Week 7: Lions – Buccaneers Friday Injury Report

There was some movement for both teams on a couple of key players on Friday, good for the Lions and potentially bad for the Bucs.  Otherwise, a lot of status quo.

Buccaneers

Friday: The Bucs saw star WR Mike Evans, who was a Limited Participant on Thursday, regress to a Non-Participant on Friday.  This may have been planned as part of his process working back form the Hamstring, but we will know for sure his direction when the game designations come out later today.  The only other movement was Punter Riley Dixon, who was back from his personal day.

Thursday: The Bucs beat up WR and RB rooms were well known, and it is seen on the initial report.  Egbuka (NP), Godwin (NP), Evans (LP) and Irving (NP) are their top four weapons, and only Evans looks to be trending toward suiting up. They did get back both CBs (McCollum and Morrison) to Ful Practice, but starting LB LaVonte David being NP could severely impact the defenses’ ability to make splash plays, as he does a bit of everything.

Lions

Friday:  The Lions were pretty much in line with expectations, but both Terrion Arnold (NP to LP) and DJ Reader (NP to LP) so progress from Thursday to Friday.  Reality is that Reader is probably getting vet maintenance days, and Arnold may still be a couple weeks away with the Bye next week, but there is a possibility he could help a depleted secondary playing through the issue with a shoulder harness.  Otherwise, it appears that Joseph, Maddox and Vaki are trending to be out and Alim McNeil should be activated as part of a flurry of moves today or tomorrow, with him filling the Branch spot caused by suspension and likely two DBs being elevated if Decker is able to go.

Thursday: Lions report was pretty much as expected, Arnold, Joseph, Maddox and Vaki were all expected to be No Practice guys. The inclusion of DJ Reader (bad surprise) with a back injury was NOT expected and can only hope to be precautionary to help him get rested up before Monday. Seeing Taylor Decker back with a Full Participant designation (good surprise) is excellent news, as Campbell seemed to indicate he wasn’t expected at practice today.  McNeil and Cunningham being Full Participants was also good news, as they will bolster the DL and LB depth if they can go, helping to offset the weakened secondary.