Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Carolina: Wednesday Injury Report

The Wednesday injury report ahead of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Sunday road contest against the Carolina Panthers has been released.

The Wednesday injury report ahead of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Sunday road contest against the Carolina Panthers has been released.

Via Tampa Bay Buccaneers Communications

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Head coach Bruce Arians said that Wednesday served as a maintenance day for tight end Rob Gronkowski, explaining his absence from participation.

Outside linebacker Shaq Barrett (shoulder), inside linebacker Lavonte David (knee), cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting (groin), and nose tackle Steve McLendon (shoulder) were also added to the report. Each player was limited in practice along with the remainder of Tampa's listed injured players, other than the absent Gronk.

Safety Antoine Winfield Jr. (shoulder), cornerback Jamel Dean (illness), safety Mike Edwards (groin), and defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh (not injury related) are now off of the list, all of which were included in last Friday's report.

Perhaps the best news, however, is that left guard Ali Marpet (concussion) has returned to practice in a limited capacity. He has yet to clear concussion protocol, according to Arians, but this is an obvious good sign after Marpet missed Sunday's game against New Orleans following a week removed from the practice field.

Arians indicated that  Marpet's absence on Sunday created problems for the Buccaneers' offensive line, as Joe Haeg took Marpet's place next to left tackle Donovan Smith.

"It was a rough one, but again, part of it was Joe Haeg next to him," Arians described of Smith's performance in Monday's press conference. "They were both getting hit with powerful twists and stuff, and they haven't worked much together. That showed really quick."

A potential return to the lineup for Marpet would be a massive addition for Tampa Bay as the offense looks to bounce back from a zero-touchdown performance against the Saints. The Bucs ran the ball just four times on Saturday night and quickly found themselves playing from behind, with no spark offensively to balance the game out.