The Buccaneers have scrapped their plan to have Jake Browning start at quarterback against the Jets on Friday night.
Browning injured his back in a joint practice at the Jets’ facility on Wednesday and Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times reports that he will not play in the preseason opener as a result. The Bucs said earlier in the week that Baker Mayfield will not take part in the game.
Connor Bazelak and undrafted rookie Jalon Daniels will be the quarterback for the Bucs on Friday.
Browning signed with Tampa in March and is expected to be the No. 2 quarterback behind Mayfield as long as he’s healthy.
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The Buccaneers practiced without cornerback Zyon McCollum during a pair of joint workouts with the Jets this week and it remains unclear when he’ll be back on the field.
Head coach Todd Bowles told JoeBucsFan.com that McCollum is dealing with a groin injury. Bowles said that McCollum is “coming along” without offering a timetable for when the team believes he will be able to play again.
McCollum won’t be playing in Friday night’s preseason game against the Jets and would seem to be questionable at best to play at all in the preseason.
Benjamin Morrison also missed practice time recently with a hamstring issue, so the Bucs have a pair of soft tissue injuries to manage as they move closer to the regular season.
Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles didn’t have an update on wide receiver Emeka Egbuka after Wednesday’s practice, but it looks like Egbuka avoided a serious injury.
Egbuka limped off the field during the joint practice at the Jets’ facility in New Jersey and did not return before it came to an end. Mike Garafolo of NFL Media reports that Egbuka suffered a toe injury and that it is considered minor.
That’s good news for the Bucs and Egbuka will have a good chunk of time to rest before the team is back on the practice field. They’ll play the Jets in their preseason opener and most of the team’s starters were expected to sit out that game anyway.
Egbuka had 63 catches for 938 yards and six touchdowns during his rookie season. He could take on an even bigger offensive role with Mike Evans now in San Francisco.
The Buccaneers did not have an immediate update on wide receiver Emeka Egbuka’s status after Wednesday’s joint practice with the Jets wrapped up.
Egbuka limped off the field during the session with the help of trainers. Reporters at the practice said that Egbuka got rolled up on in the end zone during one of the drills.
After practice, head coach Todd Bowles said at his press conference that he was on another field when Egbuka was injured and had nothing to share about his condition.
The Jets and Bucs play on Friday, but the Bucs are not expected to play most of their starters in that game. They certainly won’t play any who have injury issues, so it might be safe to scratch Egbuka off the list of those to watch already.
With no new contract coming, Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield needs to be ready to get the most out of the bet he’d making on himself.
And he feels like he’s ready to do that physically.
“I think I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been in,” Mayfield said on the 4th and South podcast, via JoeBucsFan.com. “It took a while to feel healthy enough to actually train and get to that point. But I feel great. You know, you find your routine in the later years of your career and you figure out what works for you schedule-wise, workout-wise, diet-wise — all things you need to adjust and adapt to as the years go on. I feel really good. Yeah, last year I was banged up but, I mean, the whole team was.”
He’ll need to find a way to avoid being banged up. Part of his appeal is that he’ll play through anything. At some point, however, it impacts his performance.
That’s where it could get interesting, if he has multiple injuries through which he’s playing in 2026. At some point, Mayfield at less than 100 percent may not be a better option than Jake Browning at full strength. And the coaching staff (and/or the front office) may be inclined to ask him to take a seat, if they think it’s in the best interests of the team.
Given the contractual posture, that becomes a potentially dicey move. Mayfield is trying to earn his next contract. He may not take kindly to any talk of being removed temporarily.
It all comes down to Mayfield avoiding unnecessary hits that he has a habit of at times embracing. It’s one thing to be healthy when there’s no contact. Starting in Week 1, it will be open season on all NFL quarterbacks. Mayfield’s short-term interests, and his long-term prospects, may hinge on staying as healthy as he can, for as long as he can.
Jake Browning was slated to start at quarterback for the Buccaneers in Thursday’s preseason game against the Jets, but those plans may have to change.
