Bucky Irving will end Week 14 the same way he began it: dealing with an injury.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back left Sunday’s game against the Las Vegas Raiders due to an injury. However, the issue wasn’t related to the hip injury that Irving suffered in Week 13 and dealt with ahead of Sunday’s contest.
Let’s go over everything we currently know about Irving’s injury situation.
What Happened to Bucky Irving?
Irving was spotted on the sideline with his helmet off late in the second half of Sunday’s Bucs-Raiders game. His status wasn’t clear until the Buccaneers announced he was questionable to return due to a back injury.
RB Bucky Irving (Back) is Questionable to return to today's game. pic.twitter.com/qlBDWD4lJV
— Buccaneers Communications (@BuccaneersComms) December 8, 2024
Irving later was spotted with a heating pad on his back while walking on the sideline. The FOX broadcast revealed Irving would be evaluated at halftime to determine whether he could play in the second half.
During the fourth quarter, the Bucs downgraded Irving to doubtful.
Before injuring his back, Irving had four carries for three yards and one catch for 15 yards. His absence left Rachaad White and Sean Tucker as the top options on Tampa’s running back depth chart.
After Sunday’s win, Bucs head coach Todd Bowles didn’t offer an update on Irving.
However, ESPN’s Jenna Laine offered some optimism, noting that Irving was “walking fine” in the locker room and was “in good spirits” after the game.
Potential Fantasy Impact of Irving’s Injury
From Pro Football Network’s Kyle Soppe:
The Bucs are a top-10 pass-rate-over-expectation offense in the league, and an injury like this only gives them more of an excuse to go the one-dimensional route.
We saw Sterling Shepard and Jalen McMillan see more usage against the Raiders than earlier in the season, and that was before Irving’s injury. Both are reasonable speculative adds, though expecting either to crack our top 30 in any week moving forward is a very optimistic angle to take.
White would move into the must-start tier while Tucker moves up the depth chart. Tucker can be added, but like the receivers, he’s more of a stash than a plug-and-play.