The Bucs made a pair of corresponding roster moves on Friday to right-size their defense. They signed defensive back J.T. Gray to the active roster. To make room on the roster for him they also cut rookie linebacker Nick Jackson.

How J.T. Gray Can Help The Bucs

Gray is in his eighth NFL season. The Bucs are extremely familiar with him as he spent his entire career prior to this year in New Orleans with the Saints. It is there he earned a Pro Bowl nod and three All-Pro designations as a special teams player. This is where his presence on the roster makes sense. The Bucs have had trouble on special teams all year – particularly covering kickoffs. He has 90 career special teams tackles and a 9.1% missed tackle rate.

Dec 1, 2024; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; New Orleans Saints safety J.T. Gray (48) and New Orleans Saints safety Roderic Teamer (30) run downfildagainst the hduring the second half at Caesars Superdome. Credit: Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

Tampa Bay put Zyon McCollum on injured reserve earlier this week and cut safety Kaevon Merriweather, so Gray provides also provides depth in the secondary. For his career, Gray has 104 tackles, one tackle for loss, a pass deflection, a forced fumble and three fumble recoveries.

Nick Jackson

Jackson, an undrafted free agent linebacker out of Iowa, was one of the stars of the preseason for Tampa Bay this year. He recorded two sacks and an interception over three games and was expected by many to make the final 53-man roster. Instead, the Bucs cut him and signed him to their practice squad where he stayed for most of the season.

Bucs ILB Nick Jackson – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Jackson was elevated from the practice squad twice, in weeks 10 and 11, before Tamps Bay signed him to the active roster on December 9th. His biggest stretch of work came in week 15 when he logged 18 defensive snaps in an overall poor defensive effort from the Bucs. For his part, he recorded an assisted tackle and was targeted once in coverage, allowing a catch for 16 yards.

The Bucs have struggled mightily at linebacker this year and Jackso had an opportunity to carve out a role with a strong performance last week but failed to take full advantage of that opportunity. There is a good chance the team will re-sign him to the practice squad once he clears waivers.