Buccaneers: Reviewing how they addressed off-season needs
Wide Receiver – Finding #weaponsforwinston to Pair with Evans
A major need all last season was getting more offensive weapons for Jameis Winston, and the biggest of those weapons was a big-time second wide receiver to pair with Mike Evans. They needed a guy who can stretch the field and Bernard Reedy, Josh Huff, Cecil Shorts, or Freddie Martino were not that guy. When free agency opened on March 9th the Buccaneers targeted wide receiver DeSean Jackson helping to bring that much-needed second speed receiver.
Jackson who averaged 17.9 yard per reception can still blow the top off of the defense achieving his 5th 1,000 yard season last year.
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Then the draft came around and the Bucs were thrilled that the top tight end in the draft, O.J. Howard, shockingly fell to them at 19. Although he is not a wide receiver per say he is a tight end with the speed (4.51 forty), skills, and size (6’6 251) to be an outstanding receiver.
Then in the 3rd round they selected Penn State speedster (4.42 forty) receiver Chris Godwin who played both receiver positions but never in the slot. However, with his size 6’2” 205 and his speed there will definitely be a role for him. During his final college season he was able to bring in 11 touchdowns and nearly 1,000 (982) yards, slightly down from his 2015 season of 1,101 yards. With the signing of Jackson and the drafting of Howard and Godwin the Bucs finally have plenty of quality depth at the receiver position for the first time in a long while, and YES they did fill that position of need.