The Bucs were excited to get rookie defensive tackle Calijah Kancey back for the 2023 regular season opener at Minnesota after the team’s first-round pick missed the entire preseason and most of training camp with a calf injury. Kancey injured his calf on July 30 and didn’t resume practicing until Thursday – just days before the Week 1 matchup against the Vikings.
But Kancey only played a few plays in the first quarter, registering a QB hit on Kirk Cousins before tweaking his calf again and leaving the game. He did not return and Bucs head coach Todd Bowles was asked about the severity of Kancey’s injury after Tampa Bay’s 20-17 victory over Minnesota.
“No update yet,” Bowles said. “I know he came out because of it and I’ll check on it [after the press conference].”
Pewter Report did find out after Bowles’ press conference that the Bucs don not think it’s a set back or a re-strain of his calf. A Bucs source tells Scott Reynolds that the team thinks the calf just tightened up on Kancey and the trainers did not want to risk further injury, so he was held out of the rest of the game.
Bucs Will Have An Official Update On Calijah Kancey This Week
The Bucs will likely have Calijah Kancey undergo an MRI on Monday to be sure he didn’t re-strain his calf. Tampa Bay head coach Todd Bowles may give more of an official update during his day-after-game press conference on Monday at 12:30 p.m. ET.
It is unclear if Kancey will be able to practice this week due to the exact severity of his injury being unknown at this time. And that also makes his status for the Bucs’ home opener against the Bears in Week 2 uncertain.
Second-year defensive tackle Logan Hall replaced Kancey in the lineup in nickel defense, while Mike Greene and Will Gholston saw increased playing time in base defense lining up next to Hall and Vita Vea, as Hall is a starter in base 3-4 defense, too.
Stay tuned to Pewter Report for more updates on Kancey.
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