As the offensive portion of our offseason review nears its end, we’ll examine the group with by far the most questions entering the season.
The Bucs’ offense will likely live and die by the production of its receiving corps and, by extension, its chemistry with quarterback Baker Mayfield. Let’s dive right into it.
“13” Reasons Why the Bucs Might Struggle?
It’s hard to keep dwelling on it, but it’s an immutably present question for the 2026 Buccaneers until toe meets leather. Their franchise icon and all-time best offensive player is gone, and he leaves behind a hole in the depth chart that’s not easily replaceable.
Ability to consistently beat man coverage, excellent jump ball and highlight-reel catch skills, true explosive play potential — Mike Evans brough all of these qualities to the table for 12 seasons and 176 career games. Whether or not those strengths could be reliably counted on at this point in his career is a valid question, but it’s foolish to deny he is still an extremely useful player when healthy.
Without him on the field, Tampa struggled severely with uncovering versus man coverage, so you can expect to see heavy doses of such until the new-look corps can show otherwise.
So when looking at what it means to lose Evans, it’s just as much about how he won versus the simple stats. That will be the biggest puzzle the remaining pass catchers and new offensive coordinator Zac Robinson need to decode.
Will the Real Egbuka Please Stand Up?
Emeka Egbuka shocked everyone last year by: A.) being the Bucs’ first-round pick in the first place, and B.) producing prolifically in his first 8 professional games.
Egbuka stepped right in for the absences of Godwin and Evans and showed immediate chemistry with Mayfield, playing like one of the best receivers in football during the first half. Before the bye week, in 8 games, Egbuka recorded 34 receptions for 562 yards and 5 touchdowns. He made eye-popping catches over big-name competition, created huge chunk plays, and generally looked like a polished pro.
Then it all went…not as great.
Egbuka’s stats in weeks 9-18 cratered along with the rest of the offense as teams figured out how to defend him. The rest of the unit struggling with injuries and efficiency did not help, but Egbuka very much looked like a rookie trying to do too much. he logged just 29 catches (on 64 targets!) for 376 yards and 1 touchdown. His catch rate finished at a concerningly low 49.6%.
It’s not all doom and gloom, nor should it be. The tape Egbuka put up in the first 8 weeks of 2025 shows a player doing lots of things well, but it’s always about staying ahead of the competition, and that is extremely difficult. Egbuka is young (will be 24 in October), mature, and now possesses a full year’s experience of being asked to handle a huge load. With a new coordinator hopefully better equipped to handle playcalling duties, more reliability from players like Godwin and Jalen McMillan, and generally more consistency for the whole offense, Egbuka should be in a good spot to take another positive step forward in his development.
Is Chris Godwin Still a Dude?
If Egbuka’s Year 2 development isn’t the biggest question facing the current Bucs receiving corps, then Godwin’s relevancy is certainly 1b.
It’s been a rough handful of years for Godwin, who’s been a high-end No. 2 option for the Bucs passing game when he’s healthy. Unfortunately, he’s dealt with long-term recoveries to both a torn ACL and broken leg, the latter of which largely robbed him of 2024 and 2025 (16 total games, 13 starts).
Now 30 years old, can Godwin rebound from all the aforementioned adversity to still be a consistent threat? It seems likely he will return to his primary role as a slot demon, where he produced like a monster for several seasons prior to fibula fracture, so that should help matters.
Even if he can be a present, consistent chain mover in short yardage and screen situations, that would help immensely to take the burden off names like Egbuka, McMillan and rookie Ted Hurst and keep their focus on more intermediate and downfield work.
Will Tight End Matter…at All?
The Bucs have been happy enough with Cade Otton as their TE1 that they re-signed him to a 3-year deal this off-season for middle-of-the-road money and declined to bring in any serious competition to his target share beyond Day 3 pick Bauer Sharp.
Fans have their complaints about Otton, mostly related to losing a handle on the ball at inopportune times, but he’s been a generally reliable presence as a pass catcher and run blocker who has improved slowly but surely over the better part of 4 years.
The question will now be, “Will Zac Robinson really use him?”
As Atlanta’s offensive coordinator, Robinson deployed Kyle Pitts to great effect whenever the two rivals played (Pitts scored 3 of his 5 total TDs last year in one game against Tampa). Pitts set career-highs with 88 catches for 928 yards in 2025. That said, he’s generally produced modestly with numbers more in line with Otton in years prior — last year was more a product of the Falcons being absolutely barren at the receiver position.
Even without Evans, the Bucs will give Robinson a passing arsenal he never had with Atlanta, so that might keep Otton down in the pecking order. But, Otton also has size (6-5, 247 pounds) that Tampa now lacks, so is it possible to see more Otton action down in the red zone?
That will be an interesting wrinkle to monitor.