Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Pre-preseason 53-man roster projection
Buccaneers Wide Receivers (6): Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Antonio Brown, Scotty Miller, Tyler Johnson, Jaelon Darden
Buccaneers Tight Ends (3): Rob Gronkowski, O.J. Howard, Cameron Brate
Now things are kicking up a notch. With that said there are a bunch of notches so by saying things are kicking up a single notch it really just means that this position group is slightly more interesting than the last on we covered.
The top four wide receivers are a lock. Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, and Antonio Brown have been all over the Internet and on the voices of analyst and experts from sea to shining sea being called the best wide receiver trio in the NFL. We can’t say we disagree. Scotty Miller‘s position as the fourth wide receiver on the depth chart is pretty safe as well, as his rapper with Brady was getting better by the week.
Tyler Johnson was in the news at the start of training camp for showing up slightly overweight, and has reportedly been under performing a bit. However, Johnson is uber-talented, and possesses arguably the best set of hands on the roster. It would truly be a shock to the system if the box let him go after a season.
The team traded up to draft Jaelon Darden out of North Texas in the fourth round of the 2021 NFL draft, and the rookie has been already turning heads both in rookie mini camp, and now training camp. The short, yet hyper athletic receiver should be getting on the field for an increasing amount of snaps as the season goes on, and potentially even in the return game. That brings us to Jaydon Mickens. The return man looks to see his time in Tampa Bay come to an end, because it’s simply just a numbers game with darden being younger. That’s why the NFL stands for not for long. #ThisLeague indeed.
As for the tight ends, the legendary Rob Gronkowski, ol’ reliable Cameron Brate, and the returning from injury O.J. Howard are your three tight ends. That’s not changing, and there’s really no need to say more. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Howard’s return really isn’t fixing, as much as it is retooling anyway.