Kwon Alexander isn’t the only Buccaneers linebacker who suffered a torn ACL on Sunday, as an MRI revealed Jack Cichy will miss the rest of the 2018 season with the same injury, according to Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter link).
This marks the second torn ACL of Cichy’s football career, as he previously suffered the injury in August 2017, just before the start of his final collegiate season at Wisconsin. Instead of taking a medical waiver and staying in Madison, Cichy entered the 2018 draft, and eventually was selected in the sixth round.
Cichy entered Sunday’s contest after Alexander had already gone down, playing outside linebacker while Adarius Taylor shifted to the middle to replace Alexander. With only four healthy linebackers — Taylor, Lavonte David, Cameron Lynch, and Devante Bond — still on their roster, the Buccaneers will need to make an addition this week. Kendell Beckwith is eligible to return from the non-football injury list, but given that he’s yet to practice, he’s probably not a realistic option.
The Buccaneers seem to have at least one candidate in mind to fill a linebacker void. Riley Bullough, who split the 2017 season between Tampa’s active and practice squad, was in town for a workout and physical, tweets Greg Auman of The Athletic. He reached an injury settlement with the Bucs earlier this year, and is now eligible to be re-signed.