If Dae’Quan Wright is the first domino in the NFL-to-college story, Jack Pyburn is the one everyone’s watching next – and his situation is arguably more combustible. He’s a Louisiana lawsuit plaintiff, he’s still on the Buccaneers’ roster with a cut decision due Sunday, and the school he’d return to isn’t just any program. It’s LSU, where he played last season, and where he’d reunite with the roster he left eight months ago.
Pyburn hasn’t said he’s leaving the NFL. What he told The Athletic is deliberately open-ended – he wants to play his best football “wherever that is.” But the machinery for a return exists, the TRO covering him is live, and cut weekend will force the question within days.
Here’s his file, the checklist between him and Baton Rouge, and why his case tests things Wright’s didn’t.
Why His Case Is Different From Wright’s
Three ways. First, he’s not free yet – Tampa Bay controls the first step, and if he makes the 53, the return question may die quietly. Second, the money is heavier: his $115,000 guarantee is the sum the AP’s reporting says returning players must repay, making his choice a real referendum on the college-vs-NFL money math. Third, his destination is his own former locker room – LSU in 2025 was his final college stop, which makes the fit obvious and the storyline richer.
The Cut-Weekend Fork
Sunday’s 6 PM ET deadline resolves the suspense one way or another. Kept, Pyburn is an NFL linebacker with a court order he may never use. Waived, he immediately enters the same five-step gauntlet mapped in the release process – waivers, clearing, portal, signing – with the SEC ban waiting at the end of it, exactly as it waits for Wright in the Wright signing tracker.
What He’d Walk Into
The same wall: the SEC’s Tuesday-night ban on players who declared or appeared on a pro roster covers Pyburn as plainly as it covers Wright. Whatever the conference decides about Wright’s already-struck deal becomes the precedent Pyburn’s camp reads before making any move. Every plaintiff’s status lives in the full plaintiff tracker.
Quick Answers
Has Pyburn said he wants to go back to LSU?
No – his only public comment is the open-ended Athletic quote. He joined the lawsuit to have the option, which is not the same as exercising it.
Would he have to repay the full $115,000?
The AP reports plaintiffs can regain eligibility by terminating contracts and repaying pro earnings – how that’s calculated for a partially-paid deal is exactly the kind of detail the Aug. 31 hearing may clarify.
Could he play for LSU this season if cut Sunday?
The timeline is physically possible – Wright proved the NFL exit takes days – but the SEC ban and the hearing stand between any plaintiff and a Week 1 SEC field.
The Bottom Line
Pyburn is the lawsuit’s most watchable pending case: a current Buc, a former Tiger, and a TRO plaintiff whose fate gets forced by Sunday’s cutdown. If Tampa Bay keeps him, the story likely ends; if not, he walks Wright’s exact path – waivers, repayment, and an SEC ban – with LSU’s roster, and his old teammates, on the other side. Updates land here and in the plaintiff tracker as cut weekend unfolds.