PHILADELPHIA — The Tampa Bay Buccaneers‘ secondary — already ravaged by injuries and missing three starters — was dealt another tough blow Thursday night, with cornerback Richard Sherman sustaining a hamstring injury early in the first quarter of the 28-22 win over the Eagles and ruled out for the remainder of the game.
“He pulled a hamstring,” Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians said afterwards, adding that he wasn’t clear on how severe the pull was.
The injury happened on the seventh play of the Eagles’ first possession, when Jalen Hurts connected with Quez Watkins for a 23-yard reception. Sherman tried to race over to Watkins but pulled up.
He was replaced by Dee Delaney.
Counting Thursday night, Bucs defensive backs have missed a combined 11 games this season. Sherman’s signing was supposed to give them relief. To make matters worse, the Bucs played against the Eagles without inside linebacker Lavonte David, their best linebacker in coverage.
The Bucs lost starting cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting, who also serves as their nickelback, in Week 1 to an elbow dislocation. Then in Week 3, they lost No. 3 cornerback Jamel Dean (who has since returned) to a knee injury. In Week 4, they lost top cornerback Carlton Davis to a quad injury. Then with two drives left against the New England Patriots in Week 4, safety Antoine Winfield Jr. sustained a concussion. Both Murphy-Bunting and Davis are on injured reserve with no timetable for a return.
“That was most definitely a hard hit for us,” outside linebacker Shaq Barrett said of Sherman’s injury. “It put us in a tougher situation, but we have a lot of guys who were ready to step up. They came and did their thing and held it down, but we most definitely missed the presence of every guy who’s hurting, injured and hasn’t been able to play. We miss those guys for sure.”
Arians said he doesn’t believe the Bucs will have to sign more players in their secondary.
“We’ll just keep playing with the guys we’ve got, and see what happens,” Arians said. “See how long of an injury it is. And next man up.”
It was Sherman’s third game in 12 days, after signing with the Buccaneers on Sept. 29 after not playing or practicing in 288 days. He played all but one snap in his first game at the Patriots, but admittedly said he wasn’t in full football shape.
“We really need this rest and hopefully we’ll see who we can get back, if anybody,” Arians said. “But the ones who have been playing, they definitely need a timeout.”
