The Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost two legends this offseason. Not only did Lavonte David decide to hang up his spikes, to the surprise of very few, but Mike Evans chose to sign with the San Francisco 49ers and leave the Bucs at the altar despite getting a competitive offer to remain in the Bay Area from general manager Jason Licht.
Now, David was always going to be hard to replace, and the signing of Alex Anzalone combined with the selection of Josiah Trotter in the second round of the 2026 NFL Draft are just the start of forging ahead without him. But on the other side of the coin, David didn’t exactly put together a stellar 2025 season either.
Meanwhile, Evans is an even bigger name, and the Bucs offense clearly suffered after he went down injured last season. So even though the Bucs have a lot of young talent at the wide receiver position, many, especially the mainstream NFL punditry, are questioning the Bucs quality around Baker Mayfield after losign a future Hall of Famer to another NFC playoff contender.
The Buccaneers are actually loaded at WR
Well, it is only the early going, but the Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receivers were so thoroughly impressive at OTAs that Bucs fans can begin to feel pretty confident that they will not struggle without Mike Evans – and if all goes as planned, they should be even better at wide receiver with all the depth and exciting young talent.
Jalen McMillan and Emeka Egbuka are obviously the two names to circle the most, because having both healthy and wiser with more experience catching passes from Baker Mayfield is going to make the most profound difference now that Evans is gone.
But Chris Godwin also looks healthier and arguably better for the Bucs, stepping up into that No. 1 role with the additional responsibility of being THE shining example for the young wide receivers to look up to.
Then there is the X-Factor. Jason Licht’s inspired third round selection of Ted Hurst is already beginning to pay dividends, and although Egbuka had a snazzy one handed grab, it was the speed demon from Georgia State who earned the most rave reviews from the Buccaneers troop of beat writers reporting from One Buc Place this late spring.
At this point, the wide receiver position should be the least of the Buccaneers concerns. Adding in Tez Johnson, this is a unit that is five deep, at least.
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