On November 2nd, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers grabbed safety Mike Mickens off the Cowboys practice squad.
Yesterday, the team returned to the well to pick up Rudy Carpenter, the undrafted free agent quarterback out of Arizona State. Carpenter played sparingly in the preseason, going 12 of 18 for 125 yards and a touchdown in his lone appearance for the Cowboys, a preseason exhibition with the Vikings in Minnesota.
After being waived in final cuts, the Cowboys signed Carpenter to the practice squad the next day.
In such instances as these, typically, the player in question's agent will alert the team of an impending deal from another team. The team is then left with the option of either moving the player up (whether at the time of the offer, or in the future), increasing his salary or risk losing him; with Dallas set at quarterback--with Tony Romo, Jon Kitna and Stephen McGee--Carpenter opted to head to Florida.
Whether Carpenter will see time in the near future as a member of the Buccaneers is questionable to doubtful, with the team well stocked with quarterbacks, and rookie Josh Freeman emerging as the starter three weeks ago. However, the signing of the former Sun Devil has led some to believe that veteran Byron Leftwich will soon be given his walking papers.
Carpenter was twice given Honorable Mention All-Pac 10 honors as a member of Arizona State, where he started a record 43 straight games over four years.
