The Seattle Seahawks will be without three key defensive starters against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers today. All-Pro safety Earl Thomas, Pro Bowl defensive end Michael Bennett and cornerback DeShawn Shead are all inactive for today’s game, leaving Seattle awfully shorthanded on defense.
The Seahawks will also miss backup running backs C.J. Prosise and Troymaine Pope, leaving them shorthanded at that position, though they do have starter Thomas Rawls to carry the load.
That provides a rather large contrast with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who are mostly healthy heading into today’s game. They’re missing no starters who weren’t already on injured reserve, and are about as injury-free as they’ve been all season. Most notably, Brent Grimes will play despite suffering a quad injury last Sunday that kept him out for almost all of that game.
The only real surprise here is that Jacquizz Rodgers is inactive. The backup running back appeared to be close to returning to action, but he’ll have to wait a little longer. That’s not necessarily a problem for Tampa Bay, as Doug Martin has been healthy for three weeks now.
Buccaneers inactives: G Josh Allen, QB Ryan Griffin, DT John Hughes, DL DaVonte Lambert, RB Jacquizz Rodgers, C Evan Smith, T Leonard Wester
Seahawks inactives: RB C.J. Prosise, S Earl Thomas, CB DeShawn Shead, DE Michael Bennett, LB Brock Coyle, DE Damontre Moore, RB Troymaine Pope