Buccaneers Lose DE Clayborn For Season
By Josh Hill
The Buccaneers bad day leeps getting worse, as news has been confirmed that defensive end Adrian Clayborn has been lost for the season with a knee injury. Clayborn injured the knee on a sack of Tony Romo that saw Gerald McCoy blast the Dallas quarterback and cause a fumble.
Tampa is already light on defensive lineman, and losing Clayborn means that they’ve lost both of their future ends to season ending injuries, as Da’Quan Bowers tore an achilles tendon in the offseason and is on the PUP list as of this week. Clayborn also joins right tackle Davin Joseph as players who are out for the year with knee injuries.
Joseph was lost in the Bucs preseason game against the Patriots and is currently on IR recovering from surgery. Wide receiver Sammie Stroughter is also on IR for the Bucs.
“He’s the beast on our defense,” defensive tackle Gerald McCoy said. “You can always expect a big hit from him or a dynamic play of some sort. That’s what he means to our defense.”
Clayborn left Cowboys Stadium in a knee brace and was very emotional heading out of the locker room. Players in the Bucs locker room weren’t optimistic in tone about Clayborn’s injury, even if they were trying to keep spirits high.
Head coach Greg Schiano didn’t give a definitive comment on Clayborn’s status, and said the Bucs would wait and see on Monday what the diagnosis is.
Clayborn has been an anchor on the Bucs defense and has been a monster compliment to Gerald McCoy who’s put together a solid three game season thus far. He’ll need surgery and rehab to return from this which is a major set back to a team that was hoping to be good within the next few years.
Those plans are on hold as the team is falling apart due to injuries and it will take even more time for everyone to get back to full health.