The Bucs had a serious scare during Saturday night’s Week 2 preseason win against the Steelers on the road. Second year wide receiver Jalen McMillan made a fantastic leaping catch on a throw from Teddy Bridgewater, but as he was coming down McMillan was hit by a defender that flipped him while he was still in the air and landed on the back of his head.

Jalen McMillan was shaken up and taken out of the game immediately. He was ruled out for the rest of the game with a back injury while simultaneously getting tested for a concussion.

Bucs WR Jalen McMillan and OLB Jose Ramirez – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Here is the play where it went on:

Thankfully Jalen McMillan was able to walk off on his own power when exiting the game. When he was taken back to the locker room, he was put on a cart where he sat upright and was talking with the trainer next to him, seemingly like he was in good spirits.

Update On Jalen McMillan

There was more news after the game as a video was posted with McMillan leaving Acrisure Stadium in a neck brace:

Although that didn’t look ideal, there was even more news after from McMillan himself, who assured everyone that he will be okay.

During a zoom press conference with Bucs head coach Todd Bowles on Sunday morning, he was asked about the status of McMillan and if there was a timetable for his return along with what the best and worst case scenario was moving ahead with the regular season right around the corner.

“They haven’t given me any scenario yet.,” Bowles said. “They’re still running tests on him, so we’re going to wait until that comes back and then we’ll see what it is.”

Bucs WRs Have Seen Too Many Injuries

The Bucs can’t afford to lose McMillan for a significant amount of time, so hopefully he’ll be ready for the start of the regular seaosn in Week 1 at the Falcons. The team is already missing Chris Godwin. Wideouts Trey Palmer and Kameron Johnson had each missed several weeks, but finally returned in Thursday’s joint practice with the Steelers, though they didn’t play on Saturday night due to all the time they were out for. Even Tez Johnson had missed some time earlier in camp, causing him to miss Week 1 of the preseason, but he available for Week 2 and had an up and down game.

Bucs WRs Mike Evans, Jalen McMillan, and Emeka Egbuka – Photo by: Aileen Hnatiuk/WFLA

The top receivers Mike Evans and Emeka Egbuka have been having exceptional training camps. Evans was fantastic in the joint practice specifically going against Jalen Ramsey, while Egbuka made a briliant touchdown catch in the game Saturday night. Those two will be ready to go, but if McMillan is out, the Bucs may have to turn to Sterling Shepard, Ryan Miller, Tez Johnson or Trey Palmer to fill in his role.

Pewter Report will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates when readily available.