The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are officially done with the 2025 NFL Draft and the subsequent undrafted free agent signing process. Now, the roster stands at 93 players (once UDFA deals are finalized and excluding IPP player Lorenz Metz) as the team heads into the most important parts of the offseason.
Yes, you read that correctly: The Bucs are currently three players over the NFL's 90-man roster limit, so they're going to have to cut that many guys in order to follow league rules.
Below are four names that make the most sense as we exit draft weekend and head into OTAs/minicamp season. I'm going to try and avoid low-hanging fruit, but that'll be hard considering we have yet to even go through rookie minicamp, yet.
1. WR Dennis Houston
The Bucs' receiver room is absolutely stacked, so one could make a case for any receiver not named Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Jalen McMillan, and Emeka Egbuka. Of all the receivers that aren't rookies or UDFAs, Houston is the outcast of the bunch. He spent last year in Dallas and the others have been in the Bucs offense for an extended period of time.
Houston only played 13 special teams snaps last year, so it remains to be seen how he makes this roster. Right now, staying on the roster just doesn't seem feasible, especially since he doesn't really play teams.
2. OT Garret Greenfield
The Bucs have their starters at tackle set in Tristan Wirfs and Luke Goedeke and then the swing tackle job is Charlie Heck's to lose, so just about anyone vying for a tackle job on this roster is a cut candidate. Greenfield, like Houston, is the odd man out based off his lack of knowledge and familiarity involved with the Bucs offense.
He's a big dude at 6-foot-6, 310 pounds, but he's bounced around practice squads throughout the early part of his career and unfortunately, he probably won't have a shot at making the Bucs' practice squad in 2025.
3. CB Josh Hayes
With all due respect, Hayes is a liability on the field. He allowed four touchdowns in three regular season starts and then allowed a touchdown in the playoff loss to the Washington Commanders. In his defense, he's a special teams player before he's a cornerback. But even then, he recorded as many misses (3) on special teams as he did solo tackles (3) in 2024. He's a below-average player, there, as well.
The Bucs know what he can do at this point and it isn't much, to be frank. They're better off using his roster spot on someone else that has a better shot of providing better snaps on either side of the ball whether it be offense, defense, or special teams. Especially now that the cornerback room is a lot more settled after the draft.
4. LB Daniel Grzesiak
The linebacker room is as crowded and it's filled with guys the Bucs like and are familiar with. That leaves Grzesiak on the outside looking in.
The key with all the current guys in this position group is Tampa Bay likes something about each one to the point where they've been able to stick around and find their way onto the 53-man roster, and even the playing field, at some point. Therefore, the Bucs' time is better spent coaching these guys up and making them better than it is on trying to see if Grzesiak can work his way up from the very bottom of the roster.
