The Bucs had 80 men on the roster coming out of Thursday’s preseason finale but must reduce their roster to the regular-season limit of 53 by today at 4 p.m. We thought we should take a stab at formulating a mock roster, and it proved particularly difficult.

There are a couple of unconventional decisions, like keeping seven receivers -- more than most teams. Anyhow, here are our projections on what the final roster could look like.

Quarterback (2)
Locks: Josh Freeman, Josh Johnson.
Gone: Jonathan Crompton.
On bubble: Rudy Carpenter

Running back/fullback (5)
Locks: LeGarrette Blount, Earnest Graham, Kregg Lumpkin, Erik Lorig.
Gone: Armando Allen, Nick Reveiz
On bubble: Allen Bradford, Mosis Madu.

Receiver (7)
Locks: Mike Williams, Arrelious Benn, Dezmon Briscoe, Sammie Stroughter.
Gone: Maurice Price
On bubble: Preston Parker, Micheal Spurlock, Ed Gant

Tight ends (3)
Locks: Kellen Winslow, Luke Stocker.
Gone: Ryan Purvis.
On bubble: Daniel Hardy, Nathan Overbay.

Offensive line (9)
Locks: LT Donald Penn, LG Ted Larsen, C Jeff Faine, RG Davin Joseph, RT
Jeremy Trueblood, C-G Jeremy Zuttah, T James Lee, T Derek Hardman.
Gone: C Marc Dile, C Matt Allen, G Thomas Claiborne
On bubble: T Demar Dotson, G Derek Hardman, T Will Barker

Defensive line (9)
Locks: DE Michael Bennett, DE Da’Quan Bowers, DT Gerald McCoy, DT Frank Okam, DT Roy Miller, DT Brian Price, DE Adrian Clayborn, DE Tim Crowder
Gone: Kyle Moore, John McCargo, Alex Magee
On bubble: George Johnson, Al Woods

Linebackers (6)
Locks: Quincy Black, Mason Foster, Geno Hayes, Adam Hayward, Dekoda Watson
Gone: Tyrone McKenzie, Brandon Heath
On bubble: Derrell Smith, Simoni Lawrence

Defensive backs (9)
Locks: CB Aqib Talib, CB Myron Lewis, CB Ronde Barber, CB E.J. Biggers, SS Sean Jones, FS Cody Grimm, S Corey Lynch, CB Anthony Gaitor.
Gone: S Devin Holland, S Dominique Harris.
On bubble: CB Elbert Mack, S Larry Asante, S Ahmad Black, CB D.J. Johnson.

Specialists (3)
Locks: P Michael Koenen, K Connor Barth
Gone: K Jacob Rogers.
On bubble: LS Christian Yount.