, and many are expecting a big step forward from Jalen McMillan, who had 37 catches, 461 yards, and eight touchdowns two years ago as a rookie (he was injured and played in just four games last year).
Tez Johnson is another WR that could play a significant role with more reps to go around. He caught 28 passes for 322 yards and five touchdowns as a rookie last year. With the top four spots spoken for, that leaves Ted Hurst III, Kameron Johnson, David Sills V, Garrett Greene, Dennis Houston, Dean Patterson, and Eric Rivers Jr. competing for one, maybe two spots.
Hurst is a rookie who the Bucs are high on, so he gets the nod here. If there is a sixth WR spot open, my money is on Johnson, who has an edge over the others because of his kick and punt return ability. Sills is a solid veteran, but I doubt he wins the numbers game this year.
Tampa wasn’t a bad pass-rushing team last year, but the problem was Yaya Diaby and Vita Vea carried the load for most of the year. And with Vea recently requesting a trade, the Bucs could lose a big piece of their front seven.
Elijah Roberts, Chris Braswell, and Sirvocea Dennis are all solid contributors, but none have double-digit sack potential, which is why Tampa grabbed Miami edge-rusher Rueben Bain Jr. in the first round of April’s draft.
With Bain and Diaby locking down both edges, and Roberts, Braswell, and Dennis backing them up, there doesn’t seem to be room for David Walker, who didn’t play last year after being drafted in the fourth round.
Antoine Winfield Jr. and Tykee Smith are the Bucs’ starting safeties, and behind them will be some stiff competition with Miles Killebrew, Marcus Banks, Ja’Qurious Conley, J.J. Roberts, and Rashad Wisdom all vying for a limited number of spots.
Killebrew has been around for a while (a decade, in fact), but his best years are clearly behind him. At 33, I just don’t see him fending off younger, hungrier players like Banks or Wisdom.
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