The Bucs signed inside linebacker Vi Jones to return to the practice squad on Tuesday, the organization announced. Jones was on Tampa Bay’s practice squad from Weeks 12 to 14 before being released last week.
Jones went undrafted out of North Carolina State in 2022, but was a regular on the Seahawks’ practice squad last season and was promoted to three games. He started the 2023 season with the Seahawks in training camp, but was released due to an injury settlement.
To make room for Jones on the practice squad, the Bucks released long snapper Evan Dekkers. Last week, Jones was waived and Decker was signed, but this week the Bucks went in the opposite direction. Deckers was brought on as insurance for injured long snapper Zach Triner, who was able to play in the Bucs’ game against Green Bay. Now, Jones is back on the roster for similar reasons.
What does this mean for Bucs ILB Devin White?
Bucs ILB Devin White and Titans QB Will Reavis – Photo by Cliff Welch/PR
The signing of Jones comes at a very interesting time for the Bucks. There’s a lot of drama surrounding inside linebacker and team captain Devin White, who has missed the past three games but could return last week. White practiced fully on Thursday and Friday, but was inactive on Sunday.
What happened in those few days became the root of the problem. According to the Pewter Report and other reports, White was informed that KJ Britt was scheduled to play on Sunday. White said he couldn’t go because he didn’t want to share the snapshot.
On Monday, Todd Bowles ended his press conference fumbling as he tried to explain the timeline of events that led to White’s hiatus. He couldn’t remember whether he spoke with White on Friday or Saturday, but that’s all he was told he couldn’t go.
However, the problem with Bowles’ statement is that the Bucks updated the injured list of other Bucks players twice over the weekend. Tampa Bay announced Saturday that it had downgraded Ryan Neal to out and upgraded Vita Vea to questionable. The next day, the Bucks placed Josh Hayes on the injury report as questionable with an illness, about 20 minutes before it was known who would be absent for game day.
Nothing Bowles said made sense. It was clear he was protecting White. Therefore, his availability for the remainder of the season remains a mystery.
Bucks ILB Devin White – Photo by Cliff Welch/PR
White makes a statement
Fast forward to today, White took to Instagram and made another cryptic post. This is nothing new for the Bucks, as White does things like this from time to time. On his own Instagram Story, he shared a post from a few months ago, with his last photo accompanied by the text message, “What motivates you more than anything?” ing. “Sorry,” came the reply.
White also added a comment of his own: “And that’s exactly right!!” we go back. I built the story, but I didn’t ask the main character any information. Where can I find that?” It can be seen in the tweet below.
#Gobucks ILB Devin White will only add fuel to the fire on the bench against the Packers on Sunday.
This is from his story on IG.
“I created the story, but I haven’t asked the main character any information…” pic.twitter.com/SisC7vKZ7C
— Adam LivsOn (@AdamLivsOn) December 19, 2023
This only exacerbates an undesirable problem for the Bucks at the moment.team Won 3 games in a row And they have a direct shot at winning the division. White’s anger is just another distraction.
We’ll find out in the next few days what’s going on with White and if he ever plays for the Bucks again. During that time, the Bucks will add Lavonte David, KJ Britt, Servoos Dennis and JJ Russell to the roster. If another situation arises, Jones would provide additional help on the practice squad.
