Buccaneers strongside linebacker Kendell Beckwith was involved in a car accident last week in Louisiana, Bucs GM Jason Licht told reporters (Twitter link via Jenna Laine of ESPN.com). Beckwith suffered a fractured ankle in the crash and had to undergo surgery. He will miss a significant portion of the offseason as a result and it’s not clear whether he’ll be ready to go in Week 1. 
“We’re very fortunate that it wasn’t life-threatening,” Licht said (via Greg Auman of the Tampa Bay Times). “He’ll be out of OTAs and in training camp, we’ll have a better idea of how far along he is.”
Beckwith, a third round pick in the 2017 draft, fell to the Bucs after suffering a torn ACL. It’s presently unknown whether his broken ankle is on the same leg.
Last year, the Bucs used Beckwith at all three linebacker spots as he appeared in all 16 games with eleven starts. The 23-year-old had 73 total tackles on the year, including a huge 14-tackle game against the Patriots in the first month of the season. Beckwith wasn’t originally ticketed for a starting role, but he wound up playing on 847 snaps as a rookie.
Beckwith’s injury could prompt the Bucs to take a closer look at linebackers in the later rounds of next week’s draft. The team may also lean more heavily on linebacker Adarius Glanton, though he is recovering from an injury of his own after breaking a leg in December (a side note – Glanton recently took on his father’s surname, so he will take the field as Adarius Taylor in the fall).