Buccaneers to Add Le'Veon Bell to Roster; Fournette 'Likely' Headed to IR

Lavonte David will miss the rest of the regular season, as well.

Per NFL Network's Tom Pelissero, the Buccaneers plan to sign veteran running back Le'Veon Bell to the 53-man roster, pending a physical. 

Sources: The #Bucs are signing RB Le’Veon Bell, pending physical.

— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) December 21, 2021

But the bigger news is Leonard Fournette is likely headed to injured reserve and Lavonte David is going to miss the rest of the regular season, too.

ESPN's Adam Schefter broke the news concerning Fournette and The Tampa Bay Times' Rick Stroud followed up with a confirmation as well as the update on David. Per Stroud, there is a chance David goes on IR, but that has yet to be confirmed. 

Buccaneers now are “likely” to place RB Leonard Fournette on injured reserve with the hamstring injury that left him on crutches Sunday night, per a league source. He then would miss rest of regular season.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) December 21, 2021

#Bucs LB Lavonte David will miss the remainder of regular season with a foot injury he sustained in Sunday’s loss to the Saints. The team is hopeful he will be ready for the playoffs. Makes David a likely candidate for Injured Reserve.

— Rick Stroud (@NFLSTROUD) December 22, 2021

The Bucs offense has been racked by injuries resulting from the Week 15 matchup with the Saints. They already lost Chris Godwin for the entire season on Monday. Right now, there's a chance Fournette and David return for the playoffs, but that remains to be seen. 

Bell recently played for the Baltimore Ravens, where he appeared in five games and recorded 83 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns on 31 carries. Right now, he's only considered a depth player, but he's also a needed depth player thanks to Fournette's hamstring injury. 

As for David, veteran Kevin Minter will step up in his stead. Minter has played in Todd Bowles' defense for numerous years now and is a quality backup that filled in well when David missed a couple of games earlier in the year.

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