Yes, The Bucs Are Deep At Receiver
June 18th, 2025
Leader of deep WR room.
Earlier this week, Friend of Ira, Judy Battista of NFL Network, hosted the primetime show “The Insiders.” A chunk was devoted to the Bucs.
Battista was with Sara Walsh, who is sort of the NFL Network Bucs beat reporter, since she lives in Pinellas County and often is at One Buc Palace and Bucs.
Battista asked Walsh what she learned about the Bucs after underwear football season. Walsh’s takeaway was the receivers room is no joke.
“I think what we learned, Judy, is what we already thought we were going to see when you look at this roster on paper,” Walsh said. “And that’s the fact that the receivers group is completely stacked for this Tampa team.
“You already have the two Pro Bowlers, Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, Jr. By the way, that is a name change [Godwin] is going by as a nod to his father.
“And then you already had Jalen McMillan, who is an emerging star now going into his second season. They added first rounder of Emeka Egbuka in this draft. They also added a speedster and Tez Johnson.”
Now since the Bucs are so loaded at receiver, Joe wonders since new Bucs offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard wants more explosive plays, if he’s going to go with a four-receiver set and if so, how often.
If the Bucs are truly loaded at receiver, why not use that depth to create mismatches in the secondary and put defenses on their heels.
There is no sense in having such a deep receiver room if you aren’t going to use it to its fullest.
June 18th, 2025 at 4:25 am
Rakim “the rock Jarrett” is also a solid WR.
Ryan Miller had some huge blocks and catches in the playoff game.
I hope we can trade Palmer for a 7th.
June 18th, 2025 at 4:35 am
If you’re wondering about explosive plays, and how many four receiver sets Grizz might use, look at the Miami Dolphin offense. Remember Coen got Grizzard from McDanials. We assume Grizz’s offense will be Coen’s, when it might look a lot like McDanials. Better yet, it’ll be Grizzard’s, with hopefully the best of both.
June 18th, 2025 at 4:44 am
The Bucs already had WR’s, I’m more happy they got some Corners.
June 18th, 2025 at 5:30 am
Yes the Bucs are stacked at WR, but much more important IMO, we’re stacked in weapons … WRs, TEs, RBs and yes QB. If you use the criteria Yards From Scrimmage (Receiving AND Rushing Yards total) for each ‘weapon’, plus the TDs each scored, it’s easy to see the options that this offense has all over the field.
Impressive to note that the Bucs accumulated 7,041 Yards From Scrimmage and 57 Total TDs last season. That ranked us 3rd in Yards from Scrimmage and 4th in Total TDs Scored. There are some pretty high-powered offenses out there (Ravens, Lions, Bills?) and we played 2 of those last year and we play 2 of those this year.
Bucs have THREE players who got over 1,000 Yards from Scrimmage last year: Irving (1514 yds – 8 TDs), White (1006 yds – 9 TDs) and Evans (1004 yds – 11 TDs). Those 3 guys got roughly HALF of our Total Yards and Total TDs.
Bucs have THREE players who got between 500 – 1000 Yards From Scrimmage last year: Otton (596 yds – 4 TDs), Godwin (578 yds – 5 TDs) and McMillan (504 yds – 8 TDs). Those 3 guys got roughly a QUARTER of our Total Yards and Total TDs.
Bucs have THREE players who got between 300 – 500 Yards From Scrimmage last year: Tucker (417 yds – 3 TDs), Shepard (403 yds – 1 TD) and Mayfield (378 yds – 3 TDs).
All the rest of our ‘weapons’ (7 others) combined for 634 Yards From Scrimmage and 5 TDs on the season.
Yup, the Bucs are deep in weapons. And the player who makes it work is Baker Mayfield; multiple ‘options’ to sort out on each play. And thankfully we’ve got an OLine that can provide him the time to do exactly that. It all ties together on great teams IMO, and we’re getting closer.
June 18th, 2025 at 6:19 am
Evans, Godwin, McMillan, Egbuca, Tez Johnson, and Sterling Shepard. Baker probably has to pinch himself after waking each morning.
June 18th, 2025 at 6:42 am
3 WR with White in the backfield. Puts the defence into a major pickle. If the go light he runs, if they stay in base he can motion to the 4th WR spot…. With his receiving chops…Defences can’t defend that!
