Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ veteran wideout Russell Gage is expected to miss the entire 2023 NLF season with a knee injury. Gage was hurt on Wednesday during the Bucs’ joint practice with the New York Jets.
Reportedly, Gage was backpedaling during a 7-on-7 drill when the injury happened. He needed to be carted off the field.
The Bucs’ head coach Todd Bowles confirmed that Gage is dealing with a “pretty serious” injury but didn’t want to go into details.
“I can tell by the way that he was sitting on the truck that it was probably something that happened pretty bad,” Bowles added. “Our hearts go out to him, and we’ll see how it goes.”
Injuries have been a recurring theme for Russell Gage since he joined the Bucs ahead of the 2022 season on a three-year, $30 million contract. He was limited to 13 games in his first season with the franchise due to a hamstring injury, making 51 catches for 426 receiving yards and five touchdowns. The LSU product then suffered a neck injury and a concussion in a Wild Card Round game against the Dallas Cowboys.
With Gage out, Tampa Bay will likely turn to second-year wideout Deven Thompkins and rookie Trey Palmer to step into the No. 3 role behind starters Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. They also have veteran David Moore on their roster.
