By james art There was nothing surprising in the updates Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles provided on his top two receivers late Tuesday afternoon, but there wasn’t anything particularly encouraging about it either.
Chris Godwin, who suffered a sprained ankle on the final drive of the Bucks’ 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 return until after this bye to the week 11 team.
“[Godwin] he’s going to have surgery very soon,” Bowles said. “He’s probably going to be out the whole year. There’s a chance if we make a late playoff game he could come back, but he’s having surgery and will be out.”
Bowles said Godwin’s sprain, which occurred on what appeared to be a hip drop hit by Roquan Smith — a play that was banned last offseason — caused some other damage to the joint.
“There was a little more damage than that, but I’m not a medical person, so I couldn’t sit here and start telling you the things that they told me,” the coach said. “I just know it was serious.”
Evans was somewhat limited by his hamstring injury in the Buccaneers’ Week Six win in New Orleans, but he came out firing against the Ravens, catching a 25-yard touchdown pass to cap the game’s first possession. It was his 100th career touchdown reception, making him one of only 11 players in NFL history to reach the mark. However, a little later in the half he was injured on another potential goal. The most likely prediction, according to Bowles, is that Evans will miss at least the next three games.
“At this point, we’re probably looking at after the Bye Week,” Bowles said. “He changed it up pretty good when he fell on him that game. It’s moderate, but it hurts pretty good right now. We’ll probably say goodbye after the week, hopefully.”
The Buccaneers will move forward with rookie Jaylen McMillan, second baseman Trey Palmer and veteran offseason addition Sterling Shepard. Rookie Cameron Johnson just went on injured reserve on Monday and thus will also be out until at least the bye week. Sophomore receiver Rakeem Jarrett is in his 21-day window to return from injured reserve, and the Bucs also have young receivers Ryan Miller and Tanner Knew on the practice squad. As always, the team’s personnel department will look at options outside of the Bucs’ current roster, but the current plan is to ride the players already in the building.
“We looked outside the building, but to become a true No. 1 here, you have to make some huge trades and give up a lot,” Bowles said. “We’re not there right now. We feel comfortable with the guys in the building. Maybe they’re not with names like Mike or Chris or what they’ve got right now, but that doesn’t mean they can’t play. We feel good with the guys we have here, now we know what their skills are and we will join them.”
CLICK HERE to watch Coach Bowles’ postgame press conference.