If you want to know how desperate the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are for help on their defensive front, just check out their latest move.
The Buccaneers signed 36-year-old former NFL All-Pro and 2-time Super Bowl champion Jason Pierre-Paul to the practice squad on December 8. The move brings back a player who was on Tampa Bay’s roster from 2018 to 2021 and was part of the team’s 2020 Super Bowl-winning squad.
“Reunion: Veteran edge Jason Pierre-Paul is signing with the Bucs practice squad after working out today, his agents … told The Insiders,” NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport wrote on his official X account. “Back on the field at age 36.”
Pierre-Paul last played in the NFL in 2023, spending 3 games with the Miami Dolphins and New Orleans Saints.
The Buccaneers put Pierre-Paul through a workout and signed him the same day.
“Buccaneers are signing OLB Jason Pierre–Paul, who last played in the NFL in 2023 for Miami, to their practice squad, per source,” ESPN’s Adam Schefter wrote on his official X account. “Pierre–Paul played for the Bucs from 2018-21.”
Former First Round Pick Dominated in 2010s
The move also re-teams Pierre-Paul, 6-foot-5 and 275 pounds, with his junior college teammate and legendary Buccaneers inside linebacker Lavonte David.
David and Pierre-Paul teamed together at Fort Scott (Kansas) Community College in 2008 and led the Greyhounds to the NJCAA National Championship Game, where they lost to Blinn (Texas) College and future Heisman Trophy winner, No. 1 overall pick and NFL MVP Cam Newton.
Pierre-Paul was an All-American at the University of South Florida in 2009, where he played one season before he left school early and was selected in the first round (No. 15 overall) by the New York Giants in the 2010 NFL draft.
Pierre-Paul was one of the NFL’s dominant edge rushers in the 2010s, including helping lead the Giants to a win over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI following the 2011 season.
Pierre-Paul Overcame Gruesome Accident in 2015
Pierre-Paul was at the center of one of the more shocking off-field accidents in NFL history.
Headed into free agency following the 2014 season, Pierre-Paul was projected to land a record-setting contract worth between $90 million to $100 million before the Giants placed the franchise tag on him for the 2015 season.
On July 4, 2015, Pierre-Paul lost his right index finger in a fireworks accident at his home — an injury that would require multiple surgeries over the next few years. Pierre-Paul continued to play with a massive, cumbersome club on his hand, including only playing in 8 games in 2015.
Pierre-Paul played on a series of 1-year, contracts in 2015 and 2016 before he signed a 4-year, $62 million contract with the Giants in 2017.
The Buccaneers traded for Pierre-Paul in March 2018 for draft picks and signed him to a 2-year, $25 million contract extension in March 2020. He as at his best in the run to the Super Bowl win following the 2020 season when he had 13 tackles, 2.0 sacks and 3 pass deflections in 4 games.
Pierre-Paul, who has approximately $103 million in career earnings, played one season for the Baltimore Ravens in 2022 before splitting 2023 between the Saints and Dolphins.
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