TAMPA, Fla. -- Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback Jude Adjei-Barimah remembers the painful sting of coming just short of making the Bucs' 53-man roster. This year, it's completely different.
"I drove to work today like it was a regular day," said the second-year cornerback and former undrafted free agent out of Bowling Green. "This time last year I was packing up my locker. My main goal was to be on that opening day 53. It feels good to be here."
He spent the first three weeks of last season on the practice squad. He was activated in September and by November he was starting. He finished the year with seven starts under his belt.
"The more you get reps, the more you get to play," he said. "And for me, I’m thankful that it was in game situations where I was able to get those reps. But I’ve learned a lot, good and bad. I’ve had my good moments, but I also had some bad moments. And I feel like that built me mentally, to know that, that’s what this league is about -- you have to be able to bounce back. And it did give me a lot more confidence going into this year that I felt like I belonged."
Despite the added confidence, he knew he had to do more, especially when the Bucs brought in four-time Pro Bowler Brent Grimes and drafted Vernon Hargreaves III with the 11th overall pick in this year's NFL draft.
“I knew with the guys that we brought in in the offseason, in my role I was going to have to do more for the team this year in order for me to be on that 53-man roster," Adjei-Barimah said. He tapped into skills he honed in college rotating between playing the outside and moving into the nickelback role, the same thing starter Hargreaves is asked to do. Now, if Hargreaves was to go down, it wouldn't upset the team's balance.
"In my offseason work and everything that I did, I approached it as you’ve got to make yourself as versatile as possible in order for the staff and the organization to be able to see your value."
For second-year wide receiver Evan Spencer, who was among the Redskins' final cuts last year before joining the team in late September, proving his value meant showing consistency within a group of receivers that had a lot of question marks after Vincent Jackson and Mike Evans.
“I’ve always prided myself on never having any balls on the ground," said Spencer, who caught all three passes thrown his way in a rain-drenched preseason finale Wednesday. "That’s one thing that’s always been my focus throughout my entire career."
Like Adjei-Barimah, he honed his skills on the practice squad last year. He spent three months there before being activated to the 53-man roster and finally suiting up in Week 17.
This year, he clinched the Bucs' fifth receiver spot, beating out last year's fifth-round draft pick, Kenny Bell, along with Freddie Martino (who led the Bucs receivers with 65 receiving yards last Wednesday and finished third on the team in receiving yards this preseason), Jonathan Krause, and Andre Davis.
"You never know," said Spencer. "I wanted to go out there and show everybody around the organization, and mainly my teammates, that I was here for a reason and I was here because I’m going to give everything that I can for our team and help us win.”
