Bucs head coach Todd Bowles ruled out three players on Friday for Sunday’s game in Los Angeles against the Chargers – safeties Antoine Winfield Jr. (knee) and Mike Edwards (hamstring) and inside linebacker K.J. Britt (ankle). Outside linebacker Markees Watts (knee) and wide receiver Kameron Johnson (ankle) have been practicing with the team, but are still on injured reserve and have not been activated to the 53-man roster yet.

But there are six other Tampa Bay players that are listed as questionable for Week 15 action, including running back Bucky Irving (back/hip) and safety Christian Izien (groin) – both of whom will be game-time decisions. Irving and Izien will go through pre-game warm-ups at SoFi Stadium to see if they are able to play.

The fact that the Bucs did not elevate running back D.J. Williams from the practice squad is a good sign that the team is hopeful that Irving’s back can loosen up enough to play. Irving saw action on just 10 snaps last week against Las Vegas, running the ball four times and hauling in one catch before his back tightened up and he missed the final three quarters of action.

Tampa Bay did elevate veteran safety Ryan Neal from the practice squad for the Chargers game, which is a sign that the Bucs may be less confident in Izien to be able to play. At the same time, down three safeties with Winfield, Edwards and Jordan Whitehead, who is on injured reserve, out of action, Todd Bowles needs as many healthy safeties as he can get right now.

The other Bucs that are listed as questionable heading into the Chargers game are cornerback Josh Hayes (hamstring), inside linebacker J.J. Russell (hamstring), wide receiver Sterling Shepard (foot) and outside linebacker Joe Tryon-Shoyinka (ankle). All are expected to play on Sunday barring a setback in pre-game warm-ups.

Bucs Are Very Thin At Safety

Bucs NCB Tykee Smith – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

With Antoine Winfield Jr. and Mike Edwards out, Jordan Whitehead still on injured reserve and Christian Izien questionable, the Bucs don’t have many answers at safety. Luckily nickelback Tykee Smith is available, and he’s coming off of a game where he had an interception. Without question, Smith has been their best playmaking defensive back this year – a title that Winfield had last year as an All-Pro.

Smith has been credited many times by Bowles for having the football IQ of a veteran despite being a rookie. He’s played the nickel corner spot all season and long and that doesn’t seem like it’s going to differ even with the lack of personnel.

“It’s probably too much to put on his plate right now,” Todd Bowles said when answering if Smith could play a dual-role of nickel and regular safety. “We’ll try to give him what he can handle. He’s a good football player.”

Bucs SS Ryan Neal – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

If Izien is available on Sunday, that answers a lot of the problems that the Bucs will have because he and Kaevon Merriweather can play free and strong safety. They also have Tavierre Thomas, who can play a little of everywhere on defense. Tampa Bay currently has three safeties on the practice squad in rookies Marcus Banks and Rashad Wisdom along with Ryan Neal, who was a starter last year in his lone season in Tampa Bay.

Because of Neal’s experience in Bowles’ system he was activated for Sunday’s game in Los Angeles. Yet he struggled mightily last year, much to the chagrin of Bucs fans, and that’s what led to his departure in the offseason. Neal did not make another team’s 53-man roster this season after the Bucs moved on from him in March.

The silver lining for the Bucs is that that their opponent in the Chargers are much more of a ground and pound physical team that would much rather run the ball than air it out. They may not be able to exploit this weakness of the Bucs like other teams could. Either way it’ll be a big time test for Tampa Bay as they continue their playoff push with the remaining four games.