On Saturday, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers activated safety Marcus Banks from the practice squad, making him eligible to play against the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium on Sunday night.
The Buccaneers may be looking for help on special teams with the elevation of Banks, who could make his NFL regular-season debut. Tampa Bay's kickoff coverage squad struggled in a Week 11 loss at Buffalo, allowing 234 yards on six returns.
Banks re-signed with the Buccaneers on Tuesday. He had landed a spot on the Buccaneers' practice squad as an undrafted rookie and stayed there for the entire season before re-signing to a reserve/future contract in January. He went back to training camp in Tampa this summer but was waived/injured in the first week. After reaching an injury settlement with the team, he was not eligible to return to the Buccaneers until after the sixth game of the season.
Banks started his college career at Alabama and finished it at Mississippi State, seeing action in 49 total games with 73 tackles, five passes defensed, one interception, one fumble recovery and one defensive touchdown.
The NFL introduced the practice squad elevation option in 2020, allowing teams to activate up to two practice squad players for each game. By utilizing one such option in Week 12, the Buccaneers have increased their game day roster to 54 players for their matchup with the Rams. They will be able to keep 48 of those player active for the game, naming six inactives prior to kickoff.
Each player on the practice squad can be elevated up to three times during the regular season and an unlimited amount of times in the postseason. After the game, elevated players automatically revert to the practice squad without having to pass through waivers. This is Banks' first elevation of the season.
The practice squad elevation option was introduced as part of the new collective bargaining agreement in 2020. The new rule was something of a compromise, as it did not expand the active rosters beyond 53 players but did give teams a few more options on game days.
