It took a few games, but Jalen McMillan is finally starting to make his mark on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers offense.
McMillan was drafted in the third round back in April amid concerns that the Bucs might not be able to bring back Mike Evans in free agency. Instead, Tampa Bay gets the best of both worlds as Evans is back, and McMillan appears to be locked into the WR3 role alongside Chris Godwin.
It's an impressive wide receiver group, one that also includes Trey Palmer and Sterling Shepard, but there's a lot of hope that McMillan can carry the torch after Evans leaves. Hopefully, that's not for a long time, but no matter what happens, it seems the Bucs indeed landed another stud.
McMillan put his talent on display in Friday’s preseason finale and gave us a glimpse into the future that Bucs fans can't help but get excited about.
Buccaneers rookie Jalen McMillan hauls in first highlight reel catch of his career
Tampa Bay's starters played just one drive, but we got our first real look at Baker Mayfield with McMillan. Simply put, it was worth the wait.
Baker connected with McMillan for what is the first of many highlight reel catches to come.
Jalen McMillan going up and coming down with it!
— NFL (@NFL) August 23, 2024
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It was such an incredible play that Miami challenged the catch, but was unsuccessful in trying to get it overturned. To be fair, it appeared that McMillan didn't complete the catch in bounds but that simply made the fact that he pulled it down even more impressive.
A lot needs to happen before McMillan is considered alongside Evans and Godwin in terms of talent, but the flashes we've seen so far are worth getting excited about. To think that his first year with two Pro Bowl players is simply him downloading how to play like them is unreal, as it once again highlights the incredible job Jason Licht has done in turning the roster over to ensure there's veteran talent supplemented by the stars of tomorrow.
McMillan still needs to earn his keep, but so far it's safe to say he's very much worth investing a lot of stock in moving forward.
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