The Tampa Bay Buccaneers suffered a brutal loss against the Buffalo Bills, spoiling a fantastic performance from Sean Tucker. The Buccaneers have been decimated by injuries, with Bucky Irving, Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Jalen McMillan, and Luke Goedeke all missing time. Now, it just gets worse for Tampa Bay with another set of players missing practice, including rookie star Emeka Egbuka and Baker Mayfield.
Buccaneers Reveal a Concerning Update for Week 12
The Buccaneers had six players miss practice on Wednesday due to illness, including Mayfield and Egbuka. Todd Bowles revealed that 15 athletes and coaches are struggling with this illness. If it doesn’t improve, Egbuka and Mayfield could miss the game.
Bucs QB Baker Mayfield and WR Emeka Egbuka were among six players who were limited in practice today because of an illness.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) November 20, 2025
The Buccaneers were hoping to see good news on their injury report with improvements from their stars. Instead, they were left with more disappointing news. The story was no longer whether Irving will play on Sunday, but instead who’s next? Mayfield and Egbuka have been banged up throughout the season, but toughed through the pain and didn’t miss a game.
The specific illness has not been disclosed. With numerous people affected, the team had limited options for conducting a full practice. As of Monday, the team had not announced which players might be sick and miss Sunday’s game.
The timing of the illness comes as Tampa Bay is amid one of its most difficult injury stretches of the season. While the final injury report will be released later in the week, many key players are currently listed as questionable, including several essential starters on both offense and defense.
Goedeke and C Graham Barton are two key offensive linemen that are missing with illnesses. It isn’t just illness that is affecting the linemen as Tristan Wirfs was limited in practice for a non-illness related reason.
Bucs QB Baker Mayfield, WR Emeka Egbuka, C Graham Barton, T Luke Goedeke, DL Logan Hall, G Dan Feeney among the players limited with an illness. OLB Chris Braswell Jr., G Ben Bredeson, CB Jamel Dean, OLB Haason Reddick did not practice. RB Bucky Irving, WR Chris Godwin Jr., WR…
— Rick Stroud (@NFLSTROUD) November 20, 2025
With the illness running through the locker room, Mayfield and Egbuka are now in danger of missing Week 12 if they don’t get better. Of all the weeks to be down Mayfield, this would be the one that Tampa Bay cannot afford to lose him. They are playing the Rams, who sit tied for the best record in the NFC. Matt Stafford is one of the MVP favorites and playing some of the best ball of his career.
The Buccaneers cannot afford to lose games with the Panthers on their tail in the division. But their early season performance will be encouraging for their rest of the season outlook. Mayfield ranks 22nd in PFSN’s QB Impact score with a grade of 73.5. Gutting through the injury in the middle part of the season so far impacted his performance, but after finally getting back to health, the illness comes at a horrific time.
A win would do wonders for the Buccaneers. If they can gut out a win like they’ve been doing all season, it will be massive and they will be getting their reinforcements soon. Until then, they will be hoping Mayfield, Egbuka, and all the ill players can get better.
