Buccaneers have obvious decision to make after preseason dominance
By Rob Leeds
The wide receivers showed out for the Buccaneers last night. Only being able to keep two of the guys we saw would be silly.
We already knew this before the game started last night, but the various performances against the Dolphins make it all the more clear: the Buccaneers have a near-impossible task ahead as they try to make cuts to their wide receiver room.
History tells us the Bucs have something near two spots open for receivers to step in. The top four spots are set in stone when healthy, but all four of the “starting” wide receivers are dealing with an injury right now or have dealt with injuries in the past.
This makes it all the more important that the Bucs are able to find some great receivers with their depth roles that can actually step up to the plate on game days.
As it stands, the two players that make the most sense in the remaining spots are Tyler Johnson and Jaelon Darden. Their youth and performances last night showed that this still holds true.
However, shutting the door at Darden and Johnson is going to leave some very talented receivers off the team.
Scotty Miller was wide open for two touchdowns and has chemistry with Tom Brady, Jerreth Sterns looked excellent with a couple of great catches, Kaylon Geiger was all over the place and juked the whole defense out of their shoes, Deven Thompkins has impressed in camp, and we haven’t even talked about Cyril Grayson and Breshad Perriman yet.
Do you see the problem?
The Bucs need to take one more receiver this year than they normally do. Seven receivers makes a lot of sense when looking at this roster and the prevalence of the pass, and it would then give the Bucs a bit more freedom as they try to see who gives the team the best chance of winning.
This is going to be an extremely hard decision. Several roster-caliber receivers are about to get cut by the Buccaneers. Taking one more guys on the active roster would at least ensure that one more good player isn’t given the freedom to go sign with some other team.
The Buccaneers might have to pull from a strange place if they want to free up one more spot, but that seems like the only decision after what we saw last night.
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