Bucs QB Wolford carted off with neck injury

Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback John Wolford suffered a neck injury in the second half of Saturday night’s second preseason game at the New York Jets and is being taken to a local hospital for evaluation, the team announced.

The team said Wolford does have movement in his extremities.

Wolford had just come in to relieve Kyle Trask in the third quarter and was hit from the side on a sack by Jets defensive end Jalyn Holmes, causing him to fall face-first onto the field. He was on the ground for several seconds, with the entire Buccaneers team leaving the sideline to gather around him before trainers loaded him onto a stretcher.

Wolford was sidelined with a neck injury last season when he was with the Los Angeles Rams after stepping in for an injured Matthew Stafford. He was having a particularly strong training camp, at times even outperforming Baker Mayfield and Trask in practices despite being projected as the third quarterback on the depth chart. Some would even argue that Wolford had the top play in Bucs training camp, heaving an 80 yard touchdown pass to undrafted free agent Kade Warner, son of Pro Football Hall of Famer Kurt Warner.

Wolford had completed 14 of 21 passes for 168 yards and a touchdown this preseason with no interceptions prior to the injury.

The other quarterbacks have credited him for helping them assimilate into offensive coordinator Dave Canales’ new offense, with Canales calling him the “smartest guy in the room on day one.”