The offseason is officially underway for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after the franchise was knocked out of the playoffs on Sunday night. The Buccaneers have a lot of work to do this offseason to put themselves in a position to compete for a fifth-straight NFC South Championship and another run at the postseason.

On Tuesday, the Buccaneers announced they were signing 17 players to futures contracts. The majority of those players spent the year on Tampa Bay’s practice squad. Futures contracts count against the 90-man limit and typically are used to ensure they won’t have someone taken by another team.

Among the Buccaneers’ signings was rookie quarterback Michael Pratt, who joined the franchise on August 28 after beginning his professional career with the Green Bay Packers. Pratt was cut by the Packers at the conclusion of training camp, carving a path for him to land on Tampa Bay’s practice squad.

During his time in Green Bay, Pratt appeared in three preseason games, leading the team in passing in a 27-2 loss to the Denver Broncos and a 30-7 victory against the Baltimore Ravens. In total, he completed 23/35 passes for 178 yards with one touchdown to one interception along with two rushes for six yards. He completed 8/12 passes for 80 yards with a touchdown and an interception in the preseason finale win against the Ravens.

Pratt was elevated off Tampa Bay’s practice squad three times in 2024, serving as the third quarterback behind Baker Mayfield and Kyle Trask against the Atlanta Falcons and in both matchups against the Carolina Panthers. He didn’t end up seeing the field.

The 6-foot-2, 217-pound quarterback was originally selected by the Packers in the seventh round of the 2024 NFL Draft following a record-setting career at Tulane. Pratt started in all four years with the Green Wave, ending his time with the program as the all-time leader in passing yards (9,602), passing touchdowns (90), and completion percentage (60.6%) while ranking in the top 10 in passing attempts (1,203 – 3rd), passing completions (729 – 3rd), and 300-yard passing games (5 – 6th).

In 2022, Pratt completed a career-high 215/338 passes for 3,009 yards with 27 touchdowns to five interceptions along with 478 rushing yards and ten more scores. He had a single-game-best 394 passing yards with four touchdowns to one interception and a rushing score in a 45-28 victory against UCF in the 2022 AAC Championship.

Across his four years at Tulane, Pratt completed a total of 729/1,203 passes for 9,602 yards with 90 touchdowns to 26 interceptions. He added 447 rushes for 1,145 yards and 28 more scores.

Pratt is one of two quarterbacks that the Buccaneers are currently slated to have under contract in 2025. Baker Mayfield is signed through the 2026 season. However, former second-round pick Kyle Trask is up for an extension this offseason after completing his rookie deal.