The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have announced they have elevated quarterback Easton Stick from the practice squad to the active roster on Thursday, giving an injured and winless team a veteran emergency option behind undrafted rookie Jalon Daniels for Thursday Night Football against the Dallas Cowboys.
Stick’s call-up is the second straight week he has been promoted.
Baker Mayfield remains out with a dislocated right thumb, the same injury that ended his Week 3 afternoon against Minnesota and kept him off the field for last Sunday’s 17-14 loss to Green Bay.
Coach Todd Bowles has already confirmed that Daniels will start again on the short week. Stick will stand behind him as the primary backup, the same role he filled against the Packers.
That arrangement is less about a change in the depth chart than about continuity. Daniels completed 19 of 27 passes for 148 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions in his first NFL start, and added 55 yards on eight carries.
The offense never found a rhythm, and Tampa Bay dropped to 0-4. Elevating Stick keeps a quarterback who has actually started NFL games in the building if the rookie is injured or the game plan needs a steadier hand late.
Stick, 31, is a familiar kind of insurance policy. The Los Angeles Chargers drafted him in the fifth round out of North Dakota State in 2019, and he spent most of his early career behind Justin Herbert.
His real sample came late in 2023, when injuries forced him into the lineup.
He appeared in five games, started four, and completed 111 of 174 passes for 1,129 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. He also rushed for 144 yards and a score. The record was winless, and the ball security was uneven, but the tape showed a quarterback who could operate an offense rather than merely hold a clipboard.
Since then the path has been the usual one for a backup who never locked down a job. He returned to the Chargers, spent time with Atlanta, signed with Indianapolis, and landed on Tampa Bay’s practice squad in August.
The Falcons stop still matters in Tampa. Stick overlapped with offensive coordinator Zac Robinson in Atlanta, so the terminology and the protections are not entirely new.
Brett Rypien remains on the practice squad as further depth, but Stick is the quarterback the Buccaneers chose to activate.
The elevation does not change the plan for Thursday. Daniels is the starter, and Mayfield’s return timeline has not moved.
What it does is acknowledge how thin the margin is for a team that has not won and cannot afford another quarterback injury on national television.
If Daniels plays the full game, Stick may never take a snap. If he does not, Tampa Bay will not be handing the offense to someone seeing an NFL huddle for the first time.
