We’re not even five full weeks into the season and the injury bug has already burrowed itself deep into the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ roster. While key players like Tristan Wirfs and Chris Godwin have returned after starting the season on the sideline, the Bucs locker room has turned into a MASH unit with just about everyone having suffered some sort of an injury.
Mike Evans is out with a hamstring, Luke Goedeke has a foot injury, and the season is already over for both Calijah Kancey and Cody Mauch. Jamel Dean, Benjamin Morrison, and Bucky Irving are all unlikely to play in Week 5 while even Baker Mayfield and Emeka Egbuka have popped up on injury reports over the last few weeks.
Irving is the latest star to be taken out, as he was seen at practice on Wednesday with a boot on his foot while needing crutches to move around. It technically wasn’t even practice, though, since not enough players are healthy for that to happen.
Buccaneers needed to alter practice on Wednesday due to so many injuries
Head coach Todd Bowles noted that so many Buccaneers players are injured that the team had to conduct a walk through since not enough players are healthy.
“We probably had more people who couldn’t practice than could practice,” Bowles explained.
That’s absolutely insane, and goes to show just how banged up the Bucs are this early in the season.
It’s making life even harder than it already is — which is no walk in the park to begin with. The Bucs eked out last-second victories in each of the first three weeks, and nearly pulled off another comeback on Sunday against the Eagles.
The toll has been heavy, though. Evans was lost in the win over the Jets and will miss at least a few weeks; Goedeke, Kancey, and Mauch were lost in the comeback over the Texans with the latter two needing to be placed on IR.
Something similar to what Bucky is going through happened to Antoine Winfield Jr. last season where an injury seemingly popped up out of nowhere before costing multiple games. Hopefully that’s not the case here, but this season already has shades of 2022 when it seemed nobody could stay healthy.
Despit it all, the Bucs head to Seattle with a 3-1 record and control of the NFC South. How long that lasts is yet to be seen and the injuries will certainly make the uphill battle even steeper, but Tampa Bay has proven it can navigate out of choppy waters before.
If they’re going to do it again, though, the Bucs will need a lot more of the luck we’ve seen bounce their way over the first few weeks of the season.
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