The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be without wide receiver Antonio Brown for their NFC Championship Game, a fact that had been known since Brown was declared out on Friday's injury report. However, the team did have one player whose status was in doubt for Sunday's game: rookie safety Antoine Winfield Jr., who was questionable due to an ankle injury suffered in practice.
The news is not good on that front, either. Winfield was placed on the team's inactive list and will be replaced by Mike Edwards in the Bucs' defense. Winfield, who was recently named to the PFWA All-Rookie Team, has been one of the top playmakers in the Bucs' defense, as evidenced by his game-changing forced fumble in New Orleans last weekend. Rookie Javon Hagan, who was elevated from the practice squad on Saturday, will join Andrew Adams as reserves at the safety position.
The Buccaneers announced their list of inactives at 1:35 p.m. ET, 90 minutes before their scheduled kickoff against Green Bay. After elevating Hagan and guard Ted Larsen from the practice squad on Saturday, the Bucs had 55 players from which to choose, meaning they had to declare seven of them inactive in order to get to the game day limit of 48.
The Bucs will be getting a contributor back on defense, however, as defensive lineman Vita Vea is among the team's active players for the game. He was just activated from injured reserve on Friday.
Packers defensive lineman Kingsley Keke will miss a third straight game due to a concussion. However, cornerback Kevin King, who was a late addition to the injury report and was considered questionable to play, has been cleared and is active.
BUCCANEERS INACTIVES
- TE Antony Auclair
- WR Antonio Brown
- DL Khalil Davis
- QB Ryan Griffin
- DL Jeremiah Ledbetter
- RB Ke'Shawn Vaughn
- S Antoine Winfield, Jr.
Brown and Winfield are out due to injury.
PACKERS INACTIVES
- LB Jonathan Garvin
- CB Ka'dar Hollman
- CB Josh Jackson
- DL Kingsley Keke
- QB Jordan Love
- S Vernon Scott
- TE Jace Sternberger
Keke is out due to injury.
