The Buccaneers have a short turnaround from Monday night’s game against the Bengals to Saturday’s matchup with the Browns and they aren’t going to risk further injury to wide receiver Mike Evans’s hamstring by playing him in that contest.
After that comes the fourth preseason game, which is usually conducted by players vying for spots on the lower rungs of the depth chart and/or the practice squad. Evans is in neither of those groups and, as a result, coach Lovie Smith announced Tuesday, via Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, that Evans will not play again until the regular season.
As for whether Evans will be ready to play when the regular season gets started, Smith said that the team will “take every precaution” during Evans’s recovery and not rush him back into the lineup before he’s healed, the story said. It's a situation to watch as hopefully the team is just being cautious with Evans and it won't affect the start of the real season. As the story pointed out, it's valuable live action he's missing with QB Jameis Winston, at least for the third preseason game.
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