3 Tampa Bay Buccaneers players that could be cut before Week 1

Tampa Bay Buccaneers cut candidate no. 1: Bradley Pinion, P

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers haven’t really had to worry about their punter position the last handful of seasons as Bradley Pinion has been holding down the fort for all but a couple of games since 2019.

He punted for the Buccaneers in the Super Bowl and helped them get the victory over the Kansas City Chiefs in that game, but also has been this team’s kickoff specialist.

Unfortunately, Pinion ranked dead last in the 2021 season in average yards per punt, and was in the middle of the pack with kicks inside the 20-yard line.

The Buccaneers obviously felt a pattern was developing here because they made a rather substantial investment in the punter position during the 2022 offseason.

Tampa Bay used a fourth-round pick on former Georgia punter Jake Camarda, the former SEC special teams player of the year and one of the most coveted special teams players in a relatively loaded 2022 NFL Draft class.

You don’t draft a punter in the fourth round if you don’t intend on keeping him on the active roster.

Unfortunately, this likely spells the end for Pinion with the Buccaneers, who are holding onto him at this point to perhaps get some trade value if another team’s punting situation just flat out stinks, or maybe Camarda falls flat on his face in the offseason.

It’s not often that a punter getting let go would be big news, but Pinion has been a special teams captain and big contributor for some really good Bucs teams.