Bucs Need Jalen McMillan, Trey Palmer, Sterling Shepard To Rise Up

Bucs offensive coordinator Liam Coen and quarterback Baker Mayfield have the unenviable task of trying to put up yards and points while missing 50% of the team’s passing game production with the absence of wide receivers Mike Evans – for at least the next three games – and Chris Godwin, who is out for the season.

It doesn’t help that there isn’t a clear designation on the depth chart behind Evans and Godwin, as Tampa Bay never really established a third wide receiver in the first six weeks of the regular season.

Rookie Jalen McMillan came off an impressive training camp and preseason and scored a touchdown in the season-opening win over Washington, but also battled with inconsistency and a hamstring injury that cost him a few games. Second-year receiver Trey Palmer had a touchdown catch against Philadelphia, but suffered a concussion that kept him out of a couple of games as well.

Veteran Sterling Shepard, who started the season on the practice squad, has filled in as the No. 3 when Palmer and McMillan were out and caught a touchdown at Atlanta and a two-point conversion against Baltimore. The 30-year former teammate of Mayfield at Oklahoma has prior chemistry with the Bucs’ starting quarterback and will be called up now more than ever in the passing game.

Despite their lack of production this season, these three receivers – along with unheralded and inexperienced second-year players Rakim Jarrett and Ryan Miller – will be counted on to help replace the production the Bucs will miss with Evans and Godwin out. Tampa Bay is in a virtual must-win game against Atlanta on Sunday with the NFC South division lead on the line, so there’s no better time than the present for these three receivers to rise to the occasion.

“Yeah, it brings new challenges, but also new opportunities and guys need to step up,” said Coen. “We obviously need to get more creative in some different ways. What it looks like exactly, we’re still trying to formulate and figure out so [it’s] a great opportunity for some guys. It’s hard, anytime you lose your two guys that have obviously produced a lot for you, so that’s a challenge, but it’s a great [opportunity] for some guys to get a new opportunity.”

Jalen McMillan Needs To Step Up For Bucs Offense

The player who must really rise to the occasion for Tampa Bay in the passing game is Jalen McMillan, the team’s third-round pick. He has the most talent with his ability to separate and he made a couple of spectacular catches in training camp and the preseason.

Bucs offensive coordinator Liam Coen believes McMillan, who had a 1,000-yard season at Washington in 2022 and was one of Michael Penix Jr.’s go-to guys, is ready to step up and be a featured receiver for Baker Mayfield.

“I do think so,” Coen said. “I had a really good conversation with Jalen, I think it was on Sunday, and just said, ‘Hey, this is the week.’ We talked about it, ‘This is the week that you have to really kind of emerge and I trust you.’ I mean look, the fourth-down-and-1, and we’re giving him the ball, on a jet sweep and trusting that he’s going to make a play – he does. On a critical third down, he comes on an underneath route, catches the ball in traffic, makes a first down, and I do think that there’s trust there.

“There is building chemistry that already had existed, we just lost some of those reps with him not being able to practice for those few weeks there. I do believe that there is a connection there. We’ve seen it. So it’s just kind of emerging, building it, and doing it live in a game-like situation. … This is a big moment for those guys in general. But for Jalen to take the next step and really be called upon to win.”

Trey Palmer Needs To Become More Than Just A Deep Threat

Last year, the Bucs spent a sixth-round pick on wide receiver Trey Palmer, who had a 1,000-yard season at Nebraska, which doesn’t happen very often. Palmer had some ups and downs as a rookie, catching 39 passes for 385 yards and three touchdowns. The team drafted him for his 4.33 speed, but that wasn’t on display that often as he finished 2023 with a 9.9-yard receiving average.

But where Palmer helped the Bucs with his speed was running deep patterns that served to be clear-outs for Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. Now, Palmer, who also serves as the team’s punt returner, won’t be used as a decoy. He’ll need to come through with more receiving production – and not just down the field.

“I think obviously Trey gives you a vertical down-the-field threat that hopefully we can try to utilize some,” Bucs offensive coordinator Liam Coen said. “Atlanta plays primarily with deeper safeties at times so not a lot of people have thrown the ball over their heads very often this year. So that’s something we need to look at – that balance between how much we’re just sending him down the field and running him across the field when maybe they’re doing by coverage structure a little bit more to cover that stuff.”

Sterling Shepard Has Gotten Open, Now He’ll Get More Targets

The Bucs were fortunate that Sterling Shepard decided to stick around on the team’s practice squad when a rib injury cost him much of the preseason and a chance to make Tampa Bay’s 53-man roster. Now Shepard will be at best a featured receiver outside as well as in the slot, and at worst the team’s No. 3 receiver for the foreseeable future.

Shepard’s most productive day came against Philadelphia when he had three catches for 51 yards and he had three catches for 23 yards at New Orleans. He had one reception for 15 yards versus Baltimore. Shepard’s lone touchdown came on a 4-yard touchdown pass from Baker Mayfield at Atlanta.

“[By] just putting him in positions and routes – like if you really look at a lot of ‘Shep’s’ routes that he maybe even hasn’t been targeted on or even been the primary on, he’s won on quite a few routes,” Bucs offensive coordinator Liam Coen said. “Even dating back to the first Atlanta game, he ran some really good routes that he just didn’t get the ball on. That also happened the other night – he ran some really good routes, he just wasn’t the primary or maybe secondary target on some things.

“Well now he’s going to be, so he’ll probably just get naturally some more [opportunities] with the situation at hand. There’s obviously a connection there, [Shepard and Mayfield are] really close, they’re friends, they go over the plays at night, they talk through things so I do believe that those two will have fun on Sunday playing again together.”