The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are once again navigating a game without two of their best offensive players in running back Bucky Irving and wide receiver Mike Evans.
Irving has now missed two games in a row as he continues to deal with shoulder and foot injuries. Meanwhile, Evans has missed three consecutive contests due to his hamstring injury.
There wasn't any progress this week as far as their respective practice participations go, as both Irving and Evans didn't take part in a single session in the week leading up to the Week 6 game before being ruled out.
Here's what we know about their respective statuses for Week 7.
Bucky Irving injury update
According to The Tampa Bay Times' Rick Stroud, Irving "could miss 1-2 more weeks" with his injuries.
"In addition to running back Bucky Irving, who could miss 1-2 more weeks with foot/shoulder injuries, cornerback Zyon McCollum appears to be out with a thumb injury suffered two weeks ago against Philadelphia," Stroud wrote.
Knowing that timeline, combined with the fact that Irving didn't practice at all this past week, it would seem there is definitely a chance Irving sits out in Week 7 and quite possibly longer.
That said, due to the fact that Irving wasn't placed on injured reserve means the Bucs believe he could be back after three weeks. That would place his return at Week 8.
Mike Evans injury update
If the Bucs expected Evans to miss four games, they would have placed him on injured reserve, so that leaves the door open for a Week 7 return.
However, it's worth noting that Evans' injury might be a bit worse than initially feared. After all, NFL Network's Tom Pelissero reported that Evans' injury wasn't considered worse than his hamstring injury last season that cost him three games, which suggested he could be back after two contests.
"Bucs WR Mike Evans is expected to miss multiple weeks because of the hamstring injury he suffered Sunday, sources tell The Insiders," Pelissero reported on Sept. 23. "Evans’ hamstring injury isn’t as bad as last year’s, which sidelined him three games. But he’s expected to be out for a bit."
Unfortunately, that didn't come to fruition with Evans missing his third game. We would label him questionable for Week 7.
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