The good news is that only one player has been ruled out in advance of Sunday's home game against New Orleans. Cornerback Jamel Dean will miss Sunday with an illness, as Head Coach Bruce Arians classified it on Friday. Dean has been dealing with fogginess, though he cleared concussion protocol in advance of last Sunday's game against the Bills.
The not so good news is that there are four other players with game status designations ranging from doubtful to questionable, and three of the four are defensive backs. It's just another week in a year where nothing seems to be stable for the Bucs' secondary. Of the three, safety Jordan Whitehead seems to be trending upward after he was upgraded on Friday from limited participation to full. Neither Richard Sherman nor Antoine Winfield Jr. have practiced this week but Sherman is doubtful while Winfield Jr. is questionable. Running back Leonard Fournette also has the latter designation as he deals with an ankle injury.
The Saints ruled out three players, including both tackles Ryan Ramczyk and Terron Armstead. Two others are questionable, including wide receiver Lil'Jordan Humphrey.
Read below for the full injury report for both teams:
Buccaneers
CB Jamel Dean (concussion) – Did Not Participate – OUT
CB Richard Sherman (Achilles) – Did Not Participate – DOUBTFUL
RB Leonard Fournette (ankle) – Limited Participation – QUESTIONABLE
S Jordan Whitehead (calf) – Full Participation – QUESTIONABLE
S Antoine Winfield Jr. (foot) – Did Not Participate – QUESTIONABLE
QB Tom Brady (not injury related – resting player/right shoulder) – Full Participation
TE Rob Gronkowski (not injury related – resting player) – Did Not Participate
OLB Jason Pierre-Paul (shoulder) – Did Not Participate
P Bradley Pinion (right hip) – Full Participation
DT Ndamukong Suh (not injury related – resting player) – Did Not Participate
Saints
T Terron Armstead (knee) – Did Not Participate – OUT
TE Garrett Griffin (hamstring) – Did Not Participate – OUT
T Ryan Ramczyk (knee) – Did Not Participate – OUT
LB Kaden Elliss (hamstring) – Did Not Participate – QUESTIONABLE
WR Lil'Jordan Humphrey (hamstring) – Limited Participation – QUESTIONABLE
DE Marcus Davenport (shoulder) – Limited Participation
S Chauncey Gardner-Johnson (toe) – Full Participation
QB Taysom Hill (right finger) – Full Participation
LB Pete Werner (elbow) – Full Participation
*bold denotes change from previous day
Today, Saints Head Coach Sean Payton tested positive for Covid-19 and was immediately isolated. He has been fully vaccinated.
Per NFL protocols, Payton will be out for 10 days unless he meets the league requirements for a fully vaccinated individual to return to the team environment.
Defensive Coordinator Dennis Allen will assume the duties of head coach for the December 19th at Tampa Bay game.
