Tampa Bay Buccaneers large receiver Chris Godwin will endure surgical procedure on his dislocated left ankle harm and can “most likely be out for the 12 months,” whereas large receiver Mike Evans probably will likely be out till after the staff’s Week 11 bye as a result of his hamstring harm, coach Todd Bowles stated Tuesday.
Each of the staff’s star large receivers had been injured in Monday night time’s 41-31 loss to the Baltimore Ravens.
Bowles left open the likelihood that Godwin might return later this season. Evans, in the meantime, was “hurting fairly good” Monday, Bowles stated.
With 1:04 left in regulation, Godwin caught a move from Baker Mayfield and was tackled from behind by inside linebacker Roquan Smith, with Godwin’s left ankle showing to get caught beneath Smith.
Smith’s sort out seems to have all the weather of a hip-drop sort out and is being reviewed by the NFL, sources informed ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Tuesday. Whether it is deemed to be a hip-drop sort out, Smith could be topic to a high-quality.
Godwin and Evans entered the sport tied for the league lead with 5 landing receptions over Tampa Bay’s first six video games, with Mayfield calling them a “enormous heartbeat of this staff.”
Bowles defended conserving Godwin and different starters within the recreation regardless of it being out of attain with two onside kicks already tried and no timeouts remaining, saying, “We do not second-guess,” and pointing to the truth that the staff was already with out Evans.
Evans, who entered the sport with a hamstring pressure however was decided to play, caught a 25-yard landing move from Mayfield on the opening drive, making him simply the eleventh participant in NFL historical past to succeed in 100 receiving touchdowns.
However within the second quarter, Mayfield tried to search out Evans in the long run zone on a 25-yard go route in opposition to Brandon Stephens, and Evans could not grasp onto the move. Evans fell to the bottom and grabbed the again of his leg whereas writhing in ache.
Evans and Godwin sit No. 1 and a couple of for the Bucs in all-time receiving yards. Evans had hoped to tie Jerry Rice this season for essentially the most consecutive 1,000-yard seasons after recording 10 in his first 10 campaigns. Up till this level, Evans has solely missed 9 regular-season video games, with simply seven as a result of harm or sickness.
However for Godwin, that is the second main career-threatening harm he has handled, having torn an ACL and an MCL in Week 15 of the 2021 season. Godwin stated he lastly felt like he was again to his outdated self this summer time, and several other teammates and coaches took discover too.
ESPN’s Jenna Laine contributed to this report.