The Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost a game they could not afford to drop to the New Orleans Saints in Week 14, which led to a significant roster move on Monday.
Tampa dropped into a tie with the Carolina Panthers at the top of the NFC South division and would fail to earn a playoff spot as a wildcard were the postseason to begin today. The Bucs have lost four of their last five outings and need to stop the bleeding if they hope to hold off Carolina and win the division for the fifth consecutive season.
The team enlisted reinforcements on Monday, reuniting with three-time Pro Bowl pass-rusher Jason Pierre-Paul for the stretch run.
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“Reunion: Veteran edge Jason Pierre-Paul is signing with the #Bucs practice squad after working out today, his agents @iangrutman and @david_benzaken of @gseworldwide told The Insiders,” Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reported via X. “Back on the field at age 36.”
Pierre-Paul has not played in the NFL since appearing in just three games in 2023. His last Pro Bowl season came in 2020, after which the Bucs captured the Super Bowl with Tom Brady as their quarterback.
So while it has been quite some time since Pierre-Paul was a dominant force in the league, he will add situational pass-rush depth to the defense as well as veteran leadership in the locker room. Pierre-Paul has tallied 127 tackles for loss and 94.5 sacks across his 14-year professional career (182 games).
The Buccaneers currently hold the No. 4 seed in the NFC playoff picture and have a 71% chance to make the field, while the Panthers’ odds of playing in the postseason are 30 percent with four games to play. That said, the two teams have yet to square off this season and play twice down the stretch, once in Week 16 and again in Week 18.
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