There was plenty of excitement over the fact that wide receivers Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and Julio Jones would be returning to action for the Bucs in their Sunday Night Football matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Bucs WR Julio Jones – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Evans balled out with eight receptions for 103 yards and two touchdowns. Godwin looked solid in his first line of action since Week 1, recording seven catches for 59 yards.

However, Jones was nowhere to be found. He had two targets and made one catch for seven yards. Yet Jones only played in 18 of a possible 64 offensive snaps.

So what gives?

It turns out his lingering knee issue flared up once again. The former All-Pro did not play in the second half.

“I know he got nicked up a little bit, so they held him out,” Bucs head coach Todd Bowles said after the game. “I have to see what happened to him.”

On Monday, Bowles expanded a bit more about why Jones wasn’t able to play in the second half.

“He just never loosened up for the second half,” Bowles said. “Really no point putting him back there and making it worse.”

Jones Has An Injury That Won’t Get Better Soon

Bucs HC Todd Bowles – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

We know Jones is dealing with a partially torn PCL. It’s kept him out of Weeks 2 and 3 after injuring his knee in the season opener. He had practiced each Friday of those weeks and also practiced every day heading into the Bucs most recent game against the Chiefs.

As talented as Jones is, he’s also known to have a bad injury history over the past couple of seasons. He’s played a combined 19 games over the last two years. Jones was a factor in Week 1 for the Bucs, making three catches for 69 yards.

But given his injury problems over the years and the fact that he’s dealing with one now that isn’t going away any time soon, you have to wonder how much he can really help moving forward.

“We’ll see, it’s still early in the season,” Bowles said when asked if he was concerned about it. “We want to make sure we have a healthy guy before we make that evaluation.”