Todd Bowles: Jalen McMillan Just Didn’t Hurt His Neck

August 17th, 2025

More than just neck?

Joe heard Jalen McMillan tell teammates he sprained his neck. There may be more to it.

Joe has video of McMillan walking to the locker room with a neck brace. You can see it via the link above. He was walking just fine. But Bowles added there could be more.

“I know he hurt his back,” Bowles said. “Went in for concussion testing. Have to get more tests run.

When asked if he did have a concussion, Bowles added, “We don’t know yet.”

Bowles will speak after 9 a.m. in his day-after presser. Perhaps he’ll have more information then.

Time to sit all starters for next weekend’s game with the Bills.

48 Responses to “Todd Bowles: Jalen McMillan Just Didn’t Hurt His Neck”

  1. Ali Says:

    Prayers young man.

  2. HC Grover Says:

    The famous Bowles Blunders surface again.

  3. MadMax Says:

    Crazy! I just caught the replays, im working weekends now so I’ll miss most of them live. Hopefully its not too serious and he bounces back ok. Let him rest and heal Todd.

  4. Rod Munch Says:

    Awful throw by Hospital Ball Bridgewater.

  5. Esteban85 Says:

    Wait, how is this a Bowles blunder?

  6. MelvinJunior Says:

    I love the way he goes up high and snags those balls like that, at their ‘highest’ point… He also, does SUCH a great job waiting until the very last minute to bring his hands up (lightning quick), in order to grab the ball, while not allowing DB’s enough time to recover and ‘break up’ the pass with their backs to the ball. He is very skilled. He’s a HELLUVA WR. We are soooo lucky to have HIM (that he was injured and was still there late in the 3rd).

  7. JReel Buc Says:

    At this point I hold my breath every pre season snap hoping every starter stays healthy, is it just the Bucs or do other teams deal with as many injuries it feels like it just us at this point.

  8. heyjude Says:

    Wishing all the best for Jalen. So happy to see him walking and talking. He has been one of our best players giving us around eight TDs. He is young with a positive attitude and will need to rest this out for himself and future playing.

    Rod and HC – No blame game. It’s not Bowles fault and not Teddy’s either. How many players have we seen needing to jump high and outward for the ball? Many across the league for years. Jalen got the ball and held onto it. If he hadn’t got hurt, we would be having a different conversation.

  9. richbucsfan Says:

    I knew it! There it starts. “Fire Bowles” Cue the tapes in 5-4-3-2-1…

  10. Obvious One Says:

    Man, seeing that hurt me from the cheap seats at home. Even After that Massive Impact the Man Held On To the Ball!

    I’m hoping beyond Normal standards of hope that Jalen is a “Stretching Monster” and it didn’t impact his body (especially his neck) like it “looked like” it might of. My heart sank when he didn’t pop right up. I mean it looks like it might take just a little More than rubbing some sand on it this time.

    I put in a pray. God Bless Jalen. GREAT CATCH BTW…

  11. ReneDejesus Says:

    🙏

  12. heyjude Says:

    The Steelers field is natural grass intertwined with artificial fibers. Although not fully grass, maybe having regular grass instead of full turf helped Jalen with his fall somewhat? I don’t know all the data on that though. Just hoping the tests come back okay.

    Agree, Obvious One, Jalen had an outstanding catch.

  13. Warren Brooks Lynch Says:

    To hell with how good the catch was, JMac actually moving after he landed was a great sign. That fall was nasty, and not just for what could be seen but also internal injuries because the human body isn’t meant to fold like deck chair. Speedy recovery for JMac.

  14. Lt. Dan Says:

    I’m not a huge fan or supporter of coach Bowles but let’s be honest here. It’s not his fault. It was early in the game and hey…it’s football. Now…about having Winfield on “onside kick return” team in the first game last year or leaving CG14 in a game that was already lost. Hmmmmmm?

  15. Todd Says:

    Drafting EE was the right call, because you never know.

  16. Jmarkbuc Says:

    Melvin Jr

    I have no idea what that last sentence means.

  17. Jeffs grandpa Says:

    How is that terrible throw on Todd

  18. BucVoyager Says:

    I didn’t like the defender running through his legs while he was that exposed. Very dangerous

  19. geno711 Says:

    Jeez Munch give it a rest. We know you think you are being funny calling him Hospital Ball Bridgewater.

    None of us knew you have a history of watching Bridgewater or all the so-called receivers that he got injured throwing the ball.

    If you have a hypothesis that Bridgewater put lots of guys on the injury wagon, at least support it with a couple of facts.

  20. Jeff Says:

    Some players just get hurt easy. Typically played that are undersized fall in this category. Opening Day 3rd WR will be Shep. He just made the active roster. McMillan to go on IR. He’s done for the season. Horrific injury.

  21. BrdWinrBob Says:

    That dog just sore and will be ready week 1

  22. garro Says:

    Am I the only one who saw a cheap shot!… At a defenseless receiver? Porter should have been ejected and fined!

    Go Bucs!

  23. Warren Brooks Lynch Says:

    No it wasn’t a cheap shot, he was beat the WR caught the ball in front of him while he was still in pursuit and he undercut the WR out of reaction, not malice.

