TAMPA, Fla. _ The Bucs will be without their sack leader at least until the middle of October and more likely November if he plays at all.
Jason Pierre-Paul, who suffered a cervical fracture in his neck during a one-car accident in May, will miss at least the first six weeks of the season.
Although he has shown slight progress from the injury, the Bucs placed Paul on the reserve non-football injury list Friday. That means Pierre-Paul, who led the team in sacks with 12.5 last season, won't be eligible to return to play or practice until after Week 6.
At that point, the Bucs would have up to 21 days for Pierre-Paul to be activated or he will be out for the season.
Pierre-Paul can be cleared to play immediately in in the final 10 games if he appears healthy, but he's likely to require some time for conditioning.
Because his injury was not football related, the Bucs will see a savings on their salary cap. He is scheduled to earn at base salary of $13.65 million in 2019.
Pierre-Paul, 30, was involved in a one-car accident May 2 when his Ferrari struck a wall on I-95 near the Ft. Lauderdale airport. He suffered a fracture in his neck and had been in a brace until only a few weeks ago.
Pierre-Paul hasn't begun lifting or conditioning drills yet. The Bucs want to be overly cautious about his injury since it involves the neck and he plays a position that absorbs a lot of violent collisions.
Pierre-Paul is no stranger to overcoming injury. He lost a several fingers in a fireworks accident on July 4 in 2015 but later returned from the tragedy to play that season.
But a neck injury is something entirely different. No matter how badly Pierre-Paul wants to play football this season, the Bucs are going to rely on medical experts to determine when or if he can resume his career this season.
Without Pierre-Paul, who was going to move to outside linebacker in Todd Bowles' 3-4 defense, the Bucs will have to rely on Carl Nassib, Noah Spence, Shaq Barrett and rookie Anthony Nelson to provide outside pass rush.
