How Deep Are The Bucs At Wide Receiver?
June 22nd, 2025
Two of the best.
Yes, the Bucs are deep at receiver. Here’s an example:
Matt Harmon is something of a man who specifically studies wide receivers. He used to work for Yahoo!, but the past couple of years he has branched out on his own.
Harmon has something called “success rate” and then whittles this stat down to success rate per route run. Of the top six receivers in the NFL in this hatched stat, the Bucs have. No surprise. They’re Mike Evans and Chris Godwin.
If that isn’t top-heavy enough, then the Bucs went out and drafted Godwin’s clone from Ohio State, Emeka Egbuka, to add to the mix.
So is the Bucs’ wide receiver room deep? Man, it is very, very deep.
Puka Nacua was the most productive receiver in the league on a per-route basis in 2024…by a lot.
Graduation. https://t.co/fiXjiBlwGj pic.twitter.com/V4450a4UwW
— Matt Harmon (@MattHarmon_BYB) June 8, 2025
June 22nd, 2025 at 9:59 am
The fact that Shepherd is their fifth wide receiver, tells you how deep they are because he is a real good vet, probably number three in almost every offense out there.
Speaking of WR, Antonio Brown apparently did not want to be arrested so he fled the country and is talking sh*t on X.
Crazy. I’d love to hear what Tom Brady REALLY thinks of all of it, behind the scenes with no cameras where he’s just blunt & direct.
AB completely threw him out under the bus after TB 12 went on a limb for him
June 22nd, 2025 at 12:45 pm
Keep bragging about it and we’ll probably be reading a JBF article about how Joe can’t believe how decimated the once vaunted depth is completely gone and Baker is struggling badly in say …….. October.
QUIT TALKING ABOUT IT!
June 22nd, 2025 at 2:41 pm
To me “depth” means how good your 4/5/6 receivers are. 1/2/3 aren’t depth. They’re our starters. How good is wide receiver depth?
Sure, the Bucs are good 1-4. The team has some depth as long as Godwin Jr. can answer the bell. But after that, what does Tampa Bay have?
Most other teams use their 4-6 for specialty or developmental players. Shepard is a nice chess piece: he has talent and experience, works well with Baker, and has played on the team. He also has limitations, as he’s older, he’s not going to improve over his current level, he’s somewhat injury prone and has a penalty history. After him, though, what? Palmer, who the Joes want run out of town? His speed doesn’t cancel out the bad hands and bad route running. Tez? Until proven otherwise just a gadget player in a midget’s body. Jarrett? A smaller player with inconsistent hands. Ryan Miller? Below average across the board; a slot receiver with low special teams value. Kameron Johnson? A slightly larger Tez Johnson. Dennis Houston? Please.
So what is this great depth of which you speak? Just don’t see the talent or the potential at the bottom of the roster.
June 22nd, 2025 at 4:46 pm
Lou. Sober up tomorrow is a work day. Our receivers are very good 1-6. Put down your crack pipe. Go hang out with your buddy lovie smith and Stevie wonders you are blind
June 22nd, 2025 at 6:14 pm
#1 Mike Evans- a top 10 all time WR. Tied with Jerry freaking Rice with 11 straight 1K seasons. Only player to start his career with 11 straight. #2 Chris Godwin Jr.- best receiver in the league last year before injury. #3 J Mac- 8 TDS 37 receptions for 461 yards, pretty good for #3 receiver. As a ROOKIE. #4 Emeka Egbuka- first round draft pick, national champion in college and all time Ohio state great. Could be our #2 in 2026. #5 Sterling shepherd- 90 career games, 372 receptions for 4,095 yards & 23 TDS=DEPTH. #6 Trey Palmer/Rakim Jarrett/Kameron Johnson/Ryan Miller= DEPTH. Oh yeah I forgot to mention the rookie Tez who could be our #6 complete unknown. Five players battling for our #6 receiver spot? Let the cream rise to the top.
LOU! WTF are you talking about?
June 22nd, 2025 at 7:41 pm
Who are these teams with proven superstars at 4-7 on their WR roster?
Go look at the other top teams. Eagles, Bengals and Cowboys 4-7. The Eagles have Johnny Wilson #4. He the only guy I recognized. That’s just cause I’m a FSU fan.
June 23rd, 2025 at 12:22 am
You folks are making my point. Look at what you’re saying:
“Evans is the #1 receiver and a HoFer.” Agreed. And how does that say anything about DEPTH???
“Godwin was super before he got injured.” Agreed. Hope that he heals. In the real world, though, after seeing him Joe doubts that #14 starts the season. Joe also has a saying about hope. And, just to refresh your memory, how does an injured #2 receiver help any point you’re trying to make about depth???
“J Mac’s 461 yards were pretty good for a #3 receiver.” Yeah, and for a #2 receiver his 461 yards suck. The Bucs mostly play 3 wide, so the #2 had better be good. Given what we hear about Godwin, J Mac has to start. That’s not depth, and it’s not dependable, either.
“EE — first round pick, could be our #2.” Not confident in J Mac, are you? Not counting on Godwin being ready either, right? And with a 3-wide base, this isn’t depth. You’re not making any point about depth; you’re just saying our starters are really good. I agree, the starters are good. But the question is on the quality of their backups. So far you’ve been proving my point, not yours. And putting EE as #4 on the depth chart is a trick; he starts the year starting for #14 as pointed out above.
“Shepard has a lot of experience.” Well, he caught balls for just 334 yards. With Godwin out for 3/4 of the season Shepard was expected to show his stuff. The problem: he did. And if you subtract penalty yards and dumb plays you’ll get an even worse result. Now most teams keep players with developmental talent and special teams cred at this spot. Shepard is a known quality, and he’s not going to get better.
“Let the cream rise to the top.” We saw the rest of the roster last year. Wasn’t pretty. Wasn’t productive. Which one of those candidates would you be confident in should any of the first three healthy starters go down? We don’t need sour cream.
Looks like some fans want to cheerlead for the starting (healthy) three. That’s fine. But those fans are saying nothing about depth and are showing their
June 23rd, 2025 at 7:41 am
Deep? Nope. Evans is old and more injury prone than ever. Godwin might miss the entire season. McMillan is frail and easily injured. And the 1st round rook is a Chris Godwin “clone.” The Bucs landed Chris in the third round. I just don’t see a “deep” unit here.
June 23rd, 2025 at 12:26 pm
Agree with Lou. Hopefully Tez is as exciting as it seems
June 23rd, 2025 at 1:49 pm
You want a hall of famer as our #4,5,6? There are reasons they are the #5 receiver. I think we have depth, you don’t. There are other positions that we do not have depth in but WR is not one of them.
How are we supposed to pay 20$ mill to 4 receivers. We can’t have #1 receivers all the way down the line. Name one #3 receiver for any team off the top of your head. Our #3 can be JMac or Egbuka. That’s depth homie