Jenna Laine
TAMPA, Fla. — Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles stated this week that large receiver Jalen McMillan really suffered a damaged bone in his neck after a clumsy fall backward throughout a preseason sport at Pittsburgh in August.
Bowles had stated on the time that McMillan, one in every of two third-round draft picks for the Bucs in 2024, suffered a “severely strained neck” when falling on the again of his head catching a cross from backup quarterback Teddy Bridgewater. However when requested on the “Ira Kaufman Podcast” on Thursday if McMillan had some “broken-bone-related points in there,” referring to his neck, Bowles responded, “Sure.”
“He is nonetheless within the brace, however he is getting higher. He is getting higher,” Bowles stated. “However necks are usually not like ankles or arms the place you see progress the place you possibly can carry on 'em and work 'em out whenever you're nonetheless on the brace and also you say, ‘Oh, he appears good right now. He is getting stronger, he's getting quicker.' It is a neck damage. And people, such as you stated, it is a life factor if it does not heal the precise approach. So that they're saying it is therapeutic the precise approach.”
Bowles added that the workforce will probably be cautious with McMillan's restoration regardless of indicators that “he is coming alongside, he is feeling higher, he is all smiles.”
“Till he places on a helmet and it begins figuring out and every part else, you simply do not know,” Bowles stated. “I do not know what getting higher means as nicely as a result of they are saying it is not like you possibly can see contained in the neck and say, ‘Properly he is transferring it so much higher.' I am positive he can flip it, nevertheless it's only a matter of the bones therapeutic the precise approach, and people are such troublesome bones to guage contained in the neck. And I am not in a medical occupation, however he is coming alongside. I feel he is in good spirits, and I feel he is getting so much higher. I simply do not understand how shut.”
It is unclear whether or not the structural injury was a part of the unique prognosis and that info was withheld, or whether or not it was revealed later by way of further testing.
Sources stated on the time of the damage that he wouldn't return till at the very least after the Week 9 bye. McMillan wouldn't solely have to be out of his neck brace and obtain medical clearance to return however must be activated off injured reserve after starting his 21-day follow window. A participant will be activated at any level in the course of the window. If a participant can't return throughout that interval, he's moved to season-ending IR.
