Bucs Receivers Complement Each Other Perfectly

The Bucs depth in their receiver room is legitimately seven deep. And they’ve needed every bit of that depth to help them to an NFC South leading 4-1 record.

Look across the NFL and you’ll see that the Bucs’ fifth, sixth and seventh receivers could be WR3s on several other teams right now. With Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Emeka Egbuka, Jalen McMillan, Sterling Shepard, Tez Johnson and Ryan Miller, the Bucs have an embarrassment of riches that are not only great in their own right but also complement each other extremely well.

Tampa Bay’s Complementary Pieces At WR

Per Sumer Sports, Tampa Bay is running 11 personnel (three receiver sets) on 73.5% of their offensive snaps this year. It’s the fifth-highest rate in the NFL. Ideally with three receivers on the field you would have one who can threaten at the short-to-intermediate level, one who can threaten intermediate-to-deep and then a three-level threat that is often the “X” receiver.

Last year the Bucs had that triple threat. Jalen McMillan acted as the intermediate-to-deep receiver with 58% of his targets coming at 10+ air yards. Chris Godwin Jr. was the short-to-intermediate volume target with 85% of his targets coming under 20 air yards. Mike Evans was the three-level threat.

With Godwin set to miss the beginning of this season the Bucs were in need of someone who could act as the underneath volume-chain mover. Cade Otton did some of that last year – and impressed versus expectations. But he has had consistency issues with his hands and lacks a dynamism really needed from the position, especially after the catch.

Enter Emeka Egbuka.

The rookie phenom was billed as a Godwin clone by just about anyone with eyes. But most likened that comp to Godwin pre-ACL injury when he had more juice. You remember that version of him, right? Godwin circa 2019 was targeted almost evenly beyond and under 10 air yards.

But to begin the season it was pretty well understood that he would slot into the “F” receiver role that Godwin normally occupied. He would still provide the complement to Evans’ three-level threat and McMillan’s deep work.

Yet with Jalen McMillan suffering a significant neck injury in the preseason, all of that was now potentially thrown out of whack. And if you don’t think that’s important, go look at a team that lacks one of those roles. The entire passing attack gets thrown out of whack and becomes easier to defend because the defense can ignore entire swaths of the field.

Bucs WR Emeka Egbuka – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

As the regular season began, the Bucs trotted out Evans, Egbuka and Sterling Shepard. And something amazing happened. The Bucs still had all three roles filled. Shepard quickly took over as the shallow threat. Through the first four games of the season, 18 of his 19 targets have been under 20 air yards. Evans continued his three-level threat ways with 22.2% of his targets deep, 33.3% coming in the intermediate part of the field and 44.4% coming short. Egbuka filled in the rest.

But then Evans went down, and Godwin came back. On most teams that would have created some redundant skillsets that threatened to take some of the menu off the board. Yet it didn’t with the Bucs.

Baker Mayfield still had access to all three levels of the field. Egbuka has shown that he can be the three-level threat every offense needs to work at its peak even when Evans isn’t around. He is currently tied for second in the NFL with 11 targets of 20+ air yards and has added another nine in the intermediate. And complementing him is Godwin and Shepard working the underneath to open up the top.

Another Rookie Emerges For The Bucs

The latest development over the past two weeks creates yet another layer that could elevate this passing attack even further. Rookie Tez Johnson – a seventh-round selection mind you – is getting open at different levels of the field. That’s a development because in college Johnson was very much a short-area manufactured-touch style of receiver with 69% of his targets in college coming at 10 air yards or less.

Fast forward to this year and he has nearly as many intermediate-to-deep targets (three) as he does short targets (four). That could be huge for the Bucs as Mike Evans and Jalen McMillan return later in the season.

The trouble with gadget players is that when they enter the field the defense can key in on two things. The first is that the play has a high probability of going to that player and secondly, it is likely to be a short-area touch. Yet if Johnson, who is averaging 4.9 yards of separation, has to be accounted for past 10 yards on, then things get infinitely more complicated for the defense while simultaneously creating more space for him to work at his best.

It’s a small sample size for Johnson, but the process looks good. His ability to reach top speed so early into his route is dangerous, especially out of motion where he is often used. Despite his size, he absorbs contact well without re-routing.

His 27-yard catch in the third quarter against the Seahawks was after he took a jam strike from Riq Woolen. He bounced around the jab then cornered his dig route so close that Woolen couldn’t change directions with him.

When Healthy, Bucs Will Have The Deepest Receiver Room In The NFL

Mike Evans could be back from a hamstring injury in a week or two. Jalen McMillan’s return is still more than a month away. But when they return, the Bucs will have four receivers who can legitimately get open deep in Evans, McMillan, Emeka Egbuka and Tez Johnson. Tampa Bay will have six that work the intermediate area, including Chris Godwin Jr. and Sterling Shepard, where the best offenses live. Five of those – Godwin, Shepard, Egbuka, Evans and Johnson – can work successfully near the line of scrimmage.

Bucs WR Emeka Egbuka – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The overlapping skillsets, plus Johnson’s ability as a manufactured touch piece – along with Kam Johnson – means nothing is off the table for offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard. His only limitations will be his own imagination.