With Mike Evans departed, there are clear alternatives for youthful Bucs move catchers to carve out greater roles within the offense. And ESPN analyst Ben Solak is backing third yr receiver Jalen McMillan for that moniker on Tampa Bay’s roster.
What Solak Has To Say
Breakouts happen when alternative meets expertise. Solak notes the comparatively little alternatives McMillan has had over his first two seasons attributable to damage. But when he can stay wholesome in 2026, the alternatives ought to be there for the previous third spherical draft choose. And the expertise has been there all alongside.
“I’ve not been shy about my lofty expectations for second-year large receiver Emeka Egbuka, who I feel can lead the league in receptions with coordinator Zac Robinson now calling the performs. However Egbuka was splitting No. 3 receiver snaps final season with McMillan, who’s a powerful receiver in his personal proper.
McMillan, like Egbuka, noticed most of his rookie season restricted by hamstring points. And McMillan’s 2025 sophomore season was additionally nearly nonexistent due to a preseason neck damage.
If McMillan can keep on the sphere, he’s the perfect candidate for out of doors receiver snaps. And he has the big radius and spectacular catch means that the Bucs want following the departure of Mike Evans. Chris Godwin Jr. received’t fall out of the lineup completely — he’s too dependable — however McMillan brings sufficient juice as a run blocker to eat into these snaps, too.”
Bucs WR Jalen McMillan – Photograph by: Cliff Welch/PR
The Alternatives Out there To McMillan
McMillan ought to begin the season as one of many Bucs’ prime three receivers, together with Chris Godwin Jr. and Emeka Egbuka. That ought to give him loads of snaps and eventually permit him to ascertain himself as younger star within the NFL. I share Solak’s optimism for McMillan, going to this point to say he was on the precipice of a burgeoning breakout in a current version of my Cowl-4 sequence.
Whereas Solak notes that his evaluation is predicated on McMillan’s means to play on the skin, I’m staking my declare based mostly on his means to win in man protection. That was one thing Egbuka and Godwin struggled to do final yr.
Since coming into the league in 2024, McMillan has caught 64% of his targets in man protection for 262 yards and three touchdowns whereas averaging 10.5 yards per goal. He has been in a position to win in these conditions in any respect three ranges of the sphere. Over the identical time interval Godwin has the identical yardage and touchdowns however solely will get 7.9 yards per goal.
Bucs WR Jalen McMillan – Photograph by: Nathan Ray Seebeck -Imagn Pictures
McMillan put up the identical yardage on nearly 25% fewer targets. An enormous motive for that’s that Godwin’s a risk totally on brief choice routes, limiting the place and the way he could be deployed. In the meantime, Egbuka struggled in opposition to man protection in his rookie marketing campaign, catching simply 26% of his targets whereas averaging simply 3.9 yards per goal.
2026 is a pivotal season for McMillan. It’s an opportunity for him to lastly set up himself or proceed his pattern of exhibiting glimpses of a particular participant who all the time finds an impediment to cementing himself. The underlying flashes have been there. That is the yr he takes the soar.
