The Tampa Bay Buccaneers' offense will be closer to full strength for their Week Seven Monday Night Football showdown in Detroit, as the wide receiver duo of Mike Evans and Emeka Egbuka has been cleared to play.
Evans has missed the past three games with a hamstring injury. Egbuka hasn't missed a game but he was sidelined for the second half of the Buccaneers' Week Six win over San Francisco with his own hamstring issue. Egbuka leads the Bucs with 27 receptions for 469 yards and five touchdowns. Wide receiver Chris Godwin, who has a fibula injury, will be inactive for a second straight contest.
The Buccaneers will also be without starting running back Bucky Irving, who will miss his third straight game with foot and shoulder injuries. Luke Haggard, who has started the past four games at right guard, is also inactive due to a shoulder ailment sustained last week against the 49ers.
The Buccaneers and Lions submitted their list of inactives at 5:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, 90 minutes before the scheduled kickoff of their Week Seven meeting at Ford Field in Detroit. The Buccaneers elevated guard Michael Jordan and running back Owen Wright from their practice squad for the game and thus had to name seven inactives to get down to the game-day limit of 48. The Lions elevated safety Loren Strickland and cornerback Tre Flowers from their practice squad and also had to name seven inactives.
Detroit's secondary will be missing multiple starters on Monday night. Cornerbacks Terrion Arnold and Avonte Maddox are both out due to injury, as is first-team AP All-Pro safety Kerby Joseph. In addition, starting safety Brian Branch is unavailable due to a one-game suspension handed down by the NFL for his actions following last Sunday night's loss at Kansas City. Branch does not count against the Lions' 53-man roster while suspended and is thus not one of the team's inactives for Monday night.
BUCCANEERS INACTIVES
- DL C.J. Brewer
- S Sebastian Castro
- WR Chris Godwin
- G Luke Haggard
- RB Bucky Irving
- CB Kindle Vildor
- RB Josh Williams
Godwin, Haggard, Irving and Williams are out due to injury.
LIONS INACTIVES
- CB Terrion Arnold
- DL Quinton Jefferson
- S Kerby Joseph
- CB Avonte Maddox
- S Jammie Robinson
- RB Sione Vaki
- DL Mekhi Wingo
Arnold, Joseph, Maddox and Vaki are out due to injury.
