The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and wide receiver Russell Gage were dealt a tough blow during Wednesday’s joint practice with the New York Jets.
Gage was carted off the field with a non-contact injury, per NFL.com. The severity of the injury has yet to be confirmed, but ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reports that it will end his 2023 season.
How Will Tampa Bay Replace Russell Gage?
Losing Gage would be a tough blow for a Bucs team hoping to contend for the NFC South this year.
The 27-year-old wideout chipped in 51 catches, 426 yards, and five touchdowns in 13 games for last year’s NFC South champions. Gage was looking to reprise his role as a sturdy third receiver for Tampa Bay.
Tampa Bay head coach Todd Bowles spoke about the injury after practice.
“We wish him the best,” Bowles told reporters. “I can tell by the way he was sitting on the truck that it’s probably something that happened pretty bad. Our hearts go out to him, and we’ll see how it goes.”
Todd Bowles confirms it looks like a serious knee injury for WR Russell Gage pic.twitter.com/iChZ7rXn4H
— Rick Stroud (@NFLSTROUD) August 16, 2023
Now, Gage’s season is over before it ever began. And it leaves Tampa Bay with a hole to fill behind Mike Evans and Chris Godwin.
Tampa Bay is fortunate that it has the two former Pro Bowlers to fall back on. But defenses will be able to commit even more attention to them now with Gage injured.
Behind those two are a fleet of unproven pass catchers who will look to capitalize on the vacant targets. Included in that group are five undrafted players (Taye Barber, Kaylon Geiger, Rakim Jarrett, Deven Thompkins, Kade Warner), a sixth-round rookie (Trey Palmer), and a veteran journeyman in David Moore.
The most proven among them is Moore, who pulled in 78 receptions, 1,163 yards, and 13 touchdowns in a three-season stint with the Seattle Seahawks between 2018 and 2020.
Moore, however, hasn’t caught a pass outside of the preseason in the last two years. Still, his 78 career receptions are 73 more than the next closest Bucs receiver (other than Evans and Godwin), Deven Thompkins, who caught five passes in last year’s rookie campaign.
The Bucs will certainly hope for one of these little-known youngsters to capitalize on the opportunity now available to them, but it’d also be prudent to peruse the free agent market.
To that end, some prominent names like Kenny Golladay, Julio Jones, Jarvis Landry, Sammy Watkins, and T.Y. Hilton are still awaiting their next NFL opportunity.
Jones would make some sense seeing as he spent ten games with Tampa Bay last season. Landry, too, could thrive working underneath between Evans and Godwin.
Still, losing Gage will sting, and replacing him is likely to prove a difficult task for Tampa Bay.
