Da'Quan Bowers out, Mark Barron doubtful for Buccaneers vs. Rams

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will miss defensive end Da'Quan Bowers against the St. Louis Rams, while Mark Barron's participation is in doubt as well, Greg Schiano announced today. Bowers has been afterthought on defense after being seen as the likely starter at strongside defensive end during the offseason. Instead, Daniel Te'o-Nesheim and more recently William Gholston have taken over that role, although Bowers has outperformed both of them on a per-snap basis as a pass-rusher. Regardless, given his low amount of snaps his absence should not be a big problem against the Rams. The bigger question becomes whether Bowers will even be a Buccaneer next season.

The defense will face bigger issues if it's to miss Mark Barron, however. The safety missed a large part of last week's game after being beaten twice on deep balls to Vernon Davis. A hamstring issue has limited him and could now cause him to miss his first career game. That could be a serious problem for the Bucs, who will have to find different ways of dealing with Jared Cook. The tight end is the Rams' leading receiver with 44 catches for 614 yards.

We'll have the official injury reports for both teams for you later today.