Even with just one game remaining in the regular season, the Carolina Panthers are looking for ways to improve. On Wednesday morning, they signed defensive end Jacob Tuioti-Mariner off the Pittsburgh Steelers practice squad.
Tuioti-Mariner played his college ball at UCLA from 2014-17 and recorded 133 tackles, 18 tackles for loss, 12.5 sacks, and four fumble recoveries. He went undrafted in the 2018 NFL Draft but signed with the Atlanta Falcons shortly after. Tuioti-Mariner spent parts of three seasons with the Falcons and served as a solid rotational player tallying 54 tackles, four tackles for loss, eight QB hits, three sacks, three forced fumbles, and three fumble recoveries.
It is unclear if he will be available to play in Sunday's regular season finale in Tampa Bay due to the many steps he still has to go through such as clearing COVID-19 protocol and of course, learning the defense.
The Panthers and Buccaneers are scheduled to kick off this Sunday at 4:25 p.m. EST.
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