Even Buccaneers rookie Jack Pyburn doesn’t know if he will play in the NFL, NCAA next month
Buccaneers rookie edge rusher Jack Pyburn says he doesn’t know when he’ll have to choose between the NFL and a college return.
Jack Pyburn is living one of the strangest limbos in football right now, and even he can’t say how it ends. After the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ preseason game, the rookie edge rusher admitted he doesn’t know when he’ll have to choose between sticking with the Buccaneers or returning to college football. For now, his answer is simple: he’s focused on trying to make the Bucs.
The uncertainty stems from a whirlwind legal development. Pyburn is one of 16 players granted a temporary restraining order against the NCAA, a ruling that could hand him a fifth year of college eligibility for the 2026-27 season. The former Florida and LSU standout thought his college career was over. He had finished his final season in Baton Rouge, gone through the Senior Bowl and draft process, and signed with Tampa Bay as an undrafted free agent.
Then a Louisiana judge reopened a door everyone assumed had closed. The TRO not only allows Pyburn to return to school but also opens the transfer portal to him, and his agent’s phone reportedly lit up with interest from college suitors, with schools like Miami floated as possible landing spots.
What makes the situation so remarkable is that Pyburn has already flashed at the NFL level. The 22-year-old signed a three-year, $3.1 million deal with $115,000 guaranteed and immediately made noise, recording two sacks in his preseason debut against the New York Jets in front of head coach Todd Bowles. That performance made him look like a legitimate candidate for a roster spot or, at minimum, the practice squad.
Now the timeline is murky. The NCAA can oppose an extended injunction and pursue an appeal, with a hearing expected at the end of August, right as NFL rosters must be trimmed to 53 by the end of the month. That means Pyburn’s college window could slam shut or swing wide open at almost the exact moment Tampa Bay makes its cut decisions.
Caught between two football worlds, Pyburn is doing the only thing he can: competing for a job in Tampa and letting the courts sort out the rest.
Jack Pyburn is living one of the strangest limbos in football right now, and even he can’t say how it ends. After the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ preseason game, the rookie edge rusher admitted he doesn’t know when he’ll have to choose between sticking with the Buccaneers or returning to college football.