Former Kansas University wide receiver Dezmon Briscoe made his NFL debut Sunday, starting for Tampa Bay during the Buccaneers’ 38-14 victory against Seattle.
Briscoe was the Bucs’ third-leading receiver on the day, finishing with two catches for 28 yards and a long of 15 yards.
The former Jayhawk spent the first 12 weeks of the season on Tampa’s practice squad and was activated on Nov. 30. His chances for playing time during the final week of the season increased dramatically this week because of an injury to fellow rookie Arrelious Benn. Benn (395 yards and two TDs on 25 receptions) injured his knee during Sunday’s victory and was placed on injured reserve Monday. He will miss the rest of the year, making way for Briscoe to step into his role.
At 9-6, Tampa Bay stands in eighth place in the NFC playoff race. In order to qualify for the postseason, the Buccaneers need to knock off New Orleans next week and get help in the form of losses by Green Bay and the New York Giants.
Despite his pedestrian statistics and limited playing time, Briscoe made quite a splash during his rookie season. After being released by Cincinnati (the team that drafted him in the sixth round last April), Briscoe was scooped up by Tampa and placed on the Bucs’ practice squad.
The Bengals cut Briscoe with the idea of adding him to their practice squad, where the former record-setting Jayhawk would have earned $83,200 this year. However, Tampa Bay got him by offering him a contract worth four times as much, something that Cincinnati coach Marvin Lewis stewed about throughout the season.
“When you overpay a guy on the practice squad, you create a problem,” Lewis said during a conference call in October. “I don’t know that teams want to set that precedent, and they did with Dez.”
Briscoe, 6-foot-2, 210 pounds, wears No. 89 with Tampa. He wore No. 80 at KU.