Per multiple reports from Tuesday’s joint practice with the Jets, Browning had to leave the field during team drills. The quarterback was described as walking gingerly as he made his way off to meet with members of the training staff.
During a post-practice press conference, head coach Todd Bowles confirmed that the plan was for Browning to start and said he didn’t have an update on his condition.
“Not at this time, no,” Bowles said.
Connor Bazelak replaced Browning in the practice. Rookie Jalon Daniels is the fourth quarterback in Tampa and may join Bazelak as the only available quarterbacks Thursday because Baker Mayfield will not play.
Buccaneers offensive tackle Luke Goedeke got into a practice-field skirmish in a joint practice with the Jets today, and afterward he said he’ll never back down to anyone.
Goedeke said the trouble began when Jets rookie David Bailey challenged him during a one-on-one drill, lost and shoved him.
“He called me out in one-on-ones and wanted to go against me and lost,” Goedeke said of Bailey. “And then tried shoving me after that, and 52 [Kingsley Enagbare] I believe came from the side and just cheap-shotted me. That didn’t start practice warm and fuzzy, that’s for sure.”
Goedeke grabbed a Jets player’s helmet and threw it, which he admitted afterward was the kind of thing that would get him flagged in a game.
“Obviously not the greatest decision by me, but with that being said, I’m always going to defend my players and defend myself for that matter,” Goedeke said. “I’m not gonna get punked and not do anything about it on the football field. That comes with the game, especially in joint practices, you see stuff like this all the time. You try to limit it and make sure it doesn’t happen in a game. But I’m always going to stick up for my guys and stick up for myself, I don’t care what happens.”
Teddy Bridgewater returned to the NFL after announcing his retirement at the end of the 2023 season, but he was back in uniform before the end of the 2024 season.
Bridgewater said on Monday that his second retirement is going to be a lasting one. Bridgewater stepped away from the Lions this weekend and they placed him on the reserve/retired list on Sunday.
“This time it’s official,” Bridgewater wrote in a post to his Instagram account.
Bridgewater went on to recall his comeback from a 2016 knee injury that he described as “gruesome” and created doubt about his ability to play football again. Bridgewater returned to the Vikings before the end of the 2017 season and played for most of the next decade, but he wrote “this wheel of mine can no longer deal with something as simple as standing around on a turf field.”
The Vikings selected Bridgewater in the first round in 2014 and he went on to play for the Saints, Panther, Broncos, Lions and Buccaneers. He returned to the Lions as a free agent this offseason, but the newly signed Josh Dobbs is now set to back up Jared Goff in Detroit.
Defensive back Roman Parodie is back with the Buccaneers.
Parodie was signed as an undrafted rookie last May and remained with the team through the cut to 53 players. He had five tackles and an interception return for a touchdown during the preseason.
Parodie played six games for Houston in the UFL this spring. He had seven tackles and a fumble recovery.
The Bucs waived cornerback Kemon Hall in a corresponding move. Hall was cut with an injury designation and will revert to injured reserve if he goes unclaimed.
Hall has 24 tackles and a forced fumble in 28 games for the Chargers, Cowboys and Titans.
The Buccaneers signed safety Xavier Williams on Sunday, the team announced.
Williams joins the Buccaneers as a college free agent after trying out during the team’s rookie minicamp in May.
He played at four different college programs over five years, finishing his career at the University of Cincinnati (2025). Last season, Williams appeared in 12 games, totaling 39 tackles, one forced fumble and one pass defensed.
Williams also played at Middle Tennessee State (2024), the University of Central Florida (2023) and Charlotte (2021-22).
In a corresponding move, the Bucs waived cornerback Chase Lucas with a failed physical.
Lucas entered the NFL as a seventh-round pick of the Lions in 2022. He made Detroit’s roster as a rookie and played 18 games in two seasons there, contributing six tackles.
During the 2024 offseason, he signed with the 49ers and stayed on the practice squad all season. Lucas then made San Francisco’s active roster in 2025.
In his 15 games played last season, Lucas totaled nine tackles, a pass defensed and a quarterback hit.
