The short week has kept the Bucs busy with their roster. After already waiving defensive tackle Ben Stille and signing wide receiver Sterling Shepard, Tampa Bay made more roster moves.

Unfortunately, one of them was that the Bucs placed inside linebacker SirVocea Dennis on injured reserve. To take his place, they signed inside linebacker Antonio Grier Jr. from the practice squad to the active roster. With a practice squad spot open, Tampa Bay signed inside linebacker Kalen DeLoach to it.

Bucs ILB SirVocea Dennis – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Impact On Bucs’ ILB Room

SirVocea Dennis was having a really good season platooning with K.J. Britt. Dennis had recorded 22 tackles and one sack through four games, although he exited very early in Sunday’s 33-16 win over the Eagles. Dennis injured his shoulder after five snaps on Sunday.

He also missed a lot of the preseason with a shoulder issue, though it’s not none if it’s the same one. Dennis will have to miss at least the next four games, but it sounds like he may be out even longer.

Antonio Grier Jr. played most of his college football in Tampa at USF from 2018 to 2022, then went to Arkansas in 2023. Grier signed with the Bucs as an undrafted free agent and spent all of training camp with Tampa Bay. He was waived during roster cuts in late August but signed to the practice squad two days later.

Kalen DeLoach was a high profile undrafted free agent signing by Tampa Bay as well because he played at Florida State. He was also waived during roster cuts but was not brought back in any capacity until today. That leaves DeLoach and Vi Jones as the only inside linebackers on the practice squad.

Who’s Playing Third Down?

Bucs ILB K.J. Britt and DT Calijah Kancey – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

How the Bucs want to go about formulating their defense at inside linebacker will be interesting. We know Lavonte David is going to play every single down, but what will they do with K.J. Britt? He’s been averaging 41.5 snaps on defense, but typically SirVocea Dennis would play on third down as he’s done better in pass coverage.

The Bucs will either have to trust Britt to play all three downs or they could elect for J.J. Russell or Antonio Grier to take up that responsibility. Another option that Todd Bowles and the Bucs could go with is to use a dime package, which would leave just David with a lot of defensive backs on the play.

Whichever Bowles’ chooses, he’ll have to come up with it soon. The Bucs have a Thursday night game on the road at the Falcons. It’s a really good spot to extended their lead as Tampa Bay sits in first place.