The Bucs have made a number of moves to their roster following a couple of injuries that occurred in their season opening 31-29 win over the Cowboys. Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network has reported that the Bucs have placed cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting and long snapper Zach Triner to the injured reserve list.
While adding Murphy-Bunting to injured reserve was expected after his dislocated elbow injury, the move for Triner comes as a surprise. It appears that Triner suffered a torn tendon in his finger on Thursday night that will keep him out. He has spent all three seasons of his career with the Bucs.
In need of an immediate replacement at long snapper, Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times is reporting that the Bucs have signed Carson Tinker to the active roster. After playing college football for Alabama, Tinker has been around the NFL since 2013 and most recently was on the Giants’ practice squad.
Tampa Bay also signed safety Chris Cooper back to the practice squad, per Greg Auman of The Athletic. Cooper initially made the the 53-man roster out of training camp and was on the team for Week 1, but he was waived a day after the game to make room for Andrew Adams.
Cooper, who played his college football at Stony Brook University out on Long Island, signed with the team early in training camp and made an impact on special teams during the preseason. After clearing waivers this week, Cooper rejoins the team.
He was a game day inactive in the Bucs’ 31-29 win over the Cowboys as Tampa Bay elected to call up Adams from the practice squad. Adams ended up having a big role in the game after Mike Edwards missed some defensive series , which included stopping Ezekiel Elliott on a big third-and-goal play.
With Adams’ experience in the defense from last season, the Bucs have made the decision to keep him for depth purposes over Cooper. That’s even more significant as the Bucs are missing players in the secondary with Murphy-Bunting out and Jordan Whitehead not back just yet.