Bucs sign two defensive ends to boost defensive line depth

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers signed two players following their third and most important preseason game: defensive ends Mehdi Abdesmad and Hendrick Ekpe will join the team, for now.

Abdesmad was an undrafted free agent out of Boston College last year, and spent most of the year on the Tennessee Titans’ practice squad, before playing in two of their final three regular season games. At 6’6”, 284 lbs. he’s built very similarly to starting defensive end William Gholston.

Ekpe’s a little smaller at 6’5”, 251 lbs., built more like an edge rusher. He spent this year with the Chicago Bears after going undrafted out of Minnesota.

To make room for these two, the Bucs placed defensive end Justin Trattou on injured reserve and waived running back Blake Sims. The latter hadn’t been able to make any kind of impact this preseason, so that’s not really a surprise.

The Bucs initially wanted to claim defensive end Kony Ealy, per NFL Network’s Jane Slater, but the New York Jets snapped him up before they could.