Replacing Jumping Scotty Miller
August 29th, 2023
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Last year when you got past Mike Evans and Chris Godwin (and Playoff Lenny!) there was a pretty big dropoff in production from wide receivers.
Russell Gage was the No. 3 receiver both in theory and in catches. He had 26 fewer catches than Godwin, largely because he was often hurt.
And when you got past Gage, there was jumping Scotty Miller with 23 catches for 185 yards.
But it wasn’t like the Bucs the past two seasons didn’t try to work in Miller. For reasons not quite clear, it seemed Miller was living off his historic catch against the Packers in the 2020 playoffs.
Joe has a strong hunch the Bucs will get a lot more production this year from their receivers down the depth chart from Evans and Godwin.
So too does Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield.
“I feel extremely comfortable,” Mayfield said Saturday of the Bucs’ young receivers. “Obviously, [it is] unfortunate that we lost Russell Gage when he went to New York to practice against the Jets, but I think you guys have seen that Rakim Jarrett [and] Trey Palmer have made a ton of plays for us and we are really, really happy about that.
“The more reps those young guys get, the more confident they get. We are just really happy about their grasp of the offense right now, too. Normally, rookies’ heads are kind of spinning, but that is not the case with them.”
Does anyone not think big play Trey Palmer will have more production than Miller and his jumping ways? If Palmer doesn’t get hurt and only has 23 catches, there is something wrong.
So yeah, Joe thinks the receivers depth is a whole lot better this fall than it was last year, even with the loss of Gage factored in.
August 29th, 2023 at 10:03 am
I’ll miss those Kiermayer hops.
August 29th, 2023 at 10:05 am
I think this might be the best rotation of WR’s we’ve ever had.
August 29th, 2023 at 10:29 am
Haven’t had a no 3 WR since the HOF’er A.B
August 29th, 2023 at 10:33 am
Agree Joe!
August 29th, 2023 at 10:33 am
I want this offense to work but I know Baker Mayfield sorry as will let me down
August 29th, 2023 at 10:38 am
Jack Clark Says:
August 29th, 2023 at 10:33 am
I want this offense to work but I know Baker Mayfield sorry as will let me down
^^^^^^^^
You don’t know, Jack.
August 29th, 2023 at 10:38 am
The current 53 man roster will have 13 rookies (6 UDFAs), 11 second year players and another 10 players who are still on their original contracts…
34 out of 53 players are on their first NFL contract.
That is one the youngest teams I have ever seen here in Tampa.
August 29th, 2023 at 10:40 am
David Moore was cut.
August 29th, 2023 at 10:53 am
Miller is about the same size, weight, speed of Tyreek Hill, mebbe it’s all about route running?
August 29th, 2023 at 10:55 am
Miller has straight line speed. He had no lateral movement at all. Something Tyreek has in spades.
August 29th, 2023 at 10:57 am
Scouting team did a hell of a job in evaluating the recievers…
August 29th, 2023 at 10:57 am
I still can’t believe how Russell Gage fell apart virtually the moment he walked in the door for the first time. It’s mind blowing. Now we have a new Russell Jr with Kancey. Dude’s been out for weeks and weeks. Still can’t practice. You can forget any production from that guy this year. Now Winfield is hurt again and out indefinately. The brittle Bucs are back!
August 29th, 2023 at 10:58 am
Miller was a one trick poney, just jam him at the line and it’s over.
August 29th, 2023 at 11:05 am
It helps receivers when the QB will actually throw the ball down the field. Miller was mostly a deep threat, Brady REFUSED to throw deep, especially in the first three quarters of games. Refusing to even attempt to throw the ball down the field, hurts the team in so many different ways. There has to be a downfield threat… and there just wasn’t last season.
August 29th, 2023 at 11:19 am
You about finished now Brandon? Your constant spewing the same garbage got old months ago. We realized you blame Brady for everything. Including our center being hurt. That season is over. He took your money or something and refused to blow you a kiss. We got it.
August 29th, 2023 at 11:25 am
Off topic – saw Adam Humphries gutting it out for the Texans Sunday night – we tried to make our own Edelman with Hump and Scotty
Trey Palmer is better than both combined
August 29th, 2023 at 11:26 am
Surprised by the Moore cut.
August 29th, 2023 at 11:32 am
Agreed. GO BUCS! And, that was one of the great plays in BUCS history.
August 29th, 2023 at 11:34 am
Joe..Miller´s stats last year were poor because he was barely used… I get that his production felt that´s obvious, but his minutes on field drop to..
