Ahead of their Week 7 matchup against their divisional rival Carolina Panthers, the 1-5 Bucs are elevating just one player from their practice squad to their gameday roster, the team announced Saturday.

After placing backup linebacker Christian Rozeboom on injured reserve earlier this week due to a finger injury. It makes sense that their practice squad elevation this week would lean towards that position. The team could have elevated two players but opted for only one in Week 7.

Buccaneers Elevate Caden Fordham

Press Release: https://t.co/OdhW4CjjS9

— Buccaneers Communications (@BuccaneersComms) October 24, 2026

Bucs Elevate LB Caden Fordham

Fordham will fill in for Rozeboom as the team’s fourth linebacker. Where he will most likely have the biggest impact is on special teams. Rozeboom has been a part of the Bucs core special teams unit, logging 27 snaps on punt coverage, 25 on kick return, 23 on punt return, seven on kick coverage and two on the field goal block unit. In total, Rozeboom’s 84 total special teams snaps rank 10th on the team. His three special teams tackles are tied for sixth-most on the team with tight ends Bauer Sharp and Ko Kieft and fellow linebacker SirVocea Dennis.

Bucs ILB Caden Fordham – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

This isn’t Fordham’s first elevation this year. He was previously elevated and played in Week 4, where he played four snaps on special teams himself without earning a single production stat.

Fordham is a rookie undrafted free agent out of North Carolina State. The team signed him May 9th, 2026, two weeks after the 2026 NFL Draft. Over five seasons with the Wolfpack he tallied 252 combined tackles, 18.0 for a loss, 4.5 sacks, 1 forced fumble, 2 fumbles recovered, six passes defensed and two interceptions. His 2025 campaign was his best by far as he had 143 tackles, 10 for a loss, 3.5 sacks and both of his career interceptions.

He played extensively during the preseason this year, logging four tackles on special teams over three games and 29 snaps. He also tallied 10 tackles and five defensive stops over 12 attempts while adding a pressure over 100 defensive snaps.

Bucs Gameday Roster Decisions Tomorrow

The calculus surrounding the team’s roster decisions as it pertains to the 48 players who get a gameday hat change from the past few weeks. With quarterback Baker Mayfield officially questionable on the team’s injury report and all but guaranteed to play, Tampa Bay didn’t need to elevate practice squad quarterback Easton Stick. That helps them avoid a roster crunch issue as Stick was out of elevations and they would have had to add him to the roster or opt to elevate fellow practice squad passer Brett Rypien.

But two new starters on the offensive side of the ball join safety Antoine Winfield Jr. as ruled out for the game on Sunday. Wide receiver Emeka Egbuka, Tampa Bays leader in targets, receptions and receiving yards will miss the game with a concussion and foot injury. The team activated receiver David Sills III off of injured reserve as the corresponding move when they placed Rozeboom on injured reserve. Right tackle Luke Goedeke has a calf injury that will keep him out of the game.

Sills and offensive lineman Luke Haggard are likely to be active in the place of those two. The players most likely to not be active in addition to Egbuka, Goedeke and Winfield are guard Billy Schrauth, who has yet to be active this year, defensive lineman DeMonte Capehart, and cornerback Ayden Garnes.