Buccaneers announce 56-player rookie minicamp roster

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers released a list of 56 players who will participate in rookie mini-camp today. Yes, 56. That many.

In addition to their six draft picks, the Bucs added 14 college free agents they signed immediately after the draft, four veteran players who had not yet accrued a season of NFL play (mostly former practice squadders) and a whopping 32 tryout players.

Many of those tryout players are just there so the Bucs have enough players to actually run practices, as true veterans are not eligible to partake of rookie minicamp. Because, you know, it’s for rookies. Still, a few of those tryout players get signed to the 90-man roster every year.

One of those players who could stick around: former Philadelphia Eagles receiver Riley Cooper, as far as I can tell the only true veteran to be hanging out as a tryout player at this rookie minicamp. He played for the Eagles for six seasons, racking up 2,418 receiving yards.

The four veterans who are on the Bucs’ roster and participating are running back Blake Sims, safety Isaiah Johnson, guard Mike Liedtke and tight end Tevin Westbrook.

We’ll likely see a few roster moves after the weekend, when the Bucs have a better view of which rookies they’d like to hang on to, and which ones won’t cut it.

2017 Bucs draft picks

Round 1: pick 19 (19th overall) - TE O.J. Howard, Alabama

Round 2: pick 18 (50th overall) - S Justin Evans, Texas A&M

Round 3: pick 20 (84th overall) - WR Chris Godwin, Penn State

Round 3: pick 43 (107th overall) - LB Kendell Beckwith, LSU

Round 5: pick 18 (162nd overall) - RB Jeremy McNichols, Boise State

Round 7: pick 5 (223rd overall) - DT Stevie Tu’ikolovatu, USC

Undrafted free agents

TE Antony Auclair, Laval

DE Deondre Barnett, Southern Illinois

LB Richie Brown, Mississippi State

LB Riley Bullough, Michigan State

CB Maurice Fleming, West Virginia

T Cole Gardner, Eastern Michigan

S Alex Gray, Appalachian State

T Korren Kirven, Alabama

QB Sefo Liufau, Colorado

CB Greg Mabin, Iiowa

LB Paul Magloire, Arizona

CB Jonathan Moxey, Boise State

WR Thomas Sperbeck, Boise State

WR Bobo Wilson, Florida State

You can see the full list of 56 players here.