Hard Knocks ended its filming Sunday, the day after final cuts, and the best drama the season finale offered came on the practice squad as the Buccaneers tried to fill their 10-player roster. The Bucs offered practice squad spots to receiver Bobo Wilson and running back Jeremy McNichols, among others.
But Wilson was home in Miami when director of football operations Shelton Quarles called him despite receiving instructions from coach Dirk Koetter a day earlier to stay in town. Wilson, a voice over says, “has youth on his side, but he doesn’t yet have a pro’s sense of responsibility. It seems Bobo has gone bye-bye.”
“Are you kidding me?” General Manager Jason Licht said when informed Wilson was out of town.
Licht said it “might be the last straw” before reconsidering. “I want to make a rational decision here, and not a [knee-jerk decision],” Licht said.
The Bucs gave Wilson an ultimatum: Be in the team training facility at 1 p.m. Sunday or don’t come back.
“I’m going to tell Bobo we want you on the practice squad; we want to work with you,” Koetter said. “But if you don’t change your attitude, you won’t make it anywhere. I’m going to tell him straight up: If he doesn’t change, he doesn’t have a chance. If he hesitates at all on coming back, then I’m going to say we’ll take [Donteea Dye].”
Wilson, who played with quarterback Jameis Winston at Florida State, made it back in the nick of time to sign his practice squad contract.
McNichols, though, spurned the Bucs after initially telling Koetter he wanted to stay on the team’s practice squad.
“McNichols got his feelings hurt,” Licht said after McNichols chose the 49ers over the Bucs’ offer. “If he’s going to mope and complain about being taken out of the game when he just made one mistake. I mean, we don’t want that kind of [expletive] anyway.”