Brindza, Humphries make their case to stick aroundGreg Auman, Times Staff WriterThursday, September 3, 2015 8:50pm
Adam HumphriesMIAMI -- On a night that had jobs on the line, a pair of undrafted rookies made strong cases on Thursday night to stick around with the Bucs, with kicker Kyle Brindza and receiver Adam Humphries shining in the first half.Brindza, acquired this week from Detroit for TE Tim Wright, was given a chance to take the kicking job away from veterans Patrick Murray and Connor Barth, and did so emphatically. The former Notre Dame kicker connected on field goals of 57 and 55 yards, and consistently put his kickoffs into the back half of the end zone, perhaps securing another job.Humphries, a rookie from Clemson, got all the first-half looks on punt returns, taking one for 9 yards, but made a bigger impact on offense, where he caught a 4-yard touchdown pass from Mike Glennon. At one point, the entire offense had 75 yards and he had 62 on his four catches. Humphries' strong showing could push him onto the roster, perhaps at the expense of sixth-round pick Kaelin Clay, who was limited by a rib injury this week.Humphries wasn't the only undrafted rookie receiver making a splash -- UCF's Rannell Hall had three catches fo 37 yards, and Heidelberg's Donteea Dye had two for 36 yards. Together, the three rookies combined for nine of the team's 11 first-half catches, and 135 of the team's 166 yards of total offense.
