The Tampa Bay Buccaneers “finalized” their 2022 roster on Tuesday by making 27 different moves cutting down to 53 players. Well, kind of. I’ll explain what I mean later on. Those roster moves were as follows:

WAIVED

OLB Andre Anthony (R)

OLB Jordan Young (R)

ILB JJ Russell (R)

K Jose Borregales

T Dylan Cook

OL Sadarius Hutcherson

S Nolan Turner (R)

S Chris Cooper

CB Don Gardner (R)

CB Kyler McMichael (R)

OL John Molchon

TE JJ Howland (R)

WR Jerreth Sterns (R)

WR Deven Thompkins (R)

WR Kaylon Geiger (R)

WR Tyler Johnson

DL Mike Greene

DL Benning Potoa’e

DL Willington Previlon

RB Patrick Laird

WAIVED INJURED

OLB Elijah Ponder

RELEASED

DL Deadrin Senat

S Logan Ryan

QB Ryan Griffin

OLB Genard Avery

INJURED RESERVE

CB Rashard Robinson

TRADED

ILB Grant Stuard

So for now, here’s their official 53-man roster:

QB (3) – Tom Brady, Blaine Gabbert, Kyle Trask

RB (4) – Leonard Fournette, Ke’Shawn Vaughn, Rachaad White (R), Giovanni Bernard

WR (7) – Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Julio Jones, Russell Gage, Jaelon Darden, Breshad Perriman, Scotty Miller

TE (4) – Kyle Rudolph, Cam Brate, Cade Otton (R), Ko Kieft (R)

OL (10) – Donovan Smith, Luke Goedeke (R), Ryan Jensen, Shaq Mason, Tristan Wirfs, Robert Hainsey, Nick Leverett, Josh Wells, Fred Johnson, Brandon Walton

DL (6) – Vita Vea, Akiem Hicks, Will Gholston, Logan Hall (R), Rakeem Nunez-Roches, Pat O’Connor

OLB (4) – Shaq Barrett, Joe Tryon-Shoyinka, Anthony Nelson, Carl Nassib

ILB (4) – Lavonte David, Devin White, KJ Britt, Olakunle Fatukasi (R)

CB (5) – Carlton Davis III, Jamel Dean, Sean Murphy-Bunting, Zyon McCollum (R), Dee Delaney

S (3) – Antoine Winfield Jr, Mike Edwards, Keanu Neal

ST (3) – Ryan Succop, Jake Camarda (R), Zach Triner

Now that you’ve got the full picture, here’s five things that stood out to me about some of the roster moves made today, as well as the final roster itself.

1. Tyler Johnson Cut

Perhaps this is the move that surprised people the most. Everyone, including myself, expected Johnson to be among the final 53 players. Instead, he was one of the first players waived on Tuesday morning. It was a shocking decision for sure, especially after Johnson led the Bucs in receiving this pre-season. In his place, they chose to keep Breshad Perriman who was injured for most of training camp and only played limited snaps in that third pre-season game against the Colts. If Johnson makes it through waivers without being claimed, the Bucs could bring him back on the practice squad, but I’d be pretty surprised if another team doesnt pick him up. Hopefully, sometime soon, we’ll get an explanation from Jason Licht or Todd Bowles on what led to that decision. But for now at least, Johnson is on his way out of Tampa Bay.

2. Logan Ryan Released

At first, this news was disturbing. Until I realized why they did it. I saw quite a few Bucs fans panicking over this news, but the truth is that it’s actually a smart move by the Bucs. In order for Ryan Jensen to be placed on short-term injured reserve, the Bucs had to keep him on the 53-man roster initially. In order to do that, they would have to open up a roster spot. Instead of waiving one of the younger players that they want to keep around, they chose to release a vested veteran like Logan Ryan. Why does that make a difference? Because when a vested veteran is released, he doesn’t pass through waivers. Instead, he immediately becomes a free agent and can choose which team to sign with. In this case, Logan Ryan is now a free agent and the Bucs will be able to re-sign him as soon as they put Ryan Jensen on the injured reserve list today. It’s called manipulating the roster and it’s fairly common throughout the league. So fear not Bucs fans, Logan Ryan will be a Buc once again later today.

3. The Grant Stuard Trade

I was more surprised by this move than the Tyler Johnson cut. I didn’t have him making the final 53, but I did figure the Bucs would want to keep him on the practice squad. I was wrong. They traded the special teams stud to the Colts along with a 2023 seventh round pick for a 2023 sixth round pick on Tuesday. Why you might ask? Not sure exactly, but I can speculate. There’s only two reasons why Jason Licht makes that random trade. The first is simply that the Colts saw something on tape from their game Saturday that they liked about Stuard and inquired about a trade. And it could be that innocent. However, the second is to obtain draft capital for another possible trade. Maybe they’re looking for a veteran interior offensive lineman to add some depth? There’s a couple of interesting options that could be hitting the trade block including Dalton Risner from Denver and Isaiah Wynn from New England. This transaction just struck me as odd, so we’ll just have to wait and see if Jason Licht has something up his sleeve.

4. The New Guys

There will be 18 new faces on this team that weren’t in Tampa last year when its all said and done. They include eight rookies and ten free agents. That list is as follows:

ROOKIES

Logan Hall, Cade Otton, Ko Kieft, Zyon McCollum, Rachaad White, Olakunle Fatumasi, Luke Goedeke, Jake Camarda

FREE AGENTS

Russell Gage, Julio Jones, Keanu Neal, Logan Ryan, Shaq Mason, Brandon Walton, Akiem Hicks, Kyle Rudolph, Fred Johnson, Carl Nassib

5. Fatukasi Stands Alone

Olakunle Fatukasi is the ONLY undrafted free agent to make the final 53 this year. He had an impressive training camp and really flashed in all three pre-season games. In fact, he’s the one who pushed Grant Stuard on to the trade block so the Bucs must be pretty high on this kid. There were a few other UDFA’s that were close to making the cut that will almost certainly come back via the practice squad like wide receiver Deven Thompkins, inside linebacker JJ Russell, cornerback Don Gardner or safety Nolan Turner. But Fatukasi is the last man standing when it comes to the final 53 roster.