The Tampa Bay Buccaneers may be 2-0 to start their 2025 season on a high note, but not everything is sunshine and rainbows in the Sunshine State as the team gears up for their first home game of the season.
The Buccaneers have run into a mountain of injuries as of late, and that doesn’t even include Tristan Wirfs and Chris Godwin rehabbing their way back from injuries suffered last season.
The Bucs lost rookie David Walker for the season in training camp, wide receiver Jalen McMillan in the preseason until after the team’s Week 9 bye, defensive tackle Calijah Kancey for the season due to a torn pectoral and now have piled onto that after losing starting right guard Cody Mauch for the season with a knee injury.
There’s also starting right tackle Luke Goedeke, who will at least miss four games after being placed on injured reserve (IR) with a foot injury.
Tampa Bay is currently down three starting offensive linemen from a top-five unit and is working to fill its immediate needs along with depth in this area. That is exactly why they went out and signed veteran center/guard Dan Feeney.
Oct 15, 2023; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago Bears offensive lineman Dan Feeney (67) Mandatory Credit: Jamie Sabau-Imagn Images / Jamie Sabau-Imagn Images
Feeney was signed off the Buffalo Bills practice squad and will bring a ton of NFL experience with him to Tampa Bay.
In his eight years in the league, Feeney has started over half of the games he has seen action in, but hasn’t started a game since 2023 with the Chicago Bears, when he started one game.
After being selected in the third round of the 2017 NFL Draft by the Los Angeles Chargers, Feeney would end up leaving LA following the 2020 season, spending a couple of seasons in New York with the Jets before seasons in Chicago and Minnesota with the Vikings.
It is unknown what kind of role Feeney will play for the Buccaneers once he arrives, but nonetheless, the Bucs can use all the bodies possible along the OL.
They have put together makeshift lines since Week 1, and they will have to do so for the foreseeable future until Wirfs and Goedeke make it back to give them some semblance of their starting unit.
