According to The Athletic’s Greg Auman, the Bucs have brought back rookie kicker Jose Borregales to the practice squad on Tuesday after he passed through waivers unclaimed.

Borregales impressed during training camp, barely missing a kick while knocking in field goals from 50 and even 60 yards out. With the Bucs kicking woes over the years, it’s not much of a surprise that fans would be attracted to the strong-legged former Lou Groza winner.

Clearly hoping to keep Borregales, the team displayed some gamesmanship by waiting until the Monday of Week 1 to waive him. With the threat of COVID, Bruce Arians will again keep a kicker on the practice squad. Last season the Bucs stashed Greg Joseph on the practice squad all season, protecting him every week.

Speaking of protections on the practice squad, the Bucs have announced which players they will protect for Week 1.

This week the team has chosen to protect safety Andrew Adams, wide receiver Jaydon Mickens, tackle Brandon Walton and tight end Deon Yelder.

Each week every team can protect up to four players from the practice squad. This keeps other teams from being able to sign away those protected players. Protection starts on Tuesday and runs until after each team’s game that week until the following Tuesday. Unprotected players can choose to sign with another team’s active roster at any time, while protected players may only do so once their protection is up each week.