Kwon Alexander, Lavonte David return to practice

Kwon Alexander and Lavonte David rejoined the rest of their Tampa Bay Buccaneers teammates in practice today, albeit in a limited fashion. Alexander has been out since week two with a hamstring injury, while David has missed the past two games with an ankle injury.

It’s not clear whether the two star linebackers can return to action against the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, but this is a good sign. If they do return, the Bucs will have an interesting problem: what do they do with impressive rookie linebacker Kendell Beckwith? Scale back his playing time, or find packages to get him on the field more?

The Bucs also saw safeties Keith Tandy and T.J. Ward return to action, which is good news for a defense that is extremely limited at the safety position right now.

One more area of concern: defensive end Ryan Russell did not practice due to a shoulder injury, while defensive end Robert Ayers was limited. The Bucs are very thin at defensive end to start with, so those two injuries could have a major impact.