I have great memories of Scootter as a 4 mabe 5 WR, not sure we could expect more from Miller….I still think he was a good 4/5 WR…
August 29th, 2023 at 11:54 am
Joe in Michigan … ‘You don’t know, Jack.’
Now THAT was impressive Joe. Kudos.
August 29th, 2023 at 12:08 pm
BucU … ‘Now Winfield is hurt again and out indefinitely. The brittle Bucs are back!’
I hope you’re wrong because our Secondary depth is very inexperienced this year. Not only do the Bucs NEED Winfield back there, but he also NEEDS to be there since this is a contract year for him. Hopefully he gets past this relatively quickly & stays healthy for the remainder of the year.
Kancey is just as concerning IMO because this DLine NEEDS him applying pressure from inside alongside either Vea or Gaines to move the QB so our OLBs can feast. Being out this long because of a non-contact groin injury (such that he missed preseason & probably more) doesn’t give me any warm fuzzies about our 1st Rnd pick at this point.
August 29th, 2023 at 12:32 pm
Logan Ryan is still out there
August 29th, 2023 at 12:38 pm
I didn’t realize Rakim Jerret had pretty solid athletic testing which lines up with the preseason tape. In general the only non-freak athlete from the draft class was Durham. That’s exciting lol
August 29th, 2023 at 12:49 pm
If either Evans or Godwin gets hurt, this WR group will look bad in a hurry.
August 29th, 2023 at 1:15 pm
i think they really like rakim jarrett…he looks very seasoned already…
i think that’s why they cut moore loose
August 29th, 2023 at 1:17 pm
if we found a superstar in trey palmer, i think in due time he becomes a diva…he’s got the make up for it…
he seems a little crazy, in a good way
August 29th, 2023 at 5:30 pm
I really liked Rakim. That guy just balled!!!
August 29th, 2023 at 9:15 pm
Palmer has had some spectacular plays in the games, but Jarrett may be even better. Two future starters, I bet. Both were big time recruits. Explosive!
August 29th, 2023 at 9:55 pm
We need to feed those Jarret and Trey palmer the ball consistently, it is not just about this year, it is about player development going forward. Same with the edge position, we need to not worry so much about the results but more about getting these players ready for the future, we are not a SB team this year. (we have todd bowles as the coach) so lets give the young guns plenty of snaps
August 30th, 2023 at 2:06 am
I think Canales will/must find defferent ways to use Palmer. Leftnut did/could not do that with Scotty. We just ran him on screens and fly patterns. Teams realized it was easy to stop miller by manhandling him and simply pusing him out of bounds. Miller got no help from some piss poor no-calls on blatant PI.
Go Bucs!
August 30th, 2023 at 10:24 am
Trey Palmer has a little more size and seems to be better at getting open than Miller. Plus he attacks the ball while Miller looked like he was scared of it (or getting hit after catching it, hence the jumping and curling up into a ball). No way Scotty even tries to make that catch that Palmer made against the Ravens, flying/diving over a defender to snatch the ball out of the air.
And Brandon, give it a rest on the Brady stuff. Do you really believe the guy went from being all-world in 2021 and getting robbed of an MVP to falling so far off the cliff in one off-season that he suddenly “sucked”, “was afraid to get hit”, “refused to throw deep”, “hates play action” (the last one is laughable since he loves it and is a master at it). The entire offense was in a shambles and played like a bunch of scrubs and led by a bum at OC. Even ME13 took plays off, lost focus, etc. Brady would have won more games with Arizona or even Chicago last year. An off year for him to be sure but he’s one guy. One guy who never missed a snap at age 45 btw.
August 30th, 2023 at 12:03 pm
Gage has been for the most part injured since shortly after the Bucs signed him. And when he dod play he was irrelevant. So yes this depth of receiver even without Gage is much better now
August 30th, 2023 at 12:28 pm
Trey Palmer is an amazing talent. I agree that he does have the potential to become a diva but he certainly doesn’t lack confidence. He already considers himself a #1 receiver and I like that. He’s backing his cockiness with stellar play and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’ll be hard to hold onto this kid as a #3 when his contract is up so I expect Evans to be retired or traded before that. Yes, I know he hasn’t played a game yet but I said the same thing about Godwin when we drafted him before he played a game. I think Trey may be even better because of his speed and ability to get open as a deep threat. I like Jarrett too. It’s my opinion that we have the best receiving corp in the NFL.