We're just a few days away from the start of the NFL season, and a week away from most teams playing their openers. The healthiest, most reliable seeming Tampa Bay wide receiver right now is Chris Godwin, which says a lot.
Emeka Egbuka would seem to be the No. 1, but he's been out with a toe injury. Turf toe or something less scary, it's hard to say. Todd Bowles either doesn't know, doesn't want to know, or simply isn't saying.
Jalen McMillan has his latest knee injury. McMillan was a third-round pick two years ago but has been available for half the games since then, with a neck injury the big one a year ago. Parsing Bowles' words, it's sounded like McMillan is closer to being ready, but again, Bowles is less than helpful on these matters, perhaps by choice.
What we can say for sure is that the Bucs will have some valuable wide receivers. Their passing game tends to run through that position, more than most other teams, with less of it going to the tight ends. A year ago, 70 percent of the offense's receiving yards and 73 percent of the touchdown passes went to wide receivers. Both of those percentages are top-4 numbers. (Table sorted by percent of receiving yards.)
| WIDE RECEIVERS, PERCENT OF TEAM, 2025 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | No | Yards | TD | %Rec | %Yds | %TD |
| San Francisco | 201 | 2893 | 18 | 57% | 77% | 69% |
| Dallas | 253 | 3605 | 19 | 60% | 76% | 61% |
| Tampa Bay | 211 | 2635 | 19 | 60% | 70% | 73% |
| Jacksonville | 215 | 2810 | 15 | 63% | 70% | 52% |
| LA Rams | 241 | 3262 | 26 | 62% | 69% | 57% |
| Philadelphia | 190 | 2409 | 12 | 60% | 69% | 46% |
| Minnesota | 166 | 2196 | 9 | 56% | 68% | 50% |
| LA Chargers | 235 | 2686 | 20 | 64% | 68% | 77% |
| Houston | 212 | 2688 | 18 | 58% | 68% | 75% |
| Washington | 171 | 2258 | 13 | 60% | 68% | 68% |
| Detroit | 226 | 3082 | 25 | 57% | 67% | 71% |
| Cincinnati | 226 | 2814 | 23 | 55% | 66% | 64% |
| Denver | 223 | 2598 | 17 | 57% | 66% | 68% |
| Carolina | 179 | 2133 | 15 | 54% | 65% | 63% |
| Indianapolis | 201 | 2617 | 17 | 56% | 64% | 68% |
| New England | 208 | 2845 | 19 | 58% | 64% | 61% |
| Kansas City | 199 | 2498 | 15 | 55% | 63% | 65% |
| Green Bay | 186 | 2414 | 16 | 57% | 63% | 62% |
| New Orleans | 224 | 2489 | 15 | 56% | 62% | 79% |
| Chicago | 188 | 2421 | 18 | 56% | 61% | 64% |
| NY Giants | 179 | 2203 | 9 | 55% | 59% | 43% |
| Baltimore | 137 | 1946 | 13 | 49% | 59% | 57% |
| NY Jets | 156 | 1575 | 10 | 52% | 57% | 67% |
| Tennessee | 157 | 1823 | 9 | 46% | 56% | 60% |
| Miami | 160 | 1863 | 11 | 50% | 56% | 48% |
| Seattle | 161 | 2151 | 10 | 50% | 65% | 43% |
| Buffalo | 180 | 2107 | 11 | 52% | 53% | 38% |
| Las Vegas | 148 | 1696 | 7 | 44% | 51% | 35% |
| Atlanta | 143 | 1811 | 10 | 43% | 49% | 53% |
| Arizona | 172 | 2129 | 14 | 40% | 49% | 48% |
| Pittsburgh | 136 | 1716 | 13 | 37% | 47% | 50% |
| Cleveland | 117 | 1467 | 4 | 36% | 47% | 25% |
If Egbuka or McMillan isn't available, the other member of the top 3 (with Godwin) would likely be third-rounder Ted Hurst. The Georgia State product got some early buzz at camp; he caught 71 passes for 1,004 yards and 6 touchdowns last year. Anyone still drafting, Hurst merits a late-round pick, just in case.
I selected Godwin in a league the other night. Felt odd doing it, but he's currently healthy, and might open as their No. 1. If Egbuka isn't ready, which seems possible.
We'll know more when Tampa Bay files its first injury report this year. At that time, maybe Bowles will let us in on what he thinks is likely. For me, I'm not drafting Egbuka anywhere, but I tend to be risk-averse when it comes to foot injuries. If he's healthy, he'll be a nice choice in drafts for someone. But I'm favoring a later pick on the guy who's healthy now, and hoping he stays that way.
--Andy Richardson
