Earlier this month, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers added to their receiving corps after cutting WR and return specialist Deven Thompkins by signing veteran wideout Sterling Shepard to a one-year deal.
Shepard will be entering his ninth season in the league after falling out of rotation in the New York Giants' passing attack and will look to return to form in Tampa Bay now that he is paired with Baker Mayfield. Mayfield and Shepard have a history together going back to their playing days at Oklahoma with the Sooners, as Mayfield was Shepard's QB during his senior year where he caught the most amount of passes, yards, and touchdowns over his four-year collegiate career.
The two are now teammates once again in Tampa Bay, and if it weren't for Mayfield staying in contact with Shepard it might not have even come to fruition. With the pair back on the same field, they will look to re-establish their years-long connection to enhance the Buccaneers' passing game, and things look to be going smoothly early on.
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The Baker-to-Shepard connection looks clean now, but it will have to be proven once training camp begins and the pads are on. Shepard looks likely to make the Bucs' roster at this point, but he is still buried behind a couple of other receivers in Trey Palmer and rookie Jalen McMillan.
However, there is a path to playing time as the Bucs like to rotate guys in and out while also going four deep at moments, and the veteran should be ready to capitalize when his number is called upon.
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