Tampa Bay Buccaneers News Updates

Tampa Bay Buccaneers News Updates

There was nothing surprising about the updates that Buccaneers Head Coach Todd Bowles provided about his top two receivers late on Tuesday afternoon, but there was nothing particularly encouraging about it either.

Chris Godwin, who suffered a dislocated ankle on the final drive of the Bucs’ loss to Baltimore on Monday night, is likely done for 2024. And Mike Evans, who aggravated an existing hamstring injury in the second quarter, may not be back until after the team’s Week 11 bye.

“[Godwin] will be undergoing surgery very soon,” said Bowles. “He’ll probably be out for the year. There’s a chance, if we make a late playoff run, that he could be back but he’s undergoing surgery and he’s going to be out.”

Bowles said Godwin’s dislocation, which occurred on what may be judged a hip-drop tackle by Roquan Smith – a play that was banned this past offseason – caused some other damage in the joint.

“There was a little more damage than that, but I’m not a medical person so I couldn’t sit here and begin to tell you the things that they told me,” said the coach. “I just know that it was serious.”

Evans was somewhat limited by his hamstring injury in the Buccaneers’ Week Six win at New Orleans but he came out firing against the Ravens, catching a 25-yard touchdown pass to cap the first possession of the game. It was the 100th touchdown reception of his career, making him one of just 11 players in NFL history to hit that mark. However, it was on another potential scoring grab a little later in the half that he suffered his injury. The most likely prognosis, according to Bowles, is that Evans will miss at least the next three games.

“At this point, we’re probably expecting after the Bye Week,” said Bowles. “He tweaked it pretty good when he fell on it on that play. It’s moderate, but it’s hurting pretty good right now. We’ll probably say after the Bye Week, hopefully.”

The Buccaneers will move forward with rookie Jalen McMillan, second-year player Trey Palmer and offseason veteran addition Sterling Shepard. Rookie wideout Kameron Johnson just went on injured reserve on Monday and thus will also be out until at least the bye week. Second-year receiver Rakim Jarrett is in his 21-day window to return from injured reserve and the Bucs also have young receivers Ryan Miller and Tanner Knue on the practice squad. As always, the team’s personnel department will look into options from outside the Bucs’ current roster, but the current plan is to ride the players already in the building.

“We’ve looked outside the building, but to get a true No. 1 in here, you have to make some massive trades and give up quite a bit,” said Bowles. “That’s not where we are at this point. We feel comfortable with the guys in the building. They’re probably not of name status of Mike or Chris, or as accomplished right now, but that doesn’t mean they can’t play. We’ll alter some things. Jarrett will be back this week – we’ll look at him in practice, as well – we’ll make a decision off of that. But, to go out and get a guy to come in here and be a No. 1 and a dominant guy, it’s probably going to cost you half your team. We feel comfortable with the guys we have in here now. We know what their skillsets are and we’re going to go with them right now.”

CLICK HERE to watch Coach Bowles’ day-after-game press conference.

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