The Tampa Bay Buccaneers officially placed defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul on the active/non-football injury list on Wednesday, as players reported to training camp.
The move was expected, as Pierre-Paul continues to recover from a neck injury sustained in a car accident in May. He will not participate at all in training camp and will likely be moved to the reserve/NFI list before the regular season, which would rule him out for at least the first six games.
Pierre-Paul, who did not have surgery for the injury, was still in a neck brace in early July.
Head coach Bruce Arians said in June that Pierre-Paul could return as soon as October, after previously suggesting a 5- to 6-month timeline that would have kept Pierre-Paul out for virtually the whole season.
The 30-year-old was injured in the early morning hours of May 2, when he lost control of his Ferrari and it veered off the road and crashed into a concrete barrier.
Pierre-Paul led the Bucs with 12.5 sacks last season, with Carl Nassib second at 6.5 sacks.
Also on Wednesday, the Bucs signed tight end Troy Niklas and cornerback Mazzi Wilkins while waiving/injured rookies Jalen Allison (cornerback) and Xavier Ubosi (wide receiver).
Niklas was a second-round pick by the Arizona Cardinals in 2014 when Bruce Arians was the head coach. He had 19 catches for 203 yards and three touchdowns through four seasons before spending last year without a team.
