The bad news isn’t stopping for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The Bucs won a pyrrhic victory over the Houston Texans in Week 2. The team beat the Texans 20-19 in a thrilling victory, but saw two big injuries — defensive tackle Calijah Kancey tore his pectoral, ending his season, and right tackle Luke Goedeke re-aggravated a foot injury, leaving the game and potentially being out a few weeks.
We thought that was the last of it, but unfortunately, that turned out not to be the case. There was no indication that something was wrong with right guard Cody Mauch, as he played the entire game against the Texans.
He wasn’t at Monday walkthrough, however, and late Wednesday night, it was revealed that Mauch suffered a knee injury that will require surgery, ending his season as well, per FOX Sports’ Greg Auman.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers guard Cody Mauch (69) looks on before their game against the Detroit Lions at Ford Field. / Eamon Horwedel-Imagn Images
The Buccaneers are currently missing three of their starting offensive linemen out of five, and the two that are still around are both currently playing out of position — center Graham Barton is playing left tackle and guard Ben Bredeson is playing center.
As it stands, Tampa Bay’s lineup against the Jets will feature Barton at LT, practice squad player Michael Jordan at left guard, Bredeson at center, a right guard to take Mauch’s place and then swing tackle Charlie Heck at right guard.
The Bucs have made a countermove to help replace Mauch, though, per Auman. The team is signing lineman Dan Feeney from the Buffalo Bills’ practice squad.
Feeney, a guard and center, has started 65 games in eight years, so he could potentially slot in where Mauch is now away. Feeney’s last full season starting came in 2020, where he netted a 48.2 overall grade from PFF.
The Buccaneers are 2-0, and that’s something to celebrate — but fate has been unkind to them every day since. Now, with the next man up mentality, the Bucs are going to have to grind their way to wins in the interim with the offensive line decimated.
