Buccaneers sign T.J. Ward, Garrison Sanborn, take Jacquies Smith off PUP

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers made a few moves today: they officially signed safety T.J. Ward, re-signed longsnapper Garrison Sanborn and took Jacquies Smith off the Physically Unable to Perform list. The former two moves were announced on PUP, while the latter can be deduced from the fact that Smith is participating in practice--something he wouldn’t be allowed to do if he was still on PUP.

The Bucs had cut Sanborn to make room for quarterback Ryan Griffin, who needed to be on the roster for one day to be placed on injured reserve without going through waivers. Yes, NFL rules are weirdly complicated. Anyway, Sanborn’s back on the roster now and Ryan Griffin is on injured reserve.

Ward will be wearing number 43, and seems pretty excited to be joining the Bucs.

Ward’s presence on the roster is enabled by their trading J.J. Wilcox to the Pittsburgh Steelers, opening up a roster spot. As for Jacquies Smith, the Bucs already had an open roster spot so the Bucs don’t need to make any additional moves to move him to the 53-man roster.