The last we heard, it was looking like Buccaneers defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul might miss the entire 2019 season. Pierre-Paul was involved in a serious car accident last week that resulted in a severe neck injury. Fortunately, things appear to be headed in the right direction. 
Pierre-Paul will not have surgery, sources told Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (Twitter link). Rapoport posted in a follow-up tweet that Pierre-Paul “expects a midseason return.” The original reporting was that the injury was likely to require surgery, and likely to knock him out for the whole year. With surgery no longer an option, Tom Pelissero of NFL Network tweets “the plan is to recheck” on Pierre-Paul’s fractured vertebra “at the 4-month mark.”
Pelissero also writes the “expected timeline is 5-6 months, if not sooner,” on when he’ll return to the field. As Greg Auman of The Athletic pointed out in a tweet, four months from JPP’s injury would coincide almost exactly with the time when the Bucs would need to decide whether or not he’ll open the season on the 53-man roster or the non-football injury list.
From a football perspective, it’s a huge blow for the Bucs. In his first season in Tampa last year Pierre-Paul had a very productive season, notching 12.5 sacks, the second-highest total of his career. The team is expected to either release or trade Gerald McCoy, so the defensive line was already going to be thin even before JPP’s injury.
The Bucs were hoping for a revitalized defense in the first year of the Bruce Arians era, and this certainly isn’t what they were looking for. If he can return on the early side of the 5-6 month timetable, he could be back in October and only miss the first month or so of the season. We’ll keep you posted on the situation.