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Jenna Laine, ESPN writer
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The Tampa Bay Buccaneers activated cornerback Jamel Dean from injured reserve and lowered All-Pro left tackle Tristan Wirfs to doubt on Saturday ahead of Sunday’s Week 12 game against the New York Giants .
Dean suffered a hamstring injury in Week 6 with the New Orleans Saints and spent two to three hours a day at the team’s facility during the bye week.
“I’m ready now,” Dean said Monday. “I spent the entire bye week getting back into football shape… It was a whole circuit of different things. Shout out to our coaches for setting me up for failure. It was much needed.”
Dean joked about the short rest periods he took between races.
“You probably take a sip of water and then, ‘Okay, we’re back on the line,'” Dean said, adding that his response was, “What? It was like five seconds,” but his hamstring held firm. . up well.
Bucs coach Todd Bowles, however, needed to watch Dean practice all week to determine if he was in football shape before activating him. Dean participated fully in every practice.
Wirfs suffered a sprained MCL in Week 10 before the Buccaneers’ bye week. His prognosis has been considered “week to week” by the Bucs coaching staff, and he was able to practice in a limited capacity this week. If he can’t go, he will be replaced by Justin Skule.
“We want to be smart and make sure he’s OK the rest of the way,” Bowles said of Wirfs on Friday. “He’s getting a little better day by day. We’ll see. For him, this will last until Sunday.”
Wirfs echoed that Thursday, expressing his desire to be there, but also conveying that the team needs him down the stretch in hopes of making the postseason. At 4-6, the Bucs will likely need to mount the same kind of late-season effort that they had last year when they won five of their final six games.
“For what we’re trying to do down the stretch, I don’t want to mess anything up, but at the same time, I don’t want to let the guys down, I want to be out there with them, fighting,” Wirfs said. “I think I definitely have to be a little smart. I got a couple of messages saying to be smart.”
Dean is just one piece of the puzzle for the Bucs cornerbacks, as their other starter on the outside, Zyon McCollum, has also been dealing with a hamstring injury he suffered in Week 10. It is considered an injury smaller than Dean’s, and kept him out Wednesday and Thursday, but he participated fully in Friday’s practice.
Their starting nickelback, Tykee Smith, will be out again this week after suffering a knee injury in the lead-up to Week 10 and will be replaced by Christian Izien, a Far Rockaway, New York native who played college football at Rutgers. .
The Bucs have also elevated inside linebacker Vi Jones from the practice squad and released inside linebacker Antonio Grier.
