The string of NFL cuts has been a lengthy one recently with teams trying to get down to a 53-man roster without the luxury of preseason games to see their long shot players get a chance.
With Week 1’s Thursday Night Football now only six days away, the time to trim the rosters is growing shorter and shorter, and teams are having to project their depth charts only based off previous seasons and what they’ve seen in training camp.
Unfortunately for some fringe players, there are still some high-level contributors out there including Jadeveon Clowney, Earl Thomas, Larry Warford, Devonta Freeman and Damon Harrison. Were a team to sign one of those guys it’s likely a player who would’ve made the roster would get waived as a result.
Well, we saw that play out to a tee this week as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers signed running back Leonard Fournette after he was cut by the Jaguars and consequentially cut former Badger running back AND 2019 Buccaneer team captain Dare Ogunbowale.
The #Bucs are cutting RB Dare Ogunbowale, source said, a special teams captain and core contributor who has been with the team since 2018. The RB room was crowded thanks to the addition of Leonard Fournette.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 4, 2020
Tampa Bay also signed LeSean McCoy this offseason so the running back room was a crowded one and carries would’ve been hard to come by for the former Badger.
Where he left his mark in his two years with the Buccaneers, though, was mostly on special teams, and it must be rare for a player to be cut before the season after being team captain the previous year.
Ogunbowale finishes his Tampa Bay career with 18 games played, 11 rushes, 17 rushing yards and two touchdowns in addition to 35 catches on 46 targets for 286 receiving yards.
The new-look Buccaneers now move forward with Ronald Jones, Fournette and McCoy as their main backfield pieces as head coach Bruce Arians and quarterback Tom Brady look to live up to the preseason hype and make a deep run in the playoffs.
If you ask me, Ogunbowale will not have trouble finding another NFL home as every team could use a special teams ace and running back who can pass protect and catch the football. Maybe the situation in Tampa Bay wasn’t ideal for him, but don’t expect this to be the last we hear of the former Badger running back.