To say that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are banged up would be an understatement.
Their safety room has been annihilated with injuries, with both starters out for the foreseeable future and their top backup out as well. Jordan Whitehead is on injured reserve, Antoine Winfield Jr. is out for an unknown time period with a knee sprain, Mike Edwards is still sidelined with a hamstring injury and Christian Izien is a game-time decision with a groin injury. Not good for a team that is in desperate need of wins in order to maintain first place in the NFC South.
It’s not just the safety room that’s banged up, though. The Bucs banged up across the board and are dealing with starters hurt or ruled out altogether. And unlike the previous three games, this week’s opponent comes against a team that is over .500. The Buccaneers head to Los Angeles to take on the Chargers at three-point underdogs as injuries have started to finally catch up to them.
As a last resort, the Bucs have looked to a familiar face from the practice squad to help bail them out of their injury crunch at safety, elevating Ryan Neal for Sunday’s game. Neal signed with the Bucs last season and quickly won the starting job after a terrific 2022 performance with the Seahawks. However, it wouldn’t translate for the Bucs, as Neal was widely inconsistent and was eventually benched toward the end of the season. He does provide the Bucs a layer of comfortability as he knows the system and will likely play on special teams, but he could see some snaps as a dime linebacker.
The Bucs also announced they have elevated punter Jack Browning for the second straight week. Browning punted three times last week, averaging 42.7 yards per punt. After a punt of 49 yards, his next two punts left a lot to be desired with distances of 30 and 40 yards. The Bucs have already gone through two punters this season between Jake Camarda and Trenton Gill and will have two more looks to see if Browning can man the position for the rest of the season until his practice squad elevations run out.
