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Injured Tampa Bay Buccaneers starting safety Jordan Whitehead hasn’t practiced in 16 days, but head coach Bruce Arians offered a ray of hope for his return by the regular season.
“Yeah, Jordan’s getting really, really close. I would anticipate him to be ready,” Arians said in a press conference this week.
Arians added that he has confidence in the Bucs’ depth at that position. He liked what he saw from Chris Cooper and Ross Cockrell in the Bucs’ last preseason outing against Tennessee. The Bucs also have Mike Edwards, who played significant snaps last season.
“That’s really been a blessing in this camp,” Arians said.
Whitehead missed the start of the training camp on the COVID/Reserve list and returned to practice on July 31, but he began sitting out practice again on Aug. 10 with an undisclosed injury. Arians similarly said it was “wait and see” regarding Whitehead’s injury status at that point per Sports Illustrated’s All Bucs. Whitehead didn’t play in the preseason opener on Aug. 14 against the Cincinnati Bengals, and Arians called Whitehead’s status “day to day” on Aug. 16.
Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times noted that it “should be a concern” since Whitehead previously recovered from his shoulder injury in the playoffs and offseason surgery “only to be sidelined (again) with an undisclosed injury.”
Whitehead played a key role last season for the Bucs secondary with 74 tackles, two sacks, two interceptions, a forced fumble, and a fumble recovery.
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Robert Hainsey Returns From Injury, Set to Make Debut
When rookie center Robert Hainsey was out with an injury during the preseason opener, he went viral with quarterback Tom Brady taking snaps from him on the sideline.
Hainsey started missing time with an injury on Aug. 6 when Arians said Hainsey is “day to day” per Pewter Report. The recent third-round draft pick recently returned to practice and will play in the preseason finale at Houston on Saturday, which Arians confirmed on Wednesday according to Buccaneers.com’s Scott Smith.
The former Notre Dame tackle attracted the Bucs as he showed the versatility to play any position along the offensive line. The Bucs had him working at center before the injury to back up starting center Ryan Jensen.
Hainsey impressed Arians right off the bat in training camp.
“He was solid and did a really fine job a couple of times pulling and getting up on people,” Arians said in an early training camp press conference per Pewter Report. “Identifications were good. It was a really solid day for him. He’s getting better and better.”
Sadarius Hutcherson ‘Was Having a Good Camp’
Among the Bucs offensive linemen sustaining injuries at training camp, Sadarius Hutcherson’s knee injury halted a solid start to the season.
“He was having a good camp,” Arians said a couple of days after Hutcherson got injured in the preseason opener. “It’s a shame he injured his knee, and so, we’ll see how bad it looks. It looks like it could be severe, but he was having a good camp.”
The Athletic’s Greg Auman confirmed that Hutcherson tore his ACL. The Bucs then placed him on injured reserve.
The 6-3, 321-pound former South Carolina standout signed with the Bucs as an undrafted free agent in May.
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