Buccaneers waive Marcus Thigpen, sign tight ends Cameron Brate and D.J. Williams

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have waived receiver Marcus Thigpen. The return specialist has stood out the past couple of games for his inability to cleanly catch punts, which is a bit of a problem for someone whose only job is to cleanly catch punts. It's not clear who will replace Thigpen.

To fill his spot and the one vacated by Jorvorskie Lane being placed on injured reserve yesterday, the Bucs promoted tight end Cameron Brate to the active roster and signed free agent tight end D.J. Williams. That probably is not a good sign for Austin Seferian-Jenkins, who suffered an injury mid-way through Sunday's game and could not return to the field.

Brate has three years of NFL experience, having been drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the fifth round of the 2011 NFL draft. He's played 35 games with three starts over three years, but only has nine catches for 70 yards. Meanwhile, Brate's been with the Bucs since signing with them after the draft as an undrafted free agent. He played his college football at Harvard, managing a fairly impressive 91 catches for 1,381 yards and 18 touchdowns over four years.

The Bucs also released cornerback Quinton Pointer and tight end Ted Bolser from the practice, while adding linebacker Denicos Allen, tight end Taylor Sloat and fullback Evan Rodriguez.