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Buccaneers training camp: Akeem Spence, Louis Murphy out with injuries

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers had just two injuries to report ahead of the start of training camp tomorrow: defensive tackle Akeem Spence will be out with a back injury and wide receiver Louis Murphy hurt his ankle in a "freak accident," Lovie Smith said today. Neither player will participate in practice, and the Bucs did not give a timeline for when they'll be back. Murphy was posting Instagram shots from off-duty practice with Jameis WInston and Mike Evans just a couple of weeks ago, so his injury is very recent.

The Bucs have placed Louis Murphy on the Non-Football Injury list, while Spence is going on the Physically Unable to Perform list. That administrative detail doesn't matter much for the Bucs right now: they'll count against the 90-man offseason roster regardless. That changes once the season starts, but we have no reason to believe the injuries are serious enough for that to be a possibility right now.

Spence being out may help explain why the Bucs signed Da'Quan Bowers to work at the fairly loaded defensive tackle position this week. With Murphy out, rookie Kenny Bell should get a lot of extra looks in training camp -- and I'd look for Russell Shepard to maybe make an impact as well. The special teams demon somehow manages to stands out every time he gets a chance on offense.