Bucs receiver Russell Gage to undergo surgery on ruptured knee tendon

We now know more details about Russell Gage‘s knee knjury. The Bucs receiver will need surgery to repair a ruptured patellar tendon.

Rick Stroud, who covers the Bucs for the Tampa Bay Times, reported that Gage should have surgery sometime this week. And he will miss the season.

#Bucs WR Russell Gage suffered a ruptured right patellar tendon and will have surgery sometime this week. He is out for the season.

— Rick Stroud (@NFLSTROUD) August 17, 2023

Russell Gage suffered the injury during a joint workout with the Jets at Florham Park, N.J. His teammates and some of the Jets knew immediately the injury was a significant one. For one, it was mostly a non-contact injury. Gage was backpedaling when he fell. Several players took a knee while athletic trainers treated Gage. He couldn’t put weight on his leg and rode on a cart to get to the locker room. Gage was visibly upset.

The Twitter account JoeBucsFan said that Gage caught a short, low pass from Baker Mayfield. Gage caught the pass and was given a routine push to the ground. Gage stayed there until a cart could come for him.

Looks like a serious injury to Russell Gage.
Went out for a short pass to the left from Baker Mayfield. Ball came in relatively low. Gage made catch and seemed to routinely pushed to the ground by Jetrs player in the joint practice. He's been down 2 minutes.

— JoeBucsFan (@JoeBucsFan) August 16, 2023

Todd Bowles said ‘hearts go out’ to Russell Gage

Coach Todd Bowles met with the media after practice, Wednesday, and gave a somewhat vague injury update on Russell Gage.

“We hear it’s gonna be pretty serious, and I’ll wait to hear the final results,” Bowles said. “But he’s been battling back for the last … obviously since he’s been here. We wish him the best. I can tell by the way he was sitting on the truck that it is probably something that happened pretty bad. …Our hearts go out to him. And we’ll see how it goes.”

Gage came into training camp healthy after an injury-plagued first year with the Bucs. He missed five games last season with a hamstring strain. And then in a wildcard home playoff loss to the Cowboys, Gage suffered what appeared to be a neck/head injury. He spent a night at the hospital with doctors diagnosing him with a concussion.

“So unfortunate. Was just getting back in game-ready shape,” said Mike Evans, the Bucs leading receiver, of his teammate. “Looked like his knee buckled. … praying it is not as serious as it looked.”

Gage, who played offense and defense at LSU, played four seasons with the Falcons, who drafted him in the sixth round of the 2018 NFL Draft. In 2022, his first season in Tampa, Gage caught 51 passes for 426 yards.

The Bucs may want to dip into the free agency market to look for a replacement for Russell Gage. Besides Evans, the only other experienced receiver on the roster is Chris Godwin. However, the Bucs don’t have a lot of free cap money. One Bucs media site suggested Tampa sign another former LSU receiver — Jarvis Landry. He played with Mayfield at Cleveland.

Another suggestion was former Clemson standout Sammy Watkins.