There was thrilling news for the Bucs when they had their first practice of the week. Wide receiver Chris Godwin Jr. and left tackle Tristan Wirfs were participating for the first time as each player missed all of training camp.
Godwin’s injury goes all the way back to to when he had a season ending injury in Week 7 of last year. Wirfs had an offseason procedure on his knee when it was determined that it wouldn’t just rehabilitate on it’s own. The Bucs were able to get by with a win against Atlanta in Week 1 without either of them, but they’ll definitely need each player when the stakes are greater.
There’s also an outside chance that they play on Monday night.
“Both of them actually can, (play on Monday) but we’ll see how the week goes,” head coach Todd Bowles said. “We’ve got to see how recovery goes from today to tomorrow to the next day and then we’ll kind of go from there.”
Bucs LT Tristan Wirfs – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR
Another good sign for the Bucs was the returning Christian Izien, who missed last week with an oblique injury. He practiced in full, giving him a better opportunity to return. Rookie corner Benjamin Morrison also practiced and is expected to make his NFL debut on Monday.
“He’s trending towards being up this week if he can have a couple of days of good practice,” Todd Bowles said. “He’ll be [on] special teams, but we’ll try to get him some defensive snaps as well to get his feet wet.”
What needs to be monitored over the next two days is the status of Luke Goedeke and Greg Gaines. Bowles said that Goedeke got hurt in the game last week and they kept him out today.
Bucs RT Luke Goedeke – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR
Here is the full injury report for the Bucs and Texans on Thursday:
Bucs Thursday Injury Report
NT Greg Gaines – Ankle – Did Not Participate
T Luke Goedeke – Foot – Did Not Participate
WR Chris Godwin Jr. – Ankle – Limited Participation
TE Ko Kieft – Head – Limited Participation
CB Zyon McCollum – Neck/Shoulder – Limited Participation
Bucs CB Zyon McCollum – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR
OLB Haason Reddick – Foot – Limited Participation
T Tristan Wirfs – Knee – Limited Participation
S Christian Izien – Oblique – Full Participation
CB Benjamin Morrison – Quad – Full Participation
Texans Thursday Injury Report
C Jake Andrews – Ankle – Did Not Participate
WR Braxton Berrios – Hamstring – Did Not Participate
WR Christian Kirk – Hamstring – Did Not Participate
G Ed Ingram – Abdomen – Limited Participation
T Blake Fisher – Ankle – Full Participation