OTAs, mini-camp, training camp and the preseason – it’s all over for the Bucs. Now, before they can shift their attention to their Sept. 8 regular season opener at home against the Commanders, they have some tough decisions to make. Tampa Bay, like every other NFL team, has to cut down its roster to 53 players come Tuesday. From there, the team can start assembling its practice squad.

“It’s going to be [really] tough, and the worst thing you can do as a coach is try to ruin somebody’s dream,” Bucs head coach Todd Bowles said after Friday’s preseason finale. “You know, nobody wants to be told that, but there are a lot of avenues, as I told them, to get back in this league. There’s practice squad, there’s other teams, there’s USFL, there’s Canadian Football. People look all the time and people get injured and you want to call back people and so to put things on tape, not just for our team but for every other team in every other league, is important.”

Every team has hard decisions to make when it comes time to construct the final 53-man roster out of training camp. The Bucs are no different, as they’ve seen some unheralded players elevate their respective stocks as the summer has gone on. And now that the preseason is over, there are a few positions where Tampa Bay’s toughest decisions lie.

Some Of The Bucs’ Toughest Cuts Will Come Along The Defensive Line

Bucs DT C.J. Brewer – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The Bucs have done an outstanding job collecting talent in the trenches, and while the offensive line room has largely worked itself out by now, it’s the defensive line group where some of the hardest decisions will have to be made. The room is led by Vita Vea, Calijah Kancey and Logan Hall – that much is known. But the depth spots have been up for grabs all summer, and now it’s time for Tampa Bay to finalize its group heading into the season.

C.J. Brewer and Earnest Brown IV were two young standouts who finished up their impressive camps and strong preseason showings in Friday night’s win over the Dolphins. Brewer had a quarterback hit, a tackle for loss and a pass breakup to follow a good performance last Saturday in Jacksonville, while Brown made some plays Friday night as well with a pass breakup and a near sack-fumble.

“They played tough. They showed up all camp,” Bowles said Friday night. “That’s going to be a spot that’s going to have some tough decisions made, and you know, we have to look at the tape.”

Lwal Uguak is another one who deserves some consideration along the defensive line, as he has flashed at times and came up with a sack against the Jaguars last week before picking up another tackle for loss against the Dolphins. Brewer, Brown and Uguak have all made things really tough on the Bucs brass over the next few days, and that’s even without factoring in a couple of other players who will garner some thought.

Bucs DL Will Gholston Photo by: USA Today

Mike Greene is someone the Bucs have developed over the years, but he may be on the outside looking in right now. Still, he’ll get some consideration.

And then there’s the case of Will Gholston.

The longtime Buc has remained a great presence in the locker room and knows Bowles’ defense well, and he can still offer some value as a rotational piece. But will Tampa Bay want to go younger on the defensive line and invest in guys like Brewer, Brown or Uguak? Would they do so at the expense of a guy like Gholston, who has a special place in the team’s history and has been a mainstay in the locker room since 2013?

No one will envy the team’s decision-makers at any point during the roster cutdown process, but perhaps that’s especially the case when the group is discussing what to do at defensive line. In Friday’s SR’s Fab 5, Pewter Report’s Scott Reynolds projected Brewer and Gholston to stick.

We’ll soon see if Brown or Uguak have done enough to disrupt that projection.

Bucs Have Seen A Couple Of Safeties Make Late Pushes For Roster Spots

Bucs DB Marcus Banks – Photo by: USA Today

Safety hasn’t really been much of a question mark for the Bucs considering they have Antoine Winfield Jr., Jordan Whitehead and presumably Kaevon Merriweather locked in. Plus, Tavierre Thomas is a near-lock as well and has cross-trained at safety, can play nickel cornerback and is a core special teamer.

But Tampa Bay has had a couple of young safeties emerge and make a late push in recent weeks. Both Marcus Banks and Rashad Wisdom have shown enough to warrant consideration for a potential roster spot. At the very least, they have shown enough to be very strong practice squad candidates who the team could develop behind the scenes this year.

There’s also the matter of Christian Izien, who no longer feels like a certainty to make the roster. After being the Bucs’ starting nickel cornerback last year, Izien always seemed likely to be replaced when the team signed Thomas and drafted Tykee Smith in the third round. Smith is expected to be the starting nickel this year, so Izien was seeing more time as a backup safety during camp.

But it wasn’t the best camp for Izien, and the fact that he missed this past week with an injury didn’t help. Between last year and the offseason, he may have done just enough for the team to keep him around. But whether another safety unseats him or he falls victim to the numbers game as the team uses “his” spot on another position group, Izien could be one of the bigger surprise cuts when the Bucs narrow down the roster to 53.

Time will tell, but solving the puzzle and finding roster and/or practice squad spots for Banks, Wisdom and Izien is sure to be challenging.

Recent Developments May Make For Easier Decisions At Wide Receiver

Bucs WR Rakim Jarrett Photo By: Cliff Welch/PR

Wide receiver has been one of the Bucs’ most stacked position groups since the summer, and veteran Chris Godwin wasn’t wrong when he said last week that there might be 10 guys in their room who could realistically make the team. Throughout camp and the preseason, a whole lot of receivers have stepped up and made their cases known to either end up on the 53-man roster or the practice squad.

But right now, the decisions at wide receiver may not be as tough as they once might’ve been. While it’s not fair to ever say that a player’s injury is a good thing, a recent development may have made things a little easier on the Bucs as they start to round out their receiving corps.

That’s because Rakim Jarrett, who has long been presumed to be among the final group come time for the roster decisions to be made, recently picked up an injury. Bowles said after Friday’s game that the second-year receiver out of Maryland will not be ready for the start of the regular season.

And this year, a new NFL rule allows teams to put two players on injured reserve prior to the roster cutdown without losing them for the season. Previously, teams had to first cut their rosters down to 53 players before placing someone on short-term injured reserve. Otherwise, if a player was placed on injured reserve prior to the final cuts, they were on season-long IR.

Bucs WR Cody Thompson – Photo by: USA Today

So, the Bucs could presumably stash Jarrett on short-term IR without losing him for the whole season. And that would allow them to delay a tough decision at wide receiver by ensuring that they can keep both Cody Thompson and Kameron Johnson, who have both been breakouts throughout training camp.

Assuming that’s what the team does and Jarrett goes on injured reserve, they’d break camp with a receiving corps of Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Jalen McMillan, Trey Palmer, Cody Thompson, who led the Bucs again with seven catches for 45 yards, and Kameron Johnson. Ryan Miller, who had a beautiful 10-yard touchdown as well as some excellent blocking on the perimeter against Miami, will also be considered.

Although eventually whenever Jarrett is ready to be activated, they’d have to decide whether to keep seven receivers and make a cut elsewhere (which maybe isn’t out of the question given offensive coordinator Liam Coen’s tendency to deploy three receiver sets) or drop a receiver in favor of Jarrett.