Bucs head coach Raheem Morris said Monday that Stroughter is out for the season, meaning he will miss the final two regular season games against New Orleans and Atlanta.
Tampa Bay placed Stroughter on injured reserve and filled that open roster spot by promoting practice squad WR Mario Urrutia to the 53-man roster.
A 2009 seventh-round draft pick out of Oregon State, Stroughter had four catches for 46 yards in Seattle. He also served as the team's kickoff and punt return specialist in place of RB Clifton Smith, who landed on IR earlier this month.
Stroughter finishes his impressive rookie campaign with 31 receptions for 334 yards (10.8 avg.) and one touchdown. He averaged 29.5 yards per kickoff return and 9.9 yards per punt return. He tied a franchise record with his 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown vs. Carolina in October. Stroughter's 33-yard punt return vs. Seattle on Sunday was his longest of the season.
“What Sammie has done this year has been pretty impressive,” said Bucs head coach Raheem Morris. “Not only did he come here as a seventh-round draft pick and make the team, which is a credit in itself, he’s been the third receiver in our Zebra package and has done some punt and kick returns. He gave us maximum effort all year and one of the better players on our football team.”
Morris said the Bucs had a few options to consider in terms of replacing Stroughter on offense.
“We have to go back to the lab and see who we want to activate,” said Morris. “We have some other receivers like Terrence Nunn and Yamon Figurs. We’ll go through that process this week.”
The Bucs could turn to Figurs or running backs Kareem Huggins and Cadillac Williams to fill the void left by Stroughter as a return specialist.
Bucs free safety Tanard Jackson was also injured during Sunday's game in Seattle. Morris said Jackson's injured knee would be evaluated throughout the week.
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