The Tampa Bay Buccaneers activated safety J.J. Roberts and quarterback Easton Stick from the practice squad on Thursday afternoon, making both players eligible to suit up for the team'sWeek Five game against the Dallas Cowboys later that evening. While practice squad elevations for typical Sunday games must be submitted on Saturday afternoon, teams can make those moves on the day of the game for contests on Monday, Thursday and Friday nights.
The weekly elevation process allows teams to activate up to two practice squad players for each game. By utilizing both of those options in Week Four, the Buccaneers have increased their game day roster to 55 players for their matchup with the Packers. They will be able to keep 48 of those player active for the game, naming seven 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 the first elevation for Roberts and the second for Stick.
Stick will once again serve as the backup to rookie quarterback Jalon Daniels, who is set to make his second NFL start debut in place of Baker Mayfield, who suffered a dislocated right thumb against Minnesota in Week Three. The initial prognosis on Mayfield was that he would miss a minimum of three weeks before returning to the lineup.
Stick was signed to the Buccaneers' practice squad on August 31 but he has prior experience in Offensive Coordinator Zac Robinson's system, as the two were together last season with the Atlanta Falcons. A fifth-round pick by the Los Angeles Chargers in 2019, Stick has appeared in a total of six games with four starts, completing 111 of 174 passes (63.8%) for 1,129 yards, three touchdowns, one interception and an 85.7 passer rating.
Roberts could make his NFL regular season debut on Thursday night. He originally joined the Buccaneers as an undrafted free agent out of Marshall in 2025 and was reportedly close to earning a spot on the 53-man roster as a rookie before he suffered a knee injury in a joint practice with the Pittsburgh Steelers and was placed on season-ending injured reserve. He returned to training camp with the Bucs this summer but was still recovering from his injury and did not play in any of the team's three preseason games. Nevertheless, he still earned a spot on the practice squad to start the regular season.
Roberts played three seasons at Wake Forest before moving to Marshall for his last two collegiate campaigns. Overall, he appeared in 55 games with 28 starts and contributed 213 tackles, 6.0 tackles for loss, three interceptions, 28 passes defensed and five forced fumbles. An All-SCB first-team choice last year, Roberts led the Sun Belt with 14 a career-best 14 passes defensed while starting all 13 games in which he played.
Roberts gives the Bucs' some much-needed depth at safety on Thursday night as two-time Pro Bowler Antoine Winfield Jr. will be out due to a rib fracture. With veteran Ifeatu Melifonwu stepping into the starting lineup next to Tykee Smith, Roberts will join Miles Killebrew as backup options at the position.
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.
