Thursday started out as a joyous day for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, as Tristan Wirfs inking a $140 million extension was the talk of training camp. Then Yaya Diaby suffered what initially looked like a significant injury, which caused everyone to hold their breath.

Diaby went down at practice and needed to be carted off the field with what was later diagnosed as an ankle injury. As odd as it sounds, that was good news, considering everyone’s first fear was that he had suffered some sort of Achilles injury.

Not only did the Bucs avoid a disaster in that regard, but the results of Diaby’s MRI revealed that he had avoided a serious injury. It’s good, but certainly not great, news but absolutely a sigh of relief for nervous fans.

Yaya Diaby expected to miss preseason, but avoided a serious injury
The good news is that Diaby seems to be on track to be ready for Week 1, although he’s not expected to play at all during the preseason.

Buccaneers insider Rick Stroud provided the update late Thursday night:

This isn’t exactly ideal in that Diaby getting as many reps as he can would be nice, but there’s no need to rush him back and sacrifice games that matter. It’s a bummer we won’t see him until September — and there’s probably going to be a ramp up process over the first few games — but his absence is also a blessing in disguise.

Linebacker is a deep, if not unproven, position group for the Buccaneers. With Diaby out, the spotlight will be on guys like Markees Watts, Jose Ramirez, and rookie Chris Braswell to step up. We were always going to see in action, but their playing time and chances to secure meaingful playing time in the regular season has significantly increased.

Diaby avoiding serious injury is the main takeaway though. He’ll have the entire month of August to rest for what should be a breakout season starting next month.