Doug Martin To Return For Buccaneers
The severe hamstring injury that has defined Doug Martin‘s season to this point won’t restrict the Buccaneers’ top running back from playing in Week 10 against the Bears. Martin will suit up for Sunday’s game, Greg Auman of the Tampa Bay Times reports.
Martin has not ventured to IR this season despite missing eight weeks, but his absence and his backfield mates’ subsequent maladies have restricted the Bucs. The 27-year-old ball-carrier isn’t a lock to start, but he should be considered ready to assume some of his previous duties.
Charles Sims and Jacquizz Rodgers are out for Sunday, with the former being a candidate to return from IR. Rodgers is without a return timetable after suffering a foot injury, one that sent the Bucs’ fourth and fifth backfield options, Peyton Barber and Antone Smith, into action. Smith is out for the season after playing in just three games with the team.
The recently re-signed Martin hasn’t played since Week 2 but is obviously coming off a full-season performance that did enough to earn him a five-year, $35.7MM extension to stay in Tampa Bay. Martin gained 1,673 yards from scrimmage and scored seven touchdowns last season, bouncing back from two down campaigns — both marred by injuries — to earn that long-term security.
Tampa Bay’s managed to remain a middling rushing attack without its top threat, ranking 16th at 108.0 yards per game, but the team sits 3-5 and has already lost Vincent Jackson as another key offensive option.
Buccaneers Promote OL Ben Gottschalk
The Buccaneers offensive line could be without two key pieces this weekend, so the team has added some reinforcement from the practice squad. Greg Auman of the Tampa Bay Times reports (via Twitter) that the Bucs have promoted guard/center Ben Gottschalk from the practice squad.
Gottschalk, an undrafted rookie out of SMU in 2014, could make his NFL debut this weekend. Left guard Kevin Pamphile (concussion) and center Joe Hawley (knee) are not expected to play, forcing backups Evan Dietrich-Smith and Caleb Benenoch into the starting lineup. As a result of the lineup changes, the Buccaneers would only have two lineman, Leonard Wester and Gosder Cherilus, on the bench. Gottschalk’s ability to play both guard and center should allow him to see some snaps against the Bears.
The 24-year-old has been on the Buccaneers practice squad all season. The lineman previously spent time with the Chiefs and 49ers.
Bucs Giving Josh Huff Significant Money
Earlier this week, the Buccaneers scooped up troubled wide receiver Josh Huff by signing him to a practice squad deal. It turns out that he is getting paid a lot more than your average practice squad player, a likely indication that there was competition for his services. The Buccaneers are paying wide receiver Huff $31K/week to be a member of their practice squad, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets. That’s a solid paycheck, especially when considering that he was making $36K/week on the Eagles’ active roster. 
P-squad players make a minimum of $6,900 per week which comes out to just over $117K if that player is on the roster for the entire season. Taxi squad players also earn weekly paychecks during the playoffs, provided that the team makes it to the postseason. Huff’s deal with Tampa Bay is worth nearly five times the league-mandated minimum wage, so one has to imagine that other teams expressed interest in him.
Huff found himself out of work following an arrest for a gun charge, speeding, and marijuana possession. It seems likely that he will face punishment from 345 Park Ave., but the league must wait for the legal process to play out a bit before doling out a suspension or fine.
In the interim, the Bucs are evaluating the Oregon product and a promotion to the 53-man roster may not be far off.
Buccaneers Promote Russell Hansbrough
- After placing veteran running back Antone Smith on injured reserve, the Buccaneers have promoted Russell Hansbrough from the practice squad, the team announced. Hansbrough has bounced on and off Tampa’s taxi squad this year.
Bucs Place Louis Murphy On Reserve PUP
The Buccaneers were eager to get Louis Murphy back into the lineup this year, particularly after Vincent Jackson went down with injury. Unfortunately, after suffering another setback, that won’t be happening. The Bucs announced today that Murphy has been placed on the Physically Unable to Perform/reserve list, which ends his season. 
[RELATED: Bucs Sign WR Josh Huff To Practice Squad]
Murphy returned to practice last month and was making strides in his recovery from ACL surgery. Unfortunately, he wound up with an unrelated injury and has been sidelined ever since. Today was the last day on Murphy’s three-week practice window and the Bucs were forced to make their decision.
Murphy joined Tampa Bay before the 2014 season and has managed 41 receptions since. The Bucs still have him under contract through the 2017 season at a reasonable $2.087MM cap number. The Bucs could also cut him before June 1st and save $2MM while being left with just ~$87K in dead money.
Buccaneers Sign Josh Huff To Practice Squad
The Buccaneers have signed wide receiver Josh Huff to the practice squad, as Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times tweets. Huff was cut loose by the Eagles last week following his arrest. 
Huff made headlines for all the wrong reasons this month when he was pulled over for speeding and found with a firearm and marijuana. Huff is supposedly licensed for the gun in his home state of Texas, but New Jersey does not cross-honor permits from other states.
The wide receiver faces charges for gun possession without a permit, possessing a magazine with six hollow-point bullets, and “a disorderly persons offense” for having less than 50 grams of pot. Given the tough gun laws in N.J., Huff could even face separate charges for each of those six bullets.
The NFL is looking into Huff’s incident, but until their investigation concludes, he is free to play just like anyone else. The league may wait until Huff’s legal situation is resolved before taking any action and that would mean that he could avoid punishment until 2017.
