Late in Monday night’s game between the Rams and the Buccaneers, Tampa Bay center A.Q. Shipley was out and guard Ryan Jensen had moved back to his original position of center. The broadcast didn’t mention an injury, although it seemed obvious that something had happened.
After the game, Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians downplayed Shipley’s injury.
“He just had a stinger,” Arians said at the time. “It looks like he’s going to be OK.”
On Wednesday night, Arians had a more dire assessment.
“A.Q. Shipley appears to have had a career-ending injury,” Arians told SiriusXM NFL Radio, via JoeBucsFan.com. “And I feel bad because I love A.Q. He’s one of my favorite players of all-time and was playing good for us. But I think it was a previous injury that might have just got aggravated in his neck.”
Arians had intended to use Shipley at center and Jensen at guard until the return of guard Ali Marpet from a concussion. Those plans apparently will be changing, unless Marpet can return for Sunday’s game against the Chiefs.
The Buccaneers didn’t practice on Wednesday. The team estimated that Marpet would have fully participated in practice.