Buccaneers at Vikings: Week 1 initial injury report

The Buccaneers appear to have a key player on track to play Sunday

Some good news and bad news on the injury front for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers ahead of NFL Kickoff Weekend when they travel to Minneapolis to take on the Minnesota Vikings. Antoine Winfield Jr., who has been dealing with a right leg injury, was a full participant at practice on Wednesday so there appears to be a good chance he’ll take the field against the Vikings’ dangerous trio of pass catchers – Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, and T.J. Hockenson.

The also saw the returns of rookie linebackers YaYa Diaby and Sirvocea Dennis to the practice field after both were dealing with injuries suffered during preseason games.

The bad news is that first round pick Calijah Kancey is still not practicing and has been dealing with a calf injury for the better part of a month. The rookie out of Pitt was supposed to be a big part of revamping the defensive line with his combination of speed and strength, but the development has been stunted a little due to injury.

The Bucs would be wise to be cautious with Kancey so that he’s fully healed before returning to action. If he rushes back, it can create bigger problems and lead to even more missed time. It’s better to have him miss one or two games early in the year than miss half a season due to lingering issues.

Running back Ke’Shawn Vaughn missed practice due to personal issues and when head coach Todd Bowles was asked if this was an excused absence he told the media, “No, it was not an excused absence.”

For the Vikings, only one player was listed on the report and that was linebacker Troy Dye (elbow) but he was a full participant.

You can check out the full injury report below;

The Buccaneers and Vikings square off on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. ET with Andrew Catalon, Tiki Barber, Matt Ryan, and A.J. Ross on the call for CBS.

For more on this and all things Tampa Bay Buccaneers, check out James Yarcho and David Harrison on the Locked On Bucs Podcast!