Jess Lockwood activated from Injured Reserve, will make PBR Team Series debut for the Oklahoma Freedom Aug. 26-28 at Gambler Days in Austin, Texas
PUEBLO, Colo. – Ahead of the fifth regular season PBR (Professional Bull Riders) Team Series event in Austin, Texas, Aug. 26-28, the league has announced several roster transactions, including a trade between the Ariat Texas Rattlers and Carolina Cowboys.
The Ariat Texas Rattlers have traded Ednelio Almeida to the Carolina Cowboys in exchange for Junior Patrik Souza. Almeida will remain on Injured Reserve for the Cowboys, while Souza will take a protected roster position for the Rattlers and is anticipated to be in the team’s starting lineup for the opening day of PBR Gambler Days.
“Junior Patrik Souza is a terrific left-handed rider, and in recent weeks we’ve lacked depth in this area,” said Ariat Texas Rattlers General Manager Mark George. “We are thrilled to add his talent and leadership qualities to our locker room. I would also like to thank Ednelio for being a part of the Rattlers and helping us in pre-season and in Cheyenne. We wish him a speedy recovery and look forward to seeing him competing back on the dirt soon.”
“Thank you to Junior Patrik Souza for working hard and putting in the effort at our Carolina Cowboys training camp. We wish him luck with the Texas Rattlers and know he will be a tough competitor,” said Carolina Cowboys General Manager Austin Dillon. “On behalf of the Carolina Cowboys, we’d like to welcome Ednelio Almeida to our team. We feel like he has a bright future with the Carolina Cowboys.”
In a corresponding roster move, the Carolina Cowboys also elevated practice squad rider Leonardo Lima to the protected roster.
The Oklahoma Freedom and Kansas City Outlaws have made amendments to their respective Injured Reserve roster spots.
Jess Lockwood, the No. 1 overall pick in the Supplemental Draft, will make his PBR Team Series debut this weekend for the Freedom after being listed on Injured Reserve on July 16.
Kyler Oliver, the second-round draft pick for the Kansas City Outlaws has also been removed from Injured Reserve. Oliver initially received the designation July 17 as he continued to recover from a broken neck sustained in April.
Fellow Outlaws’ rider Cole Melancon has been added to Injured Reserve as he recovers from a groin injury. Melancon is ineligible to ride in Austin and Winston-Salem, but he can return to competition as soon Sept. 16 for the start of PBR Freedom Fest in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
The Ariat Texas Rattlers also signed Daniel Keeping to the team’s practice squad. Having declared for the Supplemental Draft, Keeping is eligible to compete in all remaining PBR Team Series events, with the exception of the league events in Winston-Salem, North Carolina on Sept. 9-11 and Glendale, Arizona, on Oct. 14-16.
The Oklahoma Freedom have released both Matt Triplett and Caden Bunch.
Following his release from the Freedom, Triplett was signed to the practice squad by the Nashville Stampede.
Bunch is now an unrestricted free agent and is open to be signed by any team in the league.
Stay tuned to PBR.com and follow the league on all social media channels at @PBR for the latest on the PBR Team Series.
About the PBR (Professional Bull Riders) Team Series:
The PBR Team Series is an elite new league that will feature the world’s top bull riders competing on teams in five-on-five bull riding games during an 11-event season beginning in July and culminating in a team championship at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas November 4-6. During the 2022 season, each of the eight teams representing teams in Austin, TX; Fort Worth, TX; Glendale, AZ; Kansas City, MO; Nashville, TN; Oklahoma City, OK; Ridgedale, MO; and Winston-Salem, NC will host a three-day homestand. There will also be neutral site games in Cheyenne, WY and Anaheim, CA. To determine team rosters, the league held a rider draft on May 23 prior to start of the 2022 season among any bull riders who have declared for the draft during a league eligibility window. The PBR Team Series builds on the existing structure of professional bull riding with the same basic rules for judging and scoring qualified 8-second bull rides. Events will be staged in a tournament-style format with all teams competing in head-to-head matchups against a different opponent each day. Each game will feature five riders per team squaring off against another team. Full team rosters will be comprised of seven riders on the core roster and three practice squad members. The team with the highest aggregate score of qualified rides among its riders will be declared the winner of each game. The event winner will be the team with the most game wins across an event, with a special bonus round designed as a tie-breaker to determine final event standings. All PBR Team Series events will be carried on either the CBS Television Network, streaming live on Paramount+, CBS Sports Network, or RidePass on PlutoTV.
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