June 18th, 2025 at 6:42 am
In the early, hot games of the season the Bucs should use their WR depth to wear down opposing DBs. Our WR’s should run a ton of go routes, and rotate out on every play, to gas the opposing DBs.
June 18th, 2025 at 7:50 am
I share Hodad and DR’s takes on things. (1) Grizz may not be molding the 2025 offensive scheme entirely off Coen’s playbook, and (2) the Buc’s offense is stacked at every position group. Joe posted earlier about both Bucky and our running game as well as the depth of the WR room. We also have a pretty deep and diverse TE group. If we have creative play calling from Grizz, there’s no way defenses will be able to double team all of our weapons. If we don’t at least match last year’s production (hopefully surpass), I will be very disappointed.
June 18th, 2025 at 8:51 am
do people think the bucs are going to score more ppg over the 17 games this year, or less? i think it is going to be hard to get more….
June 18th, 2025 at 11:09 am
The biggest contribution this offseason has been depth. We won’t be one-dimensional even if injuries rear their ugly head.
June 18th, 2025 at 11:53 am
Haven’t heard much about Kameron Johnson. They were talking him up last year. He showed flashes before and after his injury last year. Wonder if he even has a shot at a roster spot now.
June 18th, 2025 at 12:00 pm
What’s going to make it all possible is our O line. They got better very game, and haven’t hit their peak yet. Barton has had a whole offseason working with the herd in the weight room. He won’t make the same mistakes he did last year. If this O line takes it to that next level, this offense will be hard to deal with. I still say it’s the defensive improvement we need to see. More turnovers, more three, and outs giving our ofense more opportunities will be the key to the season.
June 18th, 2025 at 12:02 pm
Kameron Johnson is the 2025 version of Kenny Bell. Touch football accolades galore, disappears when the lads come on. Trey Palmer very much the same.
June 18th, 2025 at 3:52 pm
Going to really interesting to see what Grizz adds to the playbook 🤔. There is going to be some Mike McDaniel influence I promise you! And he will utilize Tez on offense if he shows he’s ready for big boy football.
June 18th, 2025 at 7:08 pm
GoneGator, Tez caught over 2000 yards of passes and over 20 tds the last two years playing for the University of Oregon. He’s been ready for big boy football and you can bet we’ll utilize him.
June 18th, 2025 at 9:56 pm
Pretty remarkable that a vet like Shepherd is going to be the fifth receiver. Tez looks like six, but they still have Jarrett as well.
Any way you look at it, Bucky Irving might be over 5 ypc this year the way they’re going to be able to spread out the defense
June 18th, 2025 at 10:00 pm
** meant 6 ypc
June 18th, 2025 at 10:19 pm
But are we loaded at the receiver or are we loaded at slot receiver? Tez is a special teams pick, even if he plays snaps its not going to be on the outside. Sheppard is old and inconsistent. Godwin and Egbuka play the same slot position and Godwin is old and injured. Parker is a wr4 that just runs go routes that never connect. Evans and Mcmiillan are our only outside threats, neither one have elite speed and Evans is old and often injured. Without above average rb and te play this is not a threatening group to scheme against.
June 18th, 2025 at 10:50 pm
If our OL can pass protect, good gosh we are gonna be good! Maybe keep a blocking TE in to help pass protect? I also don’t think Palmer has been given a chance to shine. His speed on the go route was never used b/c Baker was running for his life.
June 19th, 2025 at 9:28 pm
The issue, I don’t think, has ever been Palmer’s speed. I don’t think he adjusts well to the ball in the air and doesn’t track the ball at a high enough level to be a consistent deep threat.
Better suited imo for quick hitters as 1 of the Joe’s suggested last year.
I’ll be surprised if he makes the cut this year honestly. J-Mac, Mike, EE (and maybe Tez) are all better candidates for explosive, deep passes imo.
Pure speed is the most overrated quality for WRs – I’d guess 80% of catchable deep passes come down to receivers body control, tracking, ability to adjust to the balls path, ability to high point etc. Rarely are there recievers wide open with perfect passes thrown to them. WRs need to be fast but a 4.2 vs 4.5 forty times means squat in terms of ressults
June 20th, 2025 at 7:29 am
Shepherd won’t be the 5th WR… WRa 4-6 have to be major contributors on special teams. If he’s lucky he’ll end up on PS again