Are Five Receivers Already Locked In For The Bucs?
July 9th, 2025
How safe?
We’re creeping towards the beginning of training camp. In two weeks Joe will be typing about real Bucs competition for a change.
So Pat Donovan of WDAE-AM 620 brought up an interesting take on the Bucs.
Donovan, who also is an on-air personality for the Buccaneers Radio Network, believes the Bucs’ top receivers are four receivers, then everyone else. And everyone else is going to have to duke it out for a roster spot.
Joe gets what Donovan is trying to sell. There’s no way short of injury or a trade that Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Emeka Egbuka and Jalen McMillan are not on the Bucs roster come September.
The rest, Donovan seems to think, you just drop in a bag and pull out the guys you need blindfolded to fill out the receiver room.
But Joe would actually add a fifth receiver to Donovan’s list. That would be Sterling Shepherd.
Remember, the former Oklahoma teammate of Baker Mayfield’s is Mayfield’s bro. It’s quite likely Shepherd is not currently on the roster if not for Mayfield, who personally got Shepherd off the couch and into Tampa Bay.
The hidden factor here is that the veteran Shepherd has worked a lot in underwear football and in meeting rooms with Egbuka. If Egbuka is the guy we think he will be with the Bucs, it wouldn’t be smart to toss Shepherd aside so easily since he’s become Egbuka’s tutor of sorts.
But yeah, after Shepherd, those guys better be busting their tails this summer if they hope to stick with the Bucs. Not many open seats in the wide receivers room.
Also, a friendly reminder what an NFL general manager once told Joe at the combine years ago: If someone isn’t starting and he can’t play special teams, he’s an endangered species.
Translation: If a player can’t start he better find a way to get on the field on special teams if he wants to continue collecting a check.
@953wdaeTKras and the crew are going at it over Bucs WR depth chart tiers. Is it two tiers or three? Does it even matter?
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