TAMPA, Fla. -- The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are elevating 36-year-old outside linebacker Jason Pierre-Paul from the practice squad in advance of Sunday's crucial NFC South contest at the Carolina Panthers.
With three games remaining -- two against each other -- the Bucs and Panthers each sit at 7-7 apiece and are vying for a playoff berth, with the Bucs coming off back-to-back losses against the New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons.
Pierre-Paul, who led the Bucs with 9.5 sacks the year they won Super Bowl LV in 2020, has not seen action in a regular season NFL game since 2023. He signed with the Bucs on Dec. 9, so he's only been practicing for two weeks.
Pierre-Paul is no stranger to stepping in cold, though. In 2019, in his first snap back since sustaining a neck fracture in an automobile accident, he recorded a sack of then-Tennessee Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill. He then registered a quarterback hit and forced an incompletion from Tannehill on the very next play. He also recorded a tackle for a loss of All-Pro running back Derrick Henry. He played 71% of the defense's snaps in that game (42).
He did the same thing in his first game back from a severely damaged right hand in a July 4 fireworks accident when he was with the New York Giants in 2015, playing 71% of the defense's snaps (45) that game and registering two quarterback hits.
Will he be the same player he was when he last played for Tampa Bay in 2021? Some have questioned the move and what Pierre-Paul could possibly give being out of football for so long.
"I don't think anybody looks like they did four or five years ago," coach Todd Bowles said this week. "But energetic-wise and fundamental- and technique-sound and picking up the system and getting comfortable, he looked good."
Run game coordinator/outside linebackers coach Larry Foote called Pierre-Paul his "all-time favorite, while Bowles emphasized that they brought him in for not him potentially giving them a short-term boost, but also his leadership. He delivered an emotional halftime locker room speech during the Bucs' comeback win over the Atlanta Falcons that quarterback Tom Brady said propelled them to their Super Bowl victory. The Bucs had been down 17-0 in that game but fought back to win 31-27.
"[It is] just his personality. He's everybody's favorite -- the building is geeked up when he comes in here -- from the equipment room, training room, he just has that personality," Foote said. "He's just a dog, old-school..."
