Outside linebacker Jason Pierre Paul has not played in an NFL game since December of 2023 and he hasn't suited up for Tampa Bay since 2021, but he is back in Buccaneer headquarters after signing to the team's practice squad on Tuesday.
The Buccaneers also placed guard Ben Bredeson on injured reserve and promoted rookie linebacker Nick Jackson from the practice squad to the active roster. Bredeson sustained a knee injury in the team's Week 14 loss to the New Orleans Saints and will now miss the remainder of the regular season as a minimum. Both of Tampa Bay's Week One starting guards are now on injured reserve, as right guard Cody Mauch landed on that list in Week Three.
Jackson originally joined the Buccaneers as an undrafted free agent out of Iowa in May. He has been on the practice squad since the start of the regular season and has played in two contests after game day elevations. His action so far has been limited to special teams, where he has logged 35 snaps and has one kick-coverage tackle. However, the Buccaneers could be thin at linebacker in Week 15 as SirVocea Dennis is dealing with a hip injury also sustained in the Saints game.
The surprise return of Pierre-Paul reunites the Buccaneers with one of their top pass-rushers from the Super Bowl LV here and one of the postseason heroes in the run to that championship after the 2020 season. Pierre-Paul spent four seasons in Tampa and racked up 33.0 sacks in just 54 regular season games. Despite his relatively short tenure with the team he is tied for 10th on the team's all-time sack list. He made his third Pro Bowl appearance after the 2020 season, in which he led the team with 9.5 sacks and added two interceptions, 14 quarterback hits, four forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries.
In six playoff games for the Buccaneers, Pierre-Paul had another 2.5 sacks, including two in the 2020 NFC Championship Game in Green Bay, plus five QB hits, three passes defensed and a fumble recovery. He was also well-known for playing a higher percentage of defensive snaps than is common for a player in an edge rush rotation. In the two seasons in which he played all 16 games in Tampa, he was on the field for 89% of the snaps in 2018 and 88% in 2020.
The Tampa Bay defense is tied for 13th in the NFL with 32 sacks overall but has recorded just seven in the last five games combined, including just three by outside linebackers. Starter Haason Reddick left Sunday's game against New Orleans with an ankle injury after recently missing four games with knee and ankle issues. Outside linebacker Yaya Diaby leads the Bucs with 6.0 sacks.
Pierre-Paul played his college football at the University of South Florida in Tampa before being drafted 15th overall by the New York Giants in 2010. He was an Associated Press first-team All-Pro by his second season, when he racked up 16.5 sacks in the regular season then helped New York advance to Super Bowl XLVI and defeat the New England Patriots, 13-7, for the franchise's most recent championship.
Pierre-Paul made his first Pro Bowl that season, as well, and finished fourth in the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year balloting. He made the Pro Bowl again in 2012. After eight years with the Giants, he was traded to the Buccaneers in March of 2018 for a third-round draft pick and a small swap of fourth-round picks in the Bucs' favor.
After his stints with the Giants and Buccaneers, Pierre-Paul signed with the Baltimore Ravens in September of 2022 and ended up starting 13 of the 14 games in which he played and recording 3.0 sacks and an interception. In 2023, he played one game for the New Orleans Saints and two for the Miami Dolphins.
