Bucs LB corps will be very thin in Week 13

Rough injury update from Todd Bowles — Lavonte David, Jamel Dean, Devin White and Mike Greene are out and LB SirVocea Dennis has a “long way to go” #GoBucs pic.twitter.com/QSDcqaPfAW

— River Wells (@riverhwells) December 1, 2023

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are down to the lowest parts of their depth chart at linebacker for Sunday.

The team will have a different duo at LB for Week 13 against the Carolina Panthers. Head coach Todd Bowles confirmed on Friday that starting LBs Lavonte David (groin) and Devin White (foot) are out and that third-string LB SirVocea Dennis (illness) has a “long way to go” to play Sunday.

That would leave Tampa Bay’s two other linebackers on the active roster to take their place in K.J. Britt and J.J. Russell who will take the majority of snaps. If Dennis is available to play, it’s unlikely that he’d get a lot of playing time being a rookie who has missed three days of practice. The only other linebacker anywhere on the roster is practice squad member Vi Jones, who has only been with the Bucs for about a week now.

As such, Britt and Russell will have to step up at the position, but Bowles isn’t worried about their ability to perform,

“I feel good about them stepping up. I think they’ve played before – they got in the game last year against Atlanta,” Bowles said. “K.J. has been here a couple of years, he’s a natural-born leader. J.J. can tackle. I feel good about them playing.”