Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul will not have surgery on his fractured vertebra after receiving "several opinions," according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com.

Per Rapoport, "As coach Bruce Arians said publicly, the hope is he plays during the 2019 season. But no surgery is planned at this point." 

Pierre-Paul suffered the injury in a single-car crash last week, per Adam Schefter of ESPN.com. The team's general manager, Jason Licht, addressed the injury on Tuesday in a statement:

"As we stated last week following the news of Jason's auto accident, our immediate concern was for both Jason and his passenger. While Jason was treated and released in South Florida the same day of the accident, we wanted to ensure that our medical team had an opportunity to perform a thorough evaluation here in Tampa, and that process is currently ongoing."

Pierre-Paul, who was driving a Ferrari, was not cited for the incident. He told a 911 operator that his car did a 360-degree turn and hit the median on I-95 in Broward County.

The veteran defensive end was solid for Tampa Bay last season, registering 48 tackles and 12.5 sacks, though he earned just a 60.1 grade from Pro Football Focus (81st amongst edge-rushers). Nonetheless, he was a major part of the team's plans for 2019, and his likely long absence is a major blow. 

"We've got our fingers crossed and praying for him," head coach Bruce Arians said, per Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times. "It's very unfortunate. And all we can do is pray and hope for the best and hope it's one of those five- or six month things and go from there."