Jordan Howard and Kwon Alexander expected to play for Bucs vs. Bears

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Chicago Bears will have their most important injured players available to play today, per reports by ESPN’s Adam Schefter: both Bears running back Jordan Howard and Bucs linebacker Kwon Alexander are “expected” to play today.

That’s good news for the Bucs, who don’t have a lot of depth behind Alexander. His participation wasn’t really in doubt, though: he was listed as questionable with an illness, but was able to participate in practice on Friday. The Bucs are almost entirely healthy, with only linebacker Devante Bond out with injury, and backup center Evan Smith (illness) listed as questionable.

The Bears are less healthy, having listed nine players on the injury report, but getting Howard—last year’s second-leading rusher—on the field is obviously important to their run-heavy offense, though he wasn’t overly productive last week.

The Bucs and Bears play at 1:00 p.m. ET today, stick with us for all the coverage you need.