Carl Nassib is officially a Tampa Bay Buccaneer for the second time. And now he’s active for the club’s week 1 Sunday Night Football matchup against the Dallas Cowboys.
The publicly out gay NFL player was named to the Bucs’ 53-player roster as an outside linebacker after the final cutdowns with the conclusion of the preseason. He has played his first six seasons in the NFL as a defensive end, but the Bucs feel he’ll be productive for them as an OLB.
The switch of positions is not a huge move for Nassib. While defensive ends play on the line, OLBs play just behind them outside the interior.
Not that preseason stats matter too much, but Nassib played in a couple games and recorded two total tackles with one assist.
Now he’ll play for his second NFL team after coming out publicly.
Previously he started 17 games and recorded 63 tackles for the Bucs in 2018 and 2019 before heading to the Las Vegas Raiders, where he eventually came out publicly as gay.
Nassib is already the first publicly out gay player to play in a regular season game for an NFL team. His acquisition by the Bucs after coming out is a huge move for LGBT equality in sports, and him making the regular-season roster and playing for the team this season is a huge statement.
