It’s a rough week to be a fan of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Not only did they lose on Monday Night Football to the Baltimore Ravens, but they also lost star wide receiver Chris Godwin for the rest of the season. This is a massive injury for a Bucs offense that has been built around throwing the ball in recent years.
However, we are living in a world where the team has been preparing for life after Godwin. He was due to be a free agent after this season and has been projected to earn a payday that might be too rich for the Buccaneers to match. There is a distinct possibility that Godwin has played his last game in Tampa and general manager Jason Licht always knew that was a possibility at some point this year.
Because of this, the Bucs drafted someone who was viewed to be a potential Godwin replacement. This was third round receiver out of the University of Washington Jalen McMillan. He, much like Godwin, is at his best playing out of the slot and if nothing else fits a similar mold.
Now I can’t sit here and tell you that McMillan will come in as a rookie and replace a guy who had been one of the most productive wide receivers in the NFL this year. That is too much to expect from anyone, let alone a guy who has played in only a handful of professional games. However, there is a lot of potential here for McMillan to fill a good portion of that void.
In April, leading up to the NFL draft, I had a chance to collaborate with Alex Katson, a writer for UW Huskies Wire. He had a lot of good things to say about McMillan well before we ever knew he was going to be a Buccaneer. Here is some of what he said.
“McMillan I really think is going underrated in this class because he didn’t get to play a ton this season”. He went on to say “McMillan is the chain mover in that offense. He’s the guy that’s going over the middle and converting first down after first down after first down…..He’s the guy you look for on third down out of the slot and he’s going to be a super valuable player”.
Buccaneers Future
From what we saw from McMillan in college, this is more than just hype or hyperbole. Going back to 2022, McMillan led the Huskies in touchdown catches and had less than 50 fewer receiving yards than Rome Odunez who was a top 10 pick in last year’s draft. These two playmakers are very different skill sets, but were both equally effective when on the field together in college.
We’ve seen flashes of this with McMillan in his young NFL career. He was the start of training camp where he made play after play on a day in and day out basis. This consistent ability to create separation and the trust he earned with the coaching staff as well as Baker Mayfield led him to winning the third wide receiver job next to Mike Evans and Chris Godwin.
So far, his NFL impact has been minimal in the regular season. He has just 6 catches for 74 yards and a touchdown in four starts this year.However, with an acclimation to the NFL speed and playing behind Evans and Godwin this was to be expected to a degree. On top of that he had an injury that led him to miss games against the Philadelphia Eagles and Atlanta Falcons.
Now he is back healthy and ready to step into the spotlight. McMillan got a taste of this on Monday when he received 8 targets in the game, which was more than he had seen all year going into the night. Now with Godwin out and him sliding back into his best role as a slot receiver, I would expect more of the same moving forward.
A third round pick in no small asset to invest into a playmaker. After all, Godwin himself was a third round pick for the Buccaneers back in 2017. And McMillan has all the talent and pedigree to have a similar impact to what Godwin has had in his career.
Will that happen for McMillan and the Bucs right away? No, of course not. There is a learning curve in the NFL and these things take time. However, you can expect him to get better and better with the more experience he gets.
As I said before, McMillan won’t replace what Godwin was doing for this offense. To say otherwise would be disrespectful to how good Godwin is and what an excellent season he was having. With that said, McMillan can be a reliable weapon out of the slot and keep the chains moving much like Godwin did in this offense.
If McMillan can develop into 75% of what Godwin was this year then this Bucs offense should be in good shape. After all, with a strong running game and the expected return of Evans after the bye week, he will have help around him to take some of the pressure off. No one is asking him to be the full solution, just a part of it.
McMillan just has to step in and be the same guy he has always been; a dependable playmaker who will win with smooth route running out of the slot and hands that catch everything. It’s who he was in college and who the Buccaneers drafted him to be in this offense. This is his opportunity to prove us all right in believing he will be that guy in the NFL.
