{"id":1036279,"date":"2026-10-25T01:09:26","date_gmt":"2026-10-25T01:09:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/1036279\/"},"modified":"2026-10-25T01:09:26","modified_gmt":"2026-10-25T01:09:26","slug":"buccaneers-elevate-rookie-linebacker-caden-fordham-for-week-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/1036279\/","title":{"rendered":"Buccaneers elevate rookie linebacker Caden Fordham for Week 7"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers<\/a> have added linebacker depth ahead of Sunday’s Week 7 matchup against the Carolina Panthers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Tampa Bay elevated rookie Caden Fordham from its practice squad Saturday, making him eligible to play against Carolina. According to the Buccaneers’ official announcement<\/a>, this marks Fordham’s second elevation of the season after he made his NFL debut on special teams against the Green Bay Packers<\/a> in Week 4.<\/p>\n

The move follows Tampa Bay’s decision to place linebacker Christian Rozeboom on injured reserve Thursday with a finger injury. Rozeboom must miss at least four games, leaving the Buccaneers with one fewer experienced linebacker available for their defensive rotation.<\/p>\n

Fordham originally signed with Tampa Bay as an undrafted free agent out of NC State in May. He earned a spot on the team’s initial 53-man roster before being waived in September and subsequently returning to the practice squad.<\/p>\n

The 6-foot-1, 223-pound linebacker recorded 143 tackles, 10.5 tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks, two interceptions and five passes defended during his final college season in 2025, earning first-team All-ACC honors.<\/p>\n

Fordham also showed promise in the preseason, finishing with 10 tackles, two tackles for loss, and a pass defended over three games. He recorded four solo tackles in kick coverage, the most in the NFL during the preseason.<\/p>\n

His role Sunday will likely center on special teams, where he made his regular-season debut against Green Bay. With Rozeboom unavailable, Tampa Bay also gains another linebacker who can provide defensive depth if needed. Fordham’s preseason kick-coverage production gives the coaching staff a specific reason to use him on special teams rather than relying solely on his college experience.<\/p>\n

Fordham will wear No. 46 against Carolina. As part of standard practice squad elevation, he will automatically return to the practice squad after Sunday’s game without passing through waivers.<\/p>\n

The Buccaneers enter Week 7 at 1-5 and will look to earn their first NFC South victory of the season against the division-leading Panthers.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Bucs Wire: Buccaneers elevate rookie linebacker Caden Fordham for Week 7<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have added linebacker depth ahead of Sunday’s Week 7 matchup against the Carolina Panthers.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1036280,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2077],"tags":[211,7,6,704,250,2597,2596],"class_list":["post-1036279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa-bay-buccaneers","tag-buccaneers","tag-football","tag-nfl","tag-tampa-bay","tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers","tag-tampabay","tag-tampabaybuccaneers"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117498882540194782","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1036279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1036279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1036279\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1036280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1036279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1036279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1036279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}