Buccaneers Injury Report Leaves Plenty of Questions Heading into Saints Week

One of the biggest concerns leading into the 2023 NFL season for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was the depth of their roster.

On paper, there's no denying that Tampa Bay has plenty of proven talent on both sides of the ball. Although the old adage, 'your best ability is availability' can be applied to any team, it really hits home with this group.

Primarily on defense.

Just three games into the season and the Bucs have already been without their top cornerback, Carlton Davis, for two of them. Now, with Jamel Dean nursing an apparent shoulder injury, there's a legitimate chance that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers could be without their two best outside cornerbacks for an important divisional matchup vs. the New Orleans Saints next Sunday.

The Bucs' first-round pick, Calijah Kancey, has also been unavailable due to a calf injury that kept him out for the majority of training camp, and the entire preseason. After the Buccaneers chose to start him in week 1, he wasn't able to make it to halftime before re-aggravating the injury.

In hindsight, it would have been worth it for the Buccaneers' to play it safe with their biggest draft investment -- by prioritizing on his long-term health over his short-term availability -- as opposed to throwing him into an NFL game before he was healthy, which is exactly what they did.

Now, the team is dealing with the ramifications of that decision.

So when the Buccaneers' released their injury report on Wednesday, many were watching with a keen eye to see if anything had changed regarding the status of some key players.

The #GoBucs first injury report of the week is here.

Not practicing:

Jamel Dean
SirVocea Dennis
Calijah Kancey
Devin White
Vita Vea
Derrek Pitts

Limited:

Carlton Davis pic.twitter.com/rLkzJ40O4b
— JC Allen (@JCAllenNFL) September 27, 2023

Carlton Davis being limited provides at least a glimmer of hope that the team's top corner is making some progress with the toe injury that has been plaguing him.

After seeing Devin White step out of bounds after intercepting Jalen Hurts on Monday night, it's no surprise to see that he was held out of the team's walk-through. What is a bit of a surprise though, is that White is listed with a foot injury, and not the groin issue that was plaguing him in Week 3.

It appears as though Vita Vea, who was dealing with this pectoral injury last week, is still working his way back to 100%.

Calijah Kancey's calf remains a big question mark. And as much as Tampa Bay needs him on the field, my hope is that the Buccaneers have learned their lesson, and will wait until he is fully healthy before allowing him to play.

Jamel Dean didn't participate on Wednesday either, as he's dealing with the shoulder/neck injury he suffered in the first half of the team's game vs. the Eagles. With little to no specific information about the severity of his injury, it feels like a bit of a guessing game regarding whether or not he is trending in the right direction.

The reality is, there hasn't been specific information offered by the team on any of the injuries. Which makes it even harder to predict the availability of the Buccaneers' who have found their names on this most recent injury report.

You can follow Collin Haalboom on X.

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