Buccaneers wide receiver Russell Gage was carted off at Wednesday’s practice with a knee injury and reports a short time later indicated that initial evaluations of the injury were that it would cause him to miss the entire 2023 season.
Thursday brought more word about the nature of his injury. Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times reports that Gage ruptured his right patellar tendon and that he will have surgery to address the injury at some point this week.
Gage is under contract for a base salary of $8.5 million for the 2024 season, but there’s no guaranteed money included in his compensation. Moving on from Gage would leave over $6.9 million in dead money, however.
Gage was expected to join Mike Evans and Chris Godwin as the team’s top three receivers. David Moore, David Thompkins, Kaylon Geiger, and sixth-round pick Trey Palmer are among those on lower rungs of the depth chart and the Bucs could look outside the organization for more help at wideout.
