On Wednesday morning, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers saw one of their best players go down with an injury. Russell Gage, one of Tampa Bay's top wide receivers, suffered a non-contact leg injury during their joint training with the Jets. The injury is a brutal one, with officials expecting the WR to miss the entire season.

After the injury to Russell Gage, Buccaneers WR Mike Evans and coach Todd Bowles talked about the injury, per Mike Garafolo and Brianna Dix. Both men acknowledge that the injury looks pretty serious, but they are hoping that the results disprove their gut feelings.

Buccaneers WR Mike Evans: “So unfortunate. Was just getting back in game-ready shape. Looked like his knee buckled…praying it is not as serious as it looked.”

Bowles says “we hear it’s going to be pretty serious” on #Buccaneers WR Russell Gage. Waiting on final results but “our hearts go out to him.”

Non-contact leg injuries are almost never a good thing. When a player goes down without colliding with another man, it usually indicates some sort of ligament tear. The initial report on the Buccaneers WR tends towards this diagnosis, unfortunately. However, it's still possible that Gage escapes with an injury that is much less serious than anticipated.

The Buccaneers are trying to get rid of the notion that this year is a rebuilding year for them. Despite losing Tom Brady to retirement, this team believes that they have what it takes to make it to the playoffs. With the state of the NFC South, that isn't exactly outside the realm of possibility.