The Tampa Bay Buccaneers' offense has had to shift on the fly plenty this season when it comes to filling in for injured starters in its wide receiver room. Between the (very likely) season-ending loss of Chris Godwin in October to the multi-game absence of Mike Evans - among others - Liam Coen and Todd Bowles have had to figure out how to adjust and get their offense to perform with wide receivers on the shelf.
It appears that will continue next week, with Sterling Shepard banged up in the WR3 spot. Shepard started the Bucs' loss to the Dallas Cowboys, but was injured during the contest. He was listed as an estimated "did not practice" in Wednesday's practice report with hamstring and foot issues, as the Bucs didn't practice on Christmas Day.
So naturally, the question remains: who steps into his spot if he can't go in a must-win game against Carolina? According to Coen during his press conference on Thursday, that sounds like Ryan Miller.
"I think Ryan Miller will step up into one of those roles there, obviously. Every time he's called upon, he's made some plays and plays hard. Does what we ask him to do and made some plays. You hope Kam Johnson continue to progress, hopefully, and then those other guys like Rak (Rakim Jarrett) and Trey (Palmer). Trey makes a big catch on the over route later in the game, and really, the corps needs to continue to step up and help Mike out in some ways, but they've done that.
"They've played better, but we had a couple of balls hit our hands last week and didn't make those plays, which we need to make."
After Jalen McMillan and Evans, Miller led all other wide receivers in snaps last week against Dallas with 33. He finished with 2 catches for 17 yards and had a leaping 13-yard touchdown in the game's final minutes to help give the Bucs a chance at the end that they ultimately couldn't capitalize on. Palmer finished with 2 catches for 31 yards on 13 snaps.
Miller was an undrafted free agent signing out of Furman in 2023 who was signed to the practice squad after cut down day each of the last two years. He was elevated to the active roster for the Bucs' 51-27 win over New Orleans on October 13 and has totaled 10 catches for 102 yards and 2 touchdowns across 9 games this season.
We'll find out at the end of the week if Miller indeed will have that increased opportunity when the final injury report is released.
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