TAMPA, Fla. -- Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles said wide receiver Jalen McMillan actually suffered a broken bone in his neck after an awkward fall backward during a preseason game at Pittsburgh in August.
Bowles had said at the time that McMillan, one of two third-round draft picks for the Bucs in 2024, suffered a "severely strained neck" when falling on the back of his head catching a pass from backup quarterback Teddy Bridgewater. But when asked on the Ira Kaufman Podcast on Thursday if McMillan had some "broken bone related issues in there," referring to his neck, Bowles responded, "Yes."
"He's still in the brace but he's getting better. He's getting better," Bowles said. "But necks are not like ankles or arms where you see progress where you can lift on 'em and work 'em out when you're still on the brace and you say, 'Oh he looks good today. He's getting stronger, he is getting faster.' It's a neck injury. And those, like you said, it's a life thing if it doesn't heal the right way. So they're saying it's healing the right way."
Bowles continued by saying that the team would be cautious with McMillan's recovery, despite a good sign that "he's coming along, he's feeling better, he's all smiles."
"Until he puts on a helmet and it starts working out and everything else, you just don't know," Bowles said. "I don't know what getting better means as well because they say -- it's not like you can see inside the neck and say, 'Well he's moving it a lot better.' I'm sure he can turn it, but it's just a matter of the bones healing the right way, and those are such difficult bones to judge inside the neck. And I'm not in a medical profession, but he's coming along. I think he's in good spirits and I think he's getting a lot better. I just don't know how close."
It's unclear if the broken bones were initially part of the original diagnosis and that bit of information was withheld, or if this structural damage was revealed later on through additional testing.
Sources said at the time of the injury that he would not return until at least after the Week 9 bye week. McMillan would not only need to be out of his neck brace and receive medical clearance to return, but would need to be activated off Injured Reserve after beginning his 21-day practice window. A player can be activated at any point during the window. If a player cannot return during that period, he is moved to season-ending injured reserve.
