Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive end Adrian Clayborn may have suffered a serious injury in Sunday's loss to the Dallas Cowboys to keep him off the field for the rest of the season.
Clayborn injured his right knee hustling on one of four sacks for the Tampa Bay defense in the losing effort.
The Tampa Bay Times reported that Clayborn was wearing a brace on his leg. The Bucs don't exactly have the depth to replace Clayborn, having lost Da'Quan Bowers to an Achilles injury earlier this year. But here's why Bucs Nation says the loss of of Clayborn might not be as bad as it seems for the Bucs:
While Clayborn had a good season and showed some promising moves this year, he wasn't playing up to his previous levels. He's been coming off the ball late, and hasn't made an impact on passing downs, although his play in run defense was strong. The Bucs will likely ask Daniel Te'o-Nesheim to replace Clayborn, as he did this game after Clayborn's injury. George Johnson should be in the mix as well, although the defensive end has been inactive the past two games.
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This story originally appeared on SBNation.com.