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Buccaneers RB Ronald Jones doubtful vs. Eagles
Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Ronald Jones Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

Buccaneers RB Ronald Jones, WR Cyril Grayson doubtful vs. Eagles

Wednesday brought a dose of good news for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on the injury front but one piece of bad news as well. While running backs Leonard Fournette and Giovani Bernard, as well as linebacker Lavonte David, returned to practice, the situation for two other players is a bit more dire.

Even though the Bucs lost Chris Godwin for the season and Antonio Brown was finally let go last week, Grayson wasn't expected to have a pivotal role in the offense moving forward. Quarterback Tom Brady should still have Mike Evans, Rob Gronkowski and perhaps Fournette, among others, as options. In his five games this season, Grayson saw targets in only three of them, and his only notable performance was in Week 17 when he caught six passes on eight looks for 81 receiving yards and a touchdown.

The 28-year-old totaled 10 receptions for 212 yards and two scores on 12 targets during the regular season, all of which were career-highs.

Jones, meanwhile, was Tampa Bay's starting running back for nearly all of last season until Fournette took over when the former went on the reserve/COVID-19 list for Weeks 15 and 16. "Playoff Lenny" was born and dominated touches during the Bucs' run to the Super Bowl title last year, which carried over throughout the 2021 season.

The 24-year-old now-backup appeared in 16 games this season — making three starts down the stretch when Fournette was on injured reserve — but Jones missed Week 18 with his ankle injury. Jones finished the regular season with 101 rushing attempts for 428 yards and four touchdowns.

The second-seeded Buccaneers host the seventh-seeded Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC wild-card round of the playoffs at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday.

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