Bucs Gameday

Two Buccaneers Cleared to Play vs. Bills

The Bucs receive a nice boost from the return of a couple of players.

Evan Winter

The Buccaneers have a tough opponent in the Bills as their Week 14 matchup, so it's important to have all hands on deck. 

However, the defending Super Bowl champs listed several players as questionable on Friday's final injury report and a few of them are not only key contributors, but starters.

Tampa Bay received good news on Saturday in regards to the status of cornerback Jamel Dean and wide receiver Jaelon Darden. The availability of both players were in question due to concussions suffered at different times. Both players were in the NFL's concussion protocol -Darden has been in it for the last two weeks- and per The Athletic's Greg Auman, both players cleared said protocol on Saturday. Therefore, both players will be available for Sunday's game.

Dean is one of the Bucs' starting cornerbacks and has been a major reason why the secondary hasn't completely fallen apart due to all of the injuries that have hit the unit throughout the year. Darden, the team's fourth-round rookie, sees action from time-to-time at receiver, but has taken over the Bucs' kick return and punt return duties in recent weeks. 

Dean's availability, in particular, is huge because the Bucs secondary finally returned all three starters in Dean, Carlton Davis III, and Sean Murphy-Bunting last week against the Falcons, which is the first time all three had been on the field at the same time since Week 1 against Dallas. The effects were noticeable and all three will be needed against the Bills' high-volume passing attack.

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Evan Winter
EVAN WINTER