T Cornell Green started eight games for the Buccaneers in 2002-03 and was a member of the Super Bowl championship team
Cornell Green, who won a Super Bowl ring with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2002, is back with the team. The Bucs, who have been searching for depth at offensive tackle due to the lingering knee injury of Torrin Tucker, re-signed the seventh-year veteran lineman on Wednesday. Green had been released by the Denver Broncos on Tuesday.
To make room for Green on the active roster, Tampa Bay released veteran quarterback Jay Fiedler. Fiedler joined the Bucs on June 29 but has been on the active/physically unable to perform list since the beginning of training camp.
The 6-6, 315-pound Green appeared in 24 games for the Buccaneers with eight starts in the 2002-03 seasons. The Bucs first acquired the Central Florida product during their 2002 training camp, sending a seventh-round draft pick to the Miami Dolphins for his rights. Green was the team's opening day starter at right tackle in 2002 and he eventually appeared in all 16 regular-season games, making three starts. He also played in all three of Tampa Bay's 2002 playoff games, including Super Bowl XXXVII, primarily on special teams.
In 2003, Green made the Bucs' 53-man roster again but was inactive for the first seven games. After injuries elsewhere on the line prompted the Bucs to move Kenyatta Walker from right tackle to left tackle, Green appeared in eight of the last nine games, making five starts at right tackle.
Green first entered the league as an undrafted free agent with the Atlanta Falcons in 1999. With the New York Jets in 2000 and most of 2001, Green was tutored by current Buccaneers Offensive Coordinator/Offensive Line Coach Bill Muir. He was on the active roster for 18 games with the Jets but inactive each weekend, and he finished the 2001 campaign on Miami's practice squad.
Since leaving the Buccaneers, Green has spent the past two seasons with the Denver Broncos. Hampered early in the 2004 season by a groin injury, he was on the active roster all year but did not see any game action. Last season, Green appeared in 14 games for the Broncos, seeing limited action at right tackle.
Green gives the Bucs an additional tackle with NFL experience behind starters Walker and Anthony Davis. With Tucker, a 2006 offseason acquisition from the Cowboys, sidelined by his knee injury, Walker and Davis have been backed up by rookie Jeremy Trueblood, first-year man Sam Lightbody and converted center Scott Jackson.
As a vested veteran, Green did not have to pass through waivers after being released by the Broncos, and he signed with the Bucs in time to join the team in Tampa on Wednesday and make the afternoon plane flight to Houston. Green could see action in Thursday night's preseason finale against the Texans.
Fiedler signed with the Buccaneers while still rehabilitating his surgically-repaired right (throwing) shoulder. He was injured in Week Three of the 2005 season while playing for the New York Jets and had surgery later in the season.
Fiedler's progress was slower than he expected and he did not appear in any practices during training camp, nor was he cleared to work with the team upon its return to Tampa. The Buccaneers already have another quarterback who is slated to return at some point this season: third-year man Luke McCown. McCown, who suffered a knee injury during a practice in June, was placed on the reserve/PUP list on Tuesday and would be eligible to return to the active roster after six weeks of the regular season have elapsed.
