The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have placed defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh on the reserve/COVID-19 list, which now currently has four players on it. Kicker Ryan Succop was placed on the COVID list on Tuesday and offensive linemen Nick Leverett and Earl Watford joined him on Friday.
None of those four will be available to play in Saturday night's preseason finale against the Texans in Houston. However, all four should be activated from the list prior to the regular season opener against Dallas on September 9.
Suh started all 20 games for Tampa Bay last season, including the playoffs, and was a key part of the team's top-ranked run defense. He also recorded 44 tackles, 6.0 sacks, nine tackles for loss, two passes defensed and a forced fumble. His 19 quarterback hits were just one off the team lead. Suh has also played for Detroit, Miami and the Los Angeles Rams and has amassed 563 tackles and 64.5 sacks across 11 seasons.
Notably, Suh has never missed a regular-season game due to injury or illness. He has played in and started 174 of a possible 176 games over those 11 seasons, including the last 147 in a row.
The Buccaneers come into the preseason finale with quite a bit of depth on the defensive line. Even without Suh they have nine players to work into that rotation. Head Coach Bruce Arians has indicated that he plans to keep his starters on the field for at least the first half of the game, and that would have included Suh on the line along with Vita Vea and Will Gholston. Patrick O'Connor is specifically listed as the second player behind Suh on the team's current depth chart.
