LS Andrew Economos spent the entire 2005 season on Jacksonville's practice squad
With veteran tight end Dave Moore ruled out of Sunday's game due to a rib injury, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers elected to activate first-year long-snapper Andrew Economos from the practice squad on Saturday.
To make room for Economos on the 53-man roster, the Buccaneers released second-year offensive lineman Scott Jackson.
Presumably, Economos will handle all the punt and placekick snapping duties usually performed by Moore. The Bucs had contemplated staying pat and using tight end Doug Jolley in that role – Jolley handled those duties after Moore was injured in the season opener – but eventually chose to activate the recently-signed specialist.
Economos first joined the Buccaneers on Wednesday when he was signed to the practice squad. That allowed him to fill in for Moore and demonstrate his effectiveness in that role on the practice field. However, he had to be signed to the active roster by Saturday in order to play in Sunday's game.
If Economos does play on Sunday against the Falcons, he will be making his NFL debut in his hometown. He was a three-sport standout at Marist High in Atlanta, playing linebacker and defensive end for the football team.
Economos spent his entire rookie season on the Jacksonville Jaguars' practice squad after being signed as a college free agent following the 2005 NFL Draft. He went to camp with the Jaguars again this season but was unable to unseat veteran snapper Joe Zelenka, considered one of the best in the league at that job.
The 6-1, 250-pound Economos was a three-year letterman at Georgia Tech, assuming all the snapping duties from 2002-04.
Jackson started the season on the Bucs' practice squad but was signed to the active roster before last Sunday's opener, as the team was forced to deactivate its starting offensive guards, Davin Joseph and Dan Buenning, due to injuries. He split the 2005 season between Tampa Bay's practice squad and active roster and spent all of his 2004 rookie season on the practice squad. Jackson first joined the Bucs as an undrafted free agent out of BYU.
