Roster Gets Final Touches
September 5th, 2011
New Bucs tight end Zack Pianalto
The Bucs snagged an undrafted tight end and named their practice squad today in what could be the final roster moves before opening day.
First, the two guys booted from the roster are cornerback D.J. Johnson and defensive George Johnson. Tough break, fellas. Joe feels for you. The new TE is rookie Zack Pianalto, per Buccaneers.com.
The 6-4, 250-pound Pianalto is a rookie who signed with the Bills as an undrafted free agent in July out of the University of North Carolina. In three preseason games this summer he caught six passes for 59 yards, with a long of 23. The Bills originally retained Pianalto on their 53-man roster during Saturday’s cut-down, but then released him on Sunday, and the Buccaneers put in a successful claim.
You can see Pianalto make a big catch in the Bills’ final preseason game against the Lions in this video from NFL.com. It’s late in the video, after some guy named Megatron catches a deep ball and Maurice Stovall scores the Lions’ opening touchdown.
Bucs seventh round pick in 2011, TE Daniel Hardy, will hang around on the practice squad.
In addition, Tampa Bay formed its first practice squad of the 2011 season, signing eight players, all of whom were with the team in training camp. Though the practice squad remains fluid throughout the season and could change at any time, the first iteration includes the following players: safety Ahmad Black, tackle Will Barker, quarterback Rudy Carpenter, tight end Collin Franklin, wide receiver Ed Gant, tight end Daniel Hardy, running back Mossis Madu and linebacker Derrell Smith.
No real new names there. And if Mark Dominik is finished, on paper that’s not much of a “second draft.” Though Joe would hardly wager that Dominik is through now and for the rest the season.
September 6th, 2011 at 12:32 am
Video not available again Joe??
September 6th, 2011 at 12:42 am
I can easily see Ahmad Black getting poached.
September 6th, 2011 at 12:43 am
“No real new names there. And if Mark Dominik is finished, on paper that’s not much of a “second draft.” Though Joe would hardly wager that Dominik is through now and for the rest the season.”
There comes a point where you have been successful enough in your personnel moves the past couple seasons that you no longer have worry too much about sifting through the NFL scrap heap. The Bucs are at the point where the back end of their roster is more talented than the cuts going on around the league.
September 6th, 2011 at 1:19 am
marks:
If you are referring to the NFL.com video in the link, three things:
1) Joe’s having no issue with the video.
2) The video is NFL.com’s, not Joe’s.
3) Videos are not like text-only webpages, they take time to load. Sometimes you may have to hit refresh a couple of times. If you are receiving “video not available” it very likely means you are trying to access the video before it has had ample to time to load.
September 6th, 2011 at 1:57 am
I am pleased Tampa kept Gant and Madu.
September 6th, 2011 at 2:50 am
Since the draft ended, I’ve seen so many people talking about Mario Harvey. I know he signed with the Steelers, but ended up getting cut. Just curious if anyone knows where he wound up….if he’s on Pittsburgh’s practice squad, if another team scooped him up, or if he’s still available.
I’d like to see either him or George Johnson brought to the practice squad. Possibly Collin Franklin getting let go….but with Winslow and Pianalto having lengthy injury histories and Stocker having hip issues, maybe keeping 2 TEs on the practice squad isn’t a terrible idea.
September 6th, 2011 at 6:05 am
Mario Harvey has been signed by nobody. He barely played in training camp as the most of his time he was nursing a leg injury (can’t remember if it was quad or knee). Teams might be waiting until he is 100% before they give him another shot.
I’m a little surprised to see that Simoni Lawrence isn’t on ours or some other practice squad. He looked fantastic in preseason.
September 6th, 2011 at 7:19 am
So they put Hardy a 7th round pick who did well in preseason on the prctice squad, yet sign an undrafted TE from another team. Why didn’t they just draft this guy in the 7th vs Hardy?
September 6th, 2011 at 7:38 am
Im still holding my breath for a real 3RD DOWN RB. I’m sorry until I’m proved wrong the Bucs have failed this position personnel wise.
September 6th, 2011 at 8:16 am
George Johnson needs to be put on PS.
@Tampa—>Baaaayyyy
During the draft, how would they know which is better? Besides, they ended up with both, right?
September 6th, 2011 at 8:25 am
Could be wrong here, but I think I read somewhere that there’s a rule change that states we have to put anyone from another team’s practice squad has to be placed on the roster. It’s seemingly a direct responce to the player we poached from a practice squad last year & ppissed the coach off royally.
September 6th, 2011 at 8:26 am
“we have to put anyone from another team’s practice squad has to be placed on the roster”
Sorry for the bad english
September 6th, 2011 at 8:46 am
I have to echo others that I don’t like our back up RB postion, I would have like a keiland williams in here for depth…has upside, has produced in the nfl, is young, can catch and pass protect…and he signed with the lions immediatly after his release.
In the absence of a solid RB being brought in maybe a FB, so that EG can move back to a full time running back to stay fresh for 3rd downs… we use a fullback regularly but don’t have a good one…
September 6th, 2011 at 9:06 am
Fritz50, There is a rule on this, but I incorrectly stated that this may have been in response to our acquisition of Dez Briscoe and was appropriately corrected by BamBamBuc that this was not the case. Briscoe had cleared waivers and was a free agent when we offered him the rookie minimum to sign with us instead of the Bengals. This is entirely legal under the rules. If he was already on the Bengals PS, the rule would apply as you suggest. You may want to read the rules for your own interpretation. http://www.prideofdetroit.com/2011/8/31/2396748/nfl-practice-squad-salary-rules-eligibility
September 6th, 2011 at 10:02 am
i guess hardy was ok for us to make roster, well, time will tell
September 6th, 2011 at 10:20 am
They added the TE and LB we needed. Looks like Joe is right. Think that’s about it it for this years roster. Two rookie TEs behind Winslow is a lil unnerving.
We lost a lot of Vets( Caddy, Gilmore, Stovall, Ruud), and picked up a punter. I like most of our players- it’s a great young team! But still think there are areas we should have upgraded- we still have plenty of money.
Time will tell. But this is Dominick’s team now. No more excuses or blaming The last Staff. We have either overcome that, or had the opportunity to overcome. The Rockstar needs to put in a star performance this year!
September 6th, 2011 at 11:12 am
Great Practice Squad,they kept every player I wanted them to keep.
GO BUCS!!!!
September 6th, 2011 at 1:32 pm
The main thing that bugs me about the roster is the lack of a replacement for Ronde Barber. With this being his last year, I really hope they don’t plan to stick a rookie in there next year. We should have been prepping someone this year.