Chase McLaughlin
Getty
Tampa Bay Buccaneers kicker Chase McLaughlin.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have had to deal with missing a lot of key players due to injuries through the first month of the regular season and, thanks to a few minor miracles, have walked away with a 3-1 record.
Even with all of that talent missing, Tampa Bay’s biggest challenge might be on the way in Week 5 when they travel to play the Seattle Seahawks if they have to play without star kicker Chase McLaughlin.
Placekicker Chase McLaughlin was added to the injury report on Saturday with an illness,” Tampa Bay Times reporter Rick Stroud wrote on Saturday, October 4. He does not have an injury designation for Sunday, meaning his status for the game against the Seahawks in Seattle is currently unknown … McLaughlin did travel with the team to Seattle on Saturday.”
McLaughlin came within one yard of tying the NFL record with a 65-yard field goal in a 31-25 loss to the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles in Week 4.
It was the longest outdoor field goal in NFL history.
Chase McLaughlin had never hit a field goal longer than 57 yards and then he goes out and DOES THIS: The man just HIT A 65-YARDER,” CBS Sports NFL reporter John Breech wrote on September 28.
It wasn’t clear what the Buccaneers might do if they don’t have McLaughlin on the roster on Sunday in terms of a replacement kicker.