Who will see playing time for Bucs vs. Texans in Week 3 preseason

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Houston Texans will wrap up the 2021 NFL preseason on Saturday at 8:00 p.m. ET, before the regular season kicks off next month. Below we’ll take a look at who is and not playing in the preseason finale.

Quarterbacks

Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians said on Friday that the starters will play the first half, which means we’ll see Tom Brady under center against the Texans. Tampa Bay’s starters only played six offensive snaps in the preseason opener a couple of weeks ago and did not play in last week’s game against the Tennessee Titans. As for the Texans, Tyrod Taylor and the rest of starters will play the first half and part of third quarter. Taylor will be the starting quarterback as Deshaun Watson’s legal situation plays out off the field.

Running Backs

We’ll see Leonard Fournette and Ronald Jones II play on Saturday night for the Bucs, while the Texans will rotate the trio of Mark Ingram II, Phillip Lindsay, and David Johnson. Ingram got the start last week against the Dallas Cowboys, where he had 24 rushing yards and a touchdown.

Wide Receivers

Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, and Antonio Brown should all see some snaps in Saturday night’s preseason finale against the Texans. The trio of wideouts will look to duplicate their success from last season, which played a large part in Tampa’s run to the Super Bowl. Houston will introduce a brand new WR core that features Brandin Cooks, Keke Coutee, and rookie Nico Collins, who has stood out in training camp.

Tight Ends

The Texans will have veteran Jordan Akins starting at tight end with rookie Brevin Jordan backing him up. In last week’s preseason game against Dallas, Jordan had one reception (two targets) for seven yards. For the Buccaneers, we’ll see Rob Gronkowski and Cameron Brate suit up in the preseason finale. O.J. Howard played extensively in last week’s game, recording three receptions (six targets) for 24 yards.