Bucs' roster move highlights team's lack of CB depth vs. Patriots

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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are heavily favored to beat the New England Patriots on Sunday night, and with good reason. The defending Super Bowl champions are loaded on both sides of the ball and have a quarterback highly motivated to stick it to his former team at Gillette Stadium.

But if the Bucs have one weakness, it's at cornerback, where two players are set to play their first games with the team Sunday.

The Bucs have promoted veteran cornerback Pierre Desir from the practice squad to the 53-man roster for Sunday's game against the Patriots.

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Desir, who was released by the Seattle Seahawks in the preseason, has yet to play in a game this season after joining the Bucs' practice squad on Sept. 13. But Tampa Bay needs some cornerback depth with two of its top options, Sean Murphy-Bunting and Jamel Dean, sidelined with injuries. 

The Bucs on Wednesday signed Richard Sherman, who likely will start at corner opposite Carlton Davis despite admitting it'd be "foolish" to expect him to play at a high level Sunday. Even Davis is battling an injury and was downgraded to questionable for Sunday's game with a rib injury.

Desir has seven years of NFL experience and faced the Patriots last season as a member of the New York Jets, while Sherman is a five-time Pro Bowler with a decade of NFL experience. The Bucs will need both players to assimilate quickly, as they enter Sunday's game allowing the most passing yards per game in the league at 338.3 per game.

Whether Mac Jones can take advantage of Tampa Bay's secondary remains to be seen. The rookie quarterback threw three interceptions last Sunday against the New Orleans Saints and managed just 186 passing yards the week before against the Jets.

Kickoff at Gillette Stadium is set for Sunday at 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC.

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