Could Doug Martin Return Next Week?
“These hamstrings are just delicate. He was 90-plus percent back and doing his rehab run one day and he tweaked it again. (Bucs trainers) kind of had to go back and start over.”
Buccaneers running back Doug Martin hasn’t seen the field since the second week of the season, but the 27-year-old may finally have a definitive return date. Buccaneers coach Dirk Koetter told SiriusXM NFL Radio that the team is optimistic that Martin will return for next week’s contest against the Bears.
Two Bucs Suffer Season-Ending Injuries
Not only did the Buccaneers drop a crucial NFC South matchup to the Falcons on Thursday, but they also lost running back Antone Smith and defensive end Howard Jones to season-ending knee injuries, head coach Dirk Koetter announced Friday (Twitter link via Greg Auman of the Tampa Bay Times).
Smith, who signed with the injury-ravaged Buccaneers on Oct. 17, is the latest of their rushers to land on the shelf this year. Starter Doug Martin hasn’t played since Week 2 because of hamstring troubles; his primary complement, Charles Sims, went on injured reserve last month – shortly before Jones’ signing – with a knee issue; and Jacquizz Rodgers sat out Tampa Bay’s 43-28 defeat against Atlanta with a sprained ankle.
With their top three options down, the Bucs turned to Peyton Barber and Smith, who combined for 56 yards on 16 carries. Smith, formerly with the Falcons and Bears, saw action in three games this season and picked up 47 yards on 10 rushes.
Jones, 26, contributed solid production as a first-year player in 2015, racking up 43 tackles and five sacks in 12 appearances (five starts). His output was minimal this year, though, partly because he participated in just 15.8 of the Buccaneers’ defensive snaps. Jones totaled only three tackles in eight games, but he did factor in heavily on special teams with a snap percentage of 50.5.
Poll: Who Will Win The NFC South?
At the outset of the season, the NFC South wasn’t supposed to look as wide open as it currently does. Back then, the Panthers were the clear-cut favorites after going 15-1 last year and rolling through the NFC playoffs en route to a Super Bowl berth. The 2016 Panthers are a far cry from the 2015 version, though, as reigning NFL MVP Cam Newton and the rest of the team have fallen to earth amid a 2-5 start. Carolina is in last place in the division, trailing two 3-4 rivals (the Buccaneers and Saints) and the 5-3 Falcons. More alarming, perhaps, is that the Panthers have already lost to all three of those clubs this year, giving them that much more ground to make up in the race.
The Falcons, led by MVP candidate Matt Ryan, superstar wide receiver Julio Jones and running back Devonta Freeman, are 2-1 in the division and boast its only positive point differential (plus-31). They’re also facing the Buccaneers, who are 2-0 in the NFC South, on Thursday in a crucial divisional battle. A win would make the Falcons all the more difficult to catch, while a victory for the Bucs would vault Jameis Winston & Co. to .500 and keep them perfect against their closest rivals. A Falcons defeat would also cause flashbacks to last season, when the club collapsed after a 6-1 start to finish 8-8. This year’s Falcons began 4-1 and are now in danger of dropping three of four, though their fifth overall ranking in Football Outsiders’ DVOA seemingly indicates they’re for real. Nobody else in the division is even in the top 20 in that metric.
The Saints are at No. 23, but they’ve come around in the standings after an 0-3 start and will reach the .500 mark for the first time this season if they beat the lowly 49ers on Sunday. In their signature victory of the year, the Saints upset the Seahawks, 25-20, last Sunday. That was already the sixth one-score game of 2016 for the Saints, who have gone 3-3 in those contests. That’s also true of the Falcons, while the Bucs have recorded a 2-1 mark in one-score affairs and the Panthers have logged an 0-3 record.
While Atlanta and New Orleans are defensively challenged, both have tremendous offenses and top-tier quarterbacks in Ryan and Drew Brees. Conversely, Tampa Bay and Carolina haven’t done anything at an elite level this year. Barring offensive or defensive turnarounds, that would seem to put each behind the 8-ball, though Newton showed in 2015 that he’s capable of performing like an unstoppable force. Given their general decline this year, the Panthers will need Newton to resemble his 2015 self over the season’s final nine games if they’re going to win the division for the fourth straight year. If not, one of the other clubs should finally dethrone Carolina atop the NFC South.
Buccaneers Trade CB Johnthan Banks To Lions
The Buccaneers didn’t waive Johnthan Banks after all. After telling the cornerback that he would be dropped from the roster yesterday, the Bucs have instead traded him to the Lions, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). In exchange, Tampa Bay will receive a conditional seventh-round pick for 2018. 
Banks, a second round pick of the Bucs in the 2013 draft, hasn’t done much in the last four years. Already in a limited role under Lovie Smith in 2015, Banks hardly played for head coach Dirk Koetter this season.
Star cornerback Darius Slay was held out of Sunday’s game with an injury and Banks is likely being brought in as a depth signing. There’s no word yet on Slay’s status for this upcoming Sunday against the Vikings.
Johnson Bademosi stepped into the starting lineup over the weekend and he turned in a strong performance even though Detroit was not victorious against the Texans. In that game, Bademosi picked off Brock Osweiler late in the second quarter, stopping the Texans deep down the field.