After struggling terribly last game on defense, especially in the secondary, the Bucs have signed cornerback Don Gardner to their practice squad, per Greg Auman of Fox Sports. Auman also reported that Tampa Bay has placed rookie offensive tackle Silas Dzansi on injured reserve, opening up a spot for Gardner.

Bucs CB Don Gardner – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Gardner was on the Bucs’ practice squad last season and was able to get in one game. He was making some plays during this year’s training camp as well, but succumbed to an injury that ended up getting him waived by the team.

The Bucs had a couple of injuries to their secondary in a 39-37 loss to the Texans in Week 9. Cornerbacks Jamel Dean and Josh Hayes both exited the game with a concussion. That left the Bucs with just Carlton Davis III, Zyon McCollum and Dee Delaney, who was also playing safety as well.

It remains to be seen whether or not either player will be ready for Sunday’s game against the Titans, but Gardner may get called up to the roster over the weekend. McCollum, who’s already started for Davis and Dean at points this season, would start, but you need to other players to back him up. Tampa Bay also has corner Keenan Isaac and Derrek Pitts on the practice squad who could be options as well

Update On Bucs’ CBs

The Bucs returned to practice on Wednesday, which gave us an opportunity to check the availability of Dean and Hayes. Dean initially warmed up with the team but then ran individually on a separate field with trainers. Hayes watched practice but didn’t participate in any capacity.

Bucs LB Lavonte David and CB Jamel Dean and Bears WR DJ Moore – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Regardless of their availability or whether a practice squad player gets called up for the next game, the Bucs’ secondary has to fix a lot of flaws. Week in and week out there have been busted coverages that Todd Bowles has chalked up to communication problems. But this week Bowles finally admitted that some their players just need to perform better.

“It’s really not all communication, some people are just busting,” Bowles said on Monday. “It’s as simple as that. We’re saying communication and we’re putting a bow on it, but certain people got to play better. It’s really that simple, it’s not even a communication issue for the most part. It wasn’t yesterday.

“We just got to play better. We can say it’s communication all we want, some things don’t even require communication, it requires playing better. And things they’ve done a million times, they just got to do it.”