Bucs issue statement following Jordan Whitehead's brutal car accident

Jordan Whitehead and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had to deal with a major health scare on Saturday. Whitehead was involved in a car crash going into the facility and he suffered injuries that obliged the franchise to put him on the Non-Football Injury (NFI) list.

Whitehead was able to escape from the accident without big injuries, but he's expected to miss multiple weeks during his recovery. He was returning from a pectoral injury which made him miss over a month.

The Buccaneers released a statement following his injury:

The safety returned to the Buccaneers in 2024 after spending the past two years with the New York Jets. He was drafted by Tampa Bay in 2018 and spent the first four years of his career there, winning a Super Bowl in 2020 with Tom Brady as the quarterback in a pandemic-ravaged season.

Buccaneers will miss Jordan Whitehead for crucial Week 18 game

He'll finish the regular season with 12 games, with no interceptions to his name but playing a crucial role on an improved defense. Tampa Bay has been one of the brightest surprises of the 2024 season and not even a four-game losing streak with many offensive injuries hampered their season.

Entering the final week of the regular season, they have a simple task to get themselves a playoff spot: win the Week 18 game against the New Orleans Saints. A home game against a team without Derek Carr and Chris Olave is probably the simplest of the tasks to earn the NFC South title.

Tampa Bay can also qualify for the playoffs with a loss, but to do so, they'll need the Atlanta Falcons to lose against the Carolina Panthers. These results would not change the story in the division, with the Buccaneers winning and earning the fourth seed as a result.

A Buccaneers loss and a Falcons win would give the division to Atlanta. Even though both teams would finish with the same 10-7 record, Atlanta would win the NFC South due to the tiebreaker criteria, as Raheem Morris' team won both contests against Todd Bowles' team in the regular season.