We are inching closer to the first preseason game of the 2025 season for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and it’s going to be our first chance at seeing several young players on the field. That includes Tez Johnson, a seventh-round pick who has impressed the coaching staff during camp. It's only been a few practices, but it sure feels like his spot on the roster is already secured.
Johnson posted big numbers at Oregon over the last two seasons, recording 2,080 receiving yards and 20 touchdowns in 26 games. But after a poor showing at the NFL Combine, he fell all the way to the seventh round before Tampa Bay scooped him up. He isn’t your usual seventh-round pick as he’s got fantastic production and has NFL quickness. However, his strong training camp could push another veteran off the roster.
The Buccaneers might have the best wide receiver room in the NFL, even with Chris Godwin coming off an injury. The addition of Emeka Egbuka gives them a strong top four with Mike Evans, Godwin, and Jalen McMillan. That doesn’t leave much room for the rest of the wide receiver corps, and it looks pretty likely that a trade could happen in the near future.
The player who is an obvious trade candidate is Trey Palmer, who was a sixth-round pick by the team during the 2023 draft. Palmer made the roster as a rookie and started eight games for the Buccaneers, catching 39 passes for 385 yards and three touchdowns. But his role decreased significantly during the 2024 season as he only played 305 offensive snaps, according to Pro Football Reference. That was down from 718 during his rookie season when he was nearly a full-time player.
Tampa Bay had a bunch of injuries at the receiver position last season, and Palmer failed to have much of an impact or see the field. And now with Egbuka and Johnson entering the fold, it just doesn’t feel like there is space for Palmer on the roster. But that doesn’t mean he can’t catch on elsewhere.
Palmer has two years left on his rookie contract and teams are always searching for receivers with speed (Palmer ran a 4.33 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine). The Buccaneers will likely move him sometime this summer, likely for a late-round pick, to open up a spot for Johnson.
It’s a tough spot for Palmer because he deserves to be on a 53-man roster somewhere, but the Buccaneers have too much talent ahead of him on the depth chart. With Johnson being a cheaper option with more years left on his rookie contract, Tampa Bay has almost no choice but to move on. Expect some sort of trade to happen over the next month as the Buccaneers begin to trim their roster down to 53 players ahead of Week 1.