Buccaneers' Todd Bowles gives shocking injury update on WR Jalen McMillan

Wide receiver Jalen McMillan hasn't played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers since he suffered a gruesome neck injury in the preseason. 

As Ashlie Abrahams of Buccaneers Wire/USA Today noted on Wednesday, McMillan was seen wearing a neck brace shortly before the club's Week 9 bye. During the latest episode of the "Ira Kaufman Podcast," Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles revealed that McMillan actually broke bones in his neck back in August. 

Buccaneers still don't know how close Jalen McMillan is to returning

"It’s just a matter of the bones healing the right way," Bowles said about McMillan’s recovery. "And those are such difficult bones to judge inside the neck. And I’m not in the medical profession, but he’s coming along. I think he’s in good spirits. And I think he’s getting a lot better, I just don’t know how close."

Bowles' update suggests there's only a small chance that McMillan will play for Tampa Bay before September 2026 at the earliest. That's tough news for a team that will be without No. 1 receiver and locker-room leader Mike Evans for the foreseeable future due to a broken clavicle.

Fellow Buccaneers receiver Chris Godwin has played in only two games coming off the dislocated left ankle, high ankle sprain, fractured fibula and torn deltoid he suffered in October 2024. Earlier this week, Bowles refused to say whether Godwin will be available for Tampa Bay's home game against the New England Patriots on Nov. 9. 

6-2 New England hosts the Atlanta Falcons (3-4) on Sunday. 

Jalen McMillan is dealing with "a life thing"

The Buccaneers won six of their first eight games without having McMillan in the lineup. Understandably, Bowles' primary concern regarding the 23-year-old's recovery isn't related to on-the-field matters. 

"He’s still in a brace, but he’s getting better," Bowles added about McMillan. "He’s getting better. But necks are not like ankles or arms, where you see progress — where you can lift on them and work them out while you’re still in a brace. And you can say, 'Oh, he looks good today. He’s getting stronger. He’s getting faster.' It’s a neck injury. And those, like you said, it’s a life thing if it doesn’t heal the right way. So [team doctors] are saying it’s healing the right way. They’re saying he’s coming along. He’s feeling better. He’s all similes. I don’t know what that means, honestly. Because again, until he puts on a helmet and starts working out and everything else, you just don’t know." 

Just Thursday morning, ESPN's Bill Barnwell suggested the Buccaneers don't need to make a big move for a wide receiver before the Nov. 4 trade deadline. However, it seems Bowles believes he won't have McMillan in the lineup anytime soon.