  24. Kidfloflo Says:

    He’s lucky he’s not in a wheel chair! My heart sank when I saw it live..thank god he’s young and still pliable…hope he makes Falcons game, wells see

  25. TheShaz Says:

    I hope tests come back negative and there’s no swelling or other damage.

    He held on to the ball.
    Who had flashbacks of Cuba Gooding Jr in Jerry Maguire (1996)?

  26. David Says:

    Cue the morons who think no one who potentially might ever play in a regular season game should play in a preseason game or ever practice and go full speed or put on pads ever again in the off-season.

    Those the same people will complain about
    the quality of play and how tackling is horrible

    It’s football, it happens

  27. 74 Bucs Fan Says:

    It’s football. Stop all the doom and gloom. Sucks to live life glass half empty about everything.

  28. SB~LV Says:

    He has 3 weeks to heal before the first game

  29. RustyRhinos Says:

    J-Mac caught a Bridgewater special, way to high and leaving the WR to get dumped on their head, no room for YAC…

    Hopefully J-mac is going to be okay, and is back on the field soon.

    Next WR up… Bottom WR have opportunity to stand out a bit more.

    Sad play all the way around.

    GO!!!!!BUCS!!!!!

  30. orlbucfan Says:

    Bucs need to mount lucky horse shoes in the locker room to ward off Buc Luck. JMac will be back. He had a determined, serious expression on his face in that video clip. Man, these football players are amazing athletes!

  31. Proudbucsfan Says:

    How long is he going to be out that is the question?

  32. Jeffrey Becker Says:

    back of the neck and back are basically the same thing possibly, the upper vertebrae, but from experience if he suffered a bad injury of that sort i’d think he’d have been visibly wincing at even a millimeter’s head movement. looked like he might have just suffered from a hyperflexion which would be sore for quite awhile, but if no vertebrae are ruptured, and it looks like they weren’t, he should be ok.

  33. Rob in Land O' Lakes Says:

    I’ll admit… I have not watched a great deal of Teddy Bridgewater football over the years. Does he have a history of high throws or getting his receivers hurt? I didn’t think the row was that bad, but if he has a history of this, please bring the receipts and let us know.

  34. SlurpandMunchMyRod Says:

    Dodged a bullet

  35. Mveal2006 Says:

    So is anyone questioning drafting emeka in tge first round now?

    Not me.

  36. Irishmist Says:

    If you are going to have a quarterback controversy I guess it’s better if it’s a backup quarterback controversy. There is no question that Teddy is great making throws that require a lot of touch and accuracy. Those two touchdown throws were beautiful, drop in the bucket type passes. But what you didn’t see were any deep outs or 20 yard digs, where you really have to drive the ball. You didn’t see him make those throws because he can’t, he doesn’t have the velocity and he never will. DB’s will catch on to this fast and the overplay the go routes and force him to make the throws that he isn’t good at. Trask had a similar problem at first but the staff was able to fix his mechanics and now he is able to drive the ball. So the question is do you want an experienced quarterback who makes good decisions but throws slow balls that may get your receivers hurt or do you want someone less experienced who is able to make all the throws but may make more mistakes?

  37. DBS Says:

    Give it a rest. We have several players hurt just in practice. It’s football. And complaining about a QB that can’t throw a TD pass in a preseason game so far this season against 2nd teams like him is a joke. He only threw 2 last season Bridgewater already has 2.He hasn’t been for 5 years.

  38. Aqualung Says:

    The one position group that is deeper than all the others is WR. So Todd the Genius has Egbuka and JMac in the worthless game after seeing them in the joint practice against Steelers’ Ones.

    I’m surprised Egbuka didn’t tear something. It’s tough to compete for championships when you have one dude who fancies himself smarter than everyone else doing two full time roles in half time each, and then on top of that he has the game management presence of a pipe wrench.

    At least his starting CB Dean is getting beaten like a rented mule and the tackling still sucks. So there’s that.

  39. Buddha Says:

    Atlanta, no injuries reported either week. Everyone good to go but
    Mooney who is a maybe.

  40. SlurpandMunchMyRod Says:

    Keep him far away from the field against Buffalo.

  41. ReeeBarrr Says:

    Good health for Jalen!

  42. Greg Says:

    Munch just doesn’t like QBs with dreds apparently….

  43. Couch Fan Says:

    Putting a guy whos been out of football for a while in with the starters over the incumbent back up was a stupid idea to begin with. Not surprised that the clueless Super Todd fan boys see nothing wrong with that.

  44. BucsFan81 Says:

    Let’s hope he ready to go week 1

  45. Tye Says:

    Jalen just had the misfortune of playing with a crappy QB…
    That injury was all on Bridgewater….
    subpar qbs dont know how to protect their receivers…

  46. DBS Says:

    Hey couch.😢😢😢😢

  47. Couch Fan Says:

    No need to cry DBS. You should be used to Super Todd doing stupid things.

  48. DBS Says:

    Lmao. Couch You have been crying sience yesterday . All you Traskies have been because your hero that couldn’t even compete with other backups didn’t get to start . When he starts next week he will have a worse preseason TD pass record than last season.

 

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