Julio Jones will have to wait a little longer to face his former team, though Russell Gage will get that opportunity after being cleared to play on Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons.
Jones was the NFL's most prolific receiver during a 10-year run with the Falcons, with 12,896 yards from 2011-20, but a knee ailment will prevent him from playing against Atlanta for the first time. Gage, who was added to the injury report on Saturday due to a back ailment, played the previous four seasons in Atlanta before joining the Buccaneers this year.
The Buccaneers also declared wide receivers Breshad Perriman and Deven Thompkins inactive, leaving them with six active wideouts for Sunday's game: Gage, Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Jaelon Darden, Scotty Miller and Kaylon Geiger. Geiger and Thompkins, a pair of undrafted rookies, were elevated from the practice squad on Saturday.
Tampa Bay's defense will also be without two regulars who are new to the team in 2022. Defensive lineman Akiem Hicks will miss his third consecutive game due to a foot injury while Logan Ryan will be sidelined by his own foot ailment, suffered last Sunday. In addition, tight end Cameron Brate remains in the concussion protocol and will not suit up against the Falcons.
The Buccaneers and Falcons submitted their list of inactives at 11:30 a.m. ET on Sunday, 90 minutes before the scheduled kickoff of their Week Five matchup. The Buccaneers had elevated Geiger and Thompkins from the practice squad on Saturday, giving them a 55-man roster for the game. That means they had to name seven inactives in order to get down to the active game limit of 48. The Falcons elevated tight end MyCole Pruitt from the practice squad but also released defensive lineman Anthony Rush, leaving them with 53 eligible players and making it necessary to deactivate five of them.
The Falcons' only player out due to injury is starting tight end Kyle Pitts, who did not practice this week due to an ankle injury.
BUCCANEERS INACTIVES
- TE Cam Brate
- WR Deven Thompkins
- DL Akiem Hicks
- WR Julio Jones
- WR Breshad Perriman
- S Logan Ryan
- QB Kyle Trask
Brate, Hicks, Jones, Perriman and Ryan are out due to injury.
FALCONS INACTIVES
- WR Jared Bernhardt
- OL Chuma Edoga
- ILB Nick Kwiatkowski
- OLB DeAngelo Malone
- TE Kyle Pitts
Pitts is out due to injury.