The Tampa Bay Buccaneers placed outside linebacker Cam Gill and guard Aaron Stinnie on injured reserve on Monday, meaning neither one will be eligible to play for the Buccaneers again in 2022.
Gill suffered a Lisfranc injury in his right foot in the Bucs' preseason opener against the Miami Dolphins on August 13, a game in which he recorded four tackles, a sack and two tackles for loss before getting hurt. Stinnie sustained injuries to the ACL and MCL in his left knee in Saturday's preseason game at Tennessee.
Those two moves reduce the Bucs' roster to 81 players. They must trim one more spot by 4:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday in order to get down to the new preseason limit of 80.
Players can return from the injured reserve list during the regular season, but to be eligible to do so they must first be retained on the 53-man roster through the final round of roster cuts on August 30. Those who land on I.R. prior to that date cannot return to their original team during the current season, though they could conceivably play for another team if they reach an injury settlement and become a free agent. More likely in this case, the injuries to Gill and Stinnie will keep them out of action until next year.
Gill was expected to step into a larger role on defense in 2022 as part of a four-man rotation at edge rusher. He had played in 25 games for the Buccaneers over the past two seasons, but with more snaps on special teams (460) than defense (122). He recorded half a sack in the Bucs' victory in Super Bowl LV and contributed 1.5 QB takedowns last season.
Stinnie was part of the competition to replace retired Pro Bowler Ali Marpet at left guard, and was the most experienced of the candidates. That competition is now likely between rookie second-rounder Luke Goedeke and second-year man Nick Leverett. Stinnie played in 12 regular-season games over the past two seasons in Tampa, with one start at left guard in 2021. He also memorably started the last three games of the Buccaneers' 2020 Super Bowl run at right guard after Alex Cappa was injured, drawing strong reviews for his performance.
