Vincent Jackson placed on injured reserve as Bucs career likely ends

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have placed Vincent Jackson on injured reserve, the team announced. Jackson suffered a knee injury against the Carolina Panthers that is apparently serious enough to end his season.

Jackson also missed six games and parts of several other games last season in a disappointing season of 33 catches for 543 yards and three touchdowns in 10 last games. This season was even more disappointing as he has just 15 catches for 173 catches with no touchdowns in five games.

Jackson could theoretically come back later this season, but that seems unlikely at this point. Running back Charles Sims could also return late in the year, but only one of the two players can return from injured reserve.

The Bucs will likely have Cecil Shorts replace Jackson, with Louis Murphy, who’s just started practice after rehabbing a torn ACL, another good candidate in a few weeks.

Jackson’s a free agent this offseason, so this could well signal the end of his career with the Bucs.