Bucs Kendell Beckwith will miss season amid fears ankle injury could be career-ending

TAMPA — After numerous evaluations from orthopedic specialists, linebacker Kendell Beckwith will be placed on the reserve/non-football injury list by the Bucs, meaning he will miss at least a second straight season.

In fact, the Bucs are fearful that Beckwith’s injury might be career-ending.

Beckwith, a third-round pick from LSU in 2017, was a passenger in an automobile accident with Tigers teammate Lamin Barrow on April 12, 2018, fracturing his ankle and undergoing surgery.

He was placed on the reserve/non-football injury list last September 1 to start the season and tried to return Oct. 31. But after three weeks of practice, he was unable to regain his form and missed the entire season.

It would be a devastating outcome for the 24-year-old Beckwith, who needed only eight months to recover from a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his knee at LSU to play as a rookie for the Bucs.

The 6-foot-3, 243-pound Beckwith demonstrated amazing versatility, playing ever linebacker position as a rookie. He had 73 tackles, one sack and one forced fumble in his first pro season with the Bucs.

The news was not totally unexpected, but it comes only little more than a week after defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul sustained a fractured vertebrae in his neck after crashing his Ferrari into a concrete barrier on I-95 May 2. If Pierre-Paul needs surgery, he could miss the season.

The Bucs drafted LSU linebacker Devin White No. 5 overall and signed Cardinals free agent Deone Bucannon in the off-season.