Former West Virginia running back Charles Sims, who was enjoying a promising preseason for the Tampa Bay Bucs, is scheduled to undergo ankle surgery Saturday and could be sidelined 12 to 14 weeks.
The third-round pick whose pass-catching skills made him a versatile threat in college was projected to be used as a third-down replacement for starter Doug Martin.
“I think you can tell, especially at skill positions, does a guy have it? Charles Sims, I would say, has it,” Bucs coach Lovie Smith told the Tampa Bay Times before this week’s injury. “You can see enough in him to like his future with us. … Protections for any young back, that’s the thing that they will have the most trouble with early on. But he’s picked things up fairly well quickly.”
Sims made 592 carries and caught 203 passes in four college seasons. His only significant injury occurred in 2012 at Houston, when he missed three games and parts of three others with an ankle problem.