As it turns out, the Buccaneers are not yet completely set at placekicker, either. With four practices to go before cuts, the team is still carrying two of them, with incumbent Matt Gay trying to hold off a challenge from first-year kicker Elliott Fry…as well as any other kicker that is currently available and might warrant a look. Gay is confident he can provide the consistency Arians wants, but the decision is still yet to be made. For him and a number of other players who are striving for one of the last spots on the roster, Saturday's waiver wire could bring new competition.
"Both these guys have been really, really good," said Arians of Gay and Fry. "They both had a bad day or two. We'll look at some other people and see if they're any better, just like we do [with] every single position, just like the waiver wire when everybody makes their cuts. Those last five guys are never safe. I don't look at it as any different than those situations."
The competition at kicker is very binary for the Bucs right now – pick one or the other. At some other positions, it's less clear how many spots will be available in the end and how the depth chart stacks up behind the obvious front-runners. A good example is the defensive line, which boasts a starting trio of Ndamukong Suh, Vita Vea and Will Gholston plus a veteran camp standout in Rakeem Nunez-Roches. After those four, there are five more candidates of various backgrounds and strengths. That group includes 2019 holdovers Patrick O'Connor and Jeremiah Ledbetter, sixth-round draft pick Khalil Davis, mid-camp veteran addition Kyle Love and undrafted rookie Benning Potoa'e.
That position may be one where the Bucs have a difficult time picking one or two winners from a group in which all have done well in camp.
"All those guys have been excellent," said Arians. "Pat gives us great versatility, so he right now is also a good special teams player. Love – he's a vet, he knows how to play the game, he's a good run-stuffer. The other young guys, they're solid. I think [Khalil] Davis has really picked his stuff up and is playing the run really, really well and is rushing the passer well. I think Pat is the guy who has separated himself."
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Bucs Still Mulling 6-8 Roster Spots - Buccaneers.com
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