Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 3 players outperforming expectations
By Rob Leeds
With the weapons on the Buccaneer offense, would anyone have expected at the beginning of the season that Scotty Miller would be the leading receiver at the midway point?
Tom Brady started out with Mike Evans, Chris Godwin (struggling with injuries), O.J. Howard (out for the season), the highly-touted Tyler Johnson, and Rob Gronkowski, but he has still gravitated towards Miller in the passing game.
Miller is nothing impressive physically, but he has created space in a new way in 2020. The second-year receiver for the Buccaneers has lined up on the outside for most of the season, which surprises based on his frame.
Even lined up on the outside, Miller has been able to function like a proper X or Z. Miller’s speed and sure hands have led to his emergence as one of Brady’s favorite deep targets and as a big-play machine.
On top of his production with the ball in his hands, Miller has been able to draw pass interference calls like a magnet. Perhaps the opposing defensive backs don’t anticipate Miller’s quick burst of speed and acceleration, but yellow flags often follow Miller wherever he goes.
It may look like a long-shot for any Buccaneer receiver to achieve 1,000 yards through the air at this rate, but Miller currently has the best shot of reaching that mark in this offense after entering the Tom Brady era as the purported fourth or fifth option.