Josh Freeman Injury: Updates on Buccaneers QB's Week 14 Status and Fantasy Value

Tampa Bay Buccaneers star QB Josh Freeman sat out yesterday in his team's loss to the Carolina Panthers with an injured shoulder.

He was a game-time decision in the days leading up to Sunday and coach Raheem Morris decided to sit him and go with Josh Johnson instead against a Carolina team susceptible to the run.

They ended up facing nothing but stacked boxes and a team ready to stop the rush, forcing mobile backup Johnson to beat them with passes and he was not able to do it.

Freeman wanted to play and could have made the difference with his arm, but it wasn’t worth it for the team to risk his future in what is ultimately a meaningless game between two teams who aren’t playoff bound in 2011.

Update: Sunday, Dec. 11 at 11:50 a.m. EDT

After sitting out last week's game with a shoulder injury, Freeman is going to be back in the Buccaneers' starting lineup against Jacksonville, according to Rotoworld.com.

Considering how inconsistent Freeman has been this season, and how strong the Jacksonville secondary has been defending the pass, fantasy owners should not expect him to do great things in this game. 

Still, it should be a confidence boost for the Buccaneers to get their starting quarterback back into the fold after last week's 19-point loss against Carolina. 

Freeman will try to stop the bleeding for this team since they have lost six straight games and fallen out of the postseason race. 

Update: Tuesday, Dec. 6 at 1:00 p.m. EDT

Stephen. F Holder of The St. Petersburg Times is reporting that Freeman is optimistic he will play on Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars. He should resume throwing on Wednesday and coach Raheem Morris will evaluate his status throughout the week.

"You don't want to hurt your quarterback any further," Morris said. "You want to be smart with him and figure out what he can do and how fast you can let him do it."

Check back here tomorrow to see how he does in practice.

The Bucs starting QB should be good to go next week but we won’t know for sure how his shoulder is doing until the team resumes practice on Wednesday.

They are gearing up to play the Jacksonville Jaguars on the road in Week 14 and would love to get their signal caller back in time for the game.

Fantasy owners, if anyone still actually has him, would also be grateful to get Freeman back in their lineup.

While Tampa isn’t going to make the playoffs this season barring a miracle, they do need to end this season on a high note for the sake of coach Morris’ career and to give them something to build on for next year.

Keep it tuned here throughout the week and we will report the latest breaking news on Freeman and how his injured shoulder will affect his status for Week 14.