When are Mike Evans, Jalen McMillan coming back? Injury updates, return timelines for Bucs WRs originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have been short-handed at wide receiver all season long, and mostly thanks to the injuries to Mike Evans and Jalen McMillan.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementMcMillan has been sidelined since the preseason, when he suffered a neck injury that landed him on injured reserve. Head coach Todd Bowles revealed last month that McMillan was dealing with a broken bone in his neck.
Evans is also on injured reserve due to a broken clavicle he sustained in the Week 7 loss to the Detroit Lions.
After both players have missed significant time due to their injuries, when can we expect them to come back?
Here's what we know.
When is Jalen McMillan coming back?
According to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, McMillan has been given clearance to return to practice and the expectation is that happens this coming week.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement"Help is on the way for the Bucs offense, as promising WR Jalen McMillan received clearance from spine specialist Dr. Robert Watkins and likely begins practicing this week," Rapoport wrote.
Once he's designated to return from injured reserve, McMillan will have 21 days to be activated off the list or else he'll be forced to miss the rest of the season.
With the Bucs having three weeks to get McMillan acclimated, he could return anywhere between Weeks 14 and 16.
We would guess he'll return on the later end of that timeline given the severity of his injury and all the time he has missed.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementWhen is Mike Evans coming back?
Evans is already eligible to come off injured reserve, but the team has yet to even designate him to return.
The veteran wideout was slated to need about six to eight weeks to recover from his injury, so the earliest we would expect him back is Week 14.
However, we would guess Evans will return on the later end of that timeline, which would put his return around Week 16 or 17. And, depending on how the playoff race goes, it wouldn't be shocking if Evans is held out later than that.
Long story short: Evans is expected back at some point, but pinpointing when exactly what will be is extremely difficult to do.
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