The Bucs’ receiver suffered what appeared to be a non-contact injury to his knee
Bad news for the Tampa Bay Bucs and their offense today as wide receiver Russell Gage was carted off the field with an apparent knee injury. According to Rick Stroud, it was a non-contact injury and Gage was visibly upset;
Bucs players reacted to the injury by taking a knee. Gage was in tears. Stay tuned. https://t.co/9WbE52FXX4
— Rick Stroud (@NFLSTROUD) August 16, 2023
Gage – who played in just thirteen games for the Bucs last season due to lingering injury issues – took a pay cut in the off-season to stay with the team and take on a larger role in the offense now that he was healthy. Instead, the fear now is that he will miss the entire season with this knee injury.
While it’s purely speculation at this point, non-contact knee injuries tend to end up the worst case scenario, usually a tear of the ACL. We will wait until Gage undergoes testing to confirm the diagnosis, but right now things don’t look great and NFL network is reporting that Gage’s season is believed to be over before it even started.
#Bucs WR Russell Gage suffered a non-contact knee injury during today’s joint practice with the #Jets and the belief heading into exams is that the severe injury will end his season, per me and @MikeGarafolo. A hit to WR depth and crushing for Gage.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 16, 2023
The Bucs are in the middle of a joint practice with the New York Jets ahead of their preseason game Saturday night, so there will be more updates after Todd Bowles speaks with the media and Gage is able to undergo testing. Stay tuned for more news regarding Gage and his status.
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