Tampa Bay Buccaneers sign Jeff Demps to practice squad
By Cory Buck
Speed kills, but in the case of Jeff Demps, it hasn’t secured him a roster spot. Despite his world-class sprinting skills, Demps was once again cut from an NFL roster. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have given him another shot to make the NFL though as they’ve named him to their practice squad.
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Pro Football Talk writes that the Buccaneers placed Demps on their practice squad after the Olympic sprinter failed to make the 53-man squad. Now he’ll have to prove that he has more than speed to offer an NFL team.
Demps was a silver medalist in the London Olympics as a member of the men’s 4X100 relay team. He received a medal for participating in the qualifying round.
Unfortunately that speed hasn’t yet transferred to a successful NFL career. After failing to catch on with the New England Patriots, Demps went to Tampa Bay where coach Lovie Smith was excited about his prospects as a running back, but not excited enough to name Demps to the Week 1 roster.
There’s more to playing running back than speed though and one can hope that Demps will learn more about remaining patient in waiting for his blocks (a shortcoming of many speedy running backs) and throwing some blocks of his own in pass protection — something the Buccaneers have a dire need for given the state of their offensive line.
If Demps can get a better hold on the auxiliary duties of an NFL running back, he might be ready in a year or so to make an NFL roster and stick.