Which Bucs Receiver Got The Best Separation?
June 11th, 2026
“There’s no way.”
And here all along Joe thought Bucs receivers were superior to most teams’ receivers.
Joe was fooling around with official NFL NextGen Stats last night and boy, Joe wonders if Bucs receivers have been gassed up way too much.
NextGen Stats, which uses sensors embedded in players’ equipment to generate stats via satellite technology, has a list of the top receivers with the highest average yards of separation from defenders when targeted.
On a team that had Mike Evans and still has Chris Godwin and Emeka Egbuka, Joe thought surely one of those three would be high on the list.
To Joe’s shock, none of those three were on the list. The leader on the Bucs? Try Cade Otton. Again, per NextGen Stats, Otton averaged 3.5 yards of separation. That ranked Otton No. 28 in the league for average separation.
So who was second on the Bucs? How about a guy who may have played his last football game? Sterling Shepard.. His contract expired in March and he not team.
In what may be his final season, Shepard finished No. 48 in the NFL in average separation at 3.2 yards.
It is wild to Joe with the talent the Bucs had last year at receiver, none of their top-three receivers, which included a future Hall of Famer (Evans) was even ranked in the top-two on the team in average separation yards.
June 11th, 2026 at 9:09 am
Otton is often the 3rd look in the route tree and while he’s often open, he just doesn’t get the targets – so he doesn’t get the recognition from us at JBF or the national press. He had a bad game against the Rams last year, but generally he’s dependable. Underrated.
June 11th, 2026 at 9:13 am
get a job Jim Bob Cooter
June 11th, 2026 at 9:15 am
Ottons spike in targets came about when Mike/Chris got hurt. Happened in and after Detroit last year. You can literally go back the last 2-3 years and see the correlation.
What was dumb, was throwing screens to him like he’s somebody who has the wiggle to create on the go with his athleticism and speed. One of the many tells that showed how green Grizzard was.
June 11th, 2026 at 9:17 am
It’s a misleading stat. Often overlooked, Otten draws the least amount of coverage from CBs & LBs and they usually have their eyes elsewhere while doing so. This stat speaks more to a lack of respect from the opposing D than route running prowess.
June 11th, 2026 at 9:18 am
With a healthy OL, he should get his share of passes this season. Last year BM6 was under duress too often.
June 11th, 2026 at 9:19 am
With a new coordinator I think we may see a lot more use coming from the TE position. I think the new rookie may make a few plays too
June 11th, 2026 at 9:20 am
Mr Joe are you one of these woke left wing sites, where you censor comments?
June 11th, 2026 at 9:23 am
Hey Joe, Bucs never get separation. Joe, you need to watch the games.
June 11th, 2026 at 9:27 am
They’ll throw more to Cade more this season.
June 11th, 2026 at 9:34 am
We faced way more man defenses than most teams do which decreases separation on average.
June 11th, 2026 at 10:48 am
Coaching matters. When the head coach conducts practices with sleepwalking, no one is going to play well.
June 11th, 2026 at 10:54 am
Suspect O line and only 6.8 average air yards. Doesn’t seem like WR’s have much time to get separation with the quick releases. Defender also has five yards to try to impede separation.
June 11th, 2026 at 10:54 am
Thank heaven the Bucs have a quarterback who tries to and (mostly) succeeds in throwing into tight spaces. The receivers are overrated; the quarterback makes them look good, although at the risk of an occasional pick.
June 11th, 2026 at 11:37 am
Looking at the list these stats don’t correlate to much of anything. Smith-Njigba was ranked around 100 or so. Right down there with Jamarr Chase. A ton of TEs lead the pack.
June 11th, 2026 at 11:53 am
I’ll repeat two things others said above and a little:
1-It takes time to separate, for which you need a health line
2-Targeting someone who does not have separation may just mean you have confidence in their ability to win
3-If the D is focusing on you, the other receivers have more separation
So this stat does not mean much without a lot of other context. I’d like too see average separation over say 1.5-3 seconds on every route the receiver ran, regardless of whether the receiver was targeted. That might mean something.
June 11th, 2026 at 12:00 pm
Separation helps but is not necessary for good receivers.
June 11th, 2026 at 12:06 pm
That correlates with yesterday’s article that reported that the Bucs were not in the top 18 teams for throwing the ball quickly.
If guys with proven track records are not getting open, the play calling needs more misdirection.
June 11th, 2026 at 12:52 pm
@nerd
No rhyme or reason to it. Random bias.
June 11th, 2026 at 12:53 pm
Trey Palmer led the team. Cut and buried. Useless stat.
June 11th, 2026 at 1:11 pm
“We faced way more man defenses than most teams do which decreases separation on average.“
Bills, Ravens Chiefs & Chargers faced man on >35% of their drop back respectively last season
Bucs faced man on 22.5%
Jordan Love had the highest success rate against man coverage of any QB that played > 200 snaps last year.
This information is free and available from multiple sources all around the internet. Ridiculously easy to fact check, almost as easy as saying things cause they sound good.
June 11th, 2026 at 1:57 pm
Maybe all this nonsense about how great our off talent is, was perhaps inflated
June 11th, 2026 at 1:59 pm
“Maybe all this nonsense about how great our off talent is, was perhaps inflated“
*is inflated
Some people think a clean bill of health, solves our problems.
Everything from QB accuracy to lowering our top 10 standing in punt frequency
June 11th, 2026 at 2:15 pm
Hmmm …. sure seems like it would make it hard for a QB to complete passes when the receivers aren’t getting separation. It might mahe him hold onto the ball too long or try to force throws into tight coverage. Or worse scramble, trying to pick up yards on his own and get injured.