Mel Kiper Approves Of Jalen McMillan
April 29th, 2024
Rookie Bucs receiver Jalen McMillan, a third-round pick.
If you consider Mel Kiper the voice of reason and knowledge with the NFL draft, then the following will make you happy.
Cobbling together likes and dislikes of this past weekend’s NFL draft, Kiper gave his blessing to Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht for drafting Washington receiver Jalen McMillan in the third round.
I was surprised Jalen McMillan lasted until the end of Round 3, but the Bucs might have gotten a steal at No. 92. Baker Mayfield will love him.
Well, Bucs assistant general manager John Spytek would agree. He said late Friday that had McMillan not been battling a bum knee last year as the Huskies advanced to the college football national championship, there was no way he would be on the board when the Bucs selected him late in the third round.
If McMillian is able to draw coverage away from Mike Evans and/or Chris Godwin, which Trey Palmer really didn’t last year, McMillan will be valuable right off the bat.
April 29th, 2024 at 7:04 am
Jalen McMillan reminds me a lot like Chris Godwin. Hope he can be just as good.
April 29th, 2024 at 7:10 am
McMillian is clearly Godwins replacement. Look for the Bucs to draft Mike Evans replacement next year. it feels like the end of an era is drawing nigh.
April 29th, 2024 at 7:23 am
WHO THE HELL IS MEL KIPER ANWAY?!
April 29th, 2024 at 7:27 am
Last season Jalen McMillan had a grade II MCL sprain. He first injured the knee in a game against Michigan State on 9/16. He came out of that game early.
He did not play again until 10/14 where he reinjured the knee in the 1st quarter. He made no catches that game.
He sat out the next game on 10/21.
Coming back on 10/28 and the next 2 games he had no catches in limited snap counts.
There were reports of reaggravation again. Was that on McMillan or his trainers.
In his last 4 games of the year, including the two bowl games, he had 25 catches.
In 2022, when he was not injured, he had at least 4 catches in every game.
April 29th, 2024 at 7:28 am
So, last year he missed 4 games and parts of 4 others last year.
Is he injury prone is more the concern to me?
It seems like when he is healty his production is very, very good.
April 29th, 2024 at 7:34 am
Watched a ton of Washington highlights. Those receivers were so good at running routes perfectly. The receivers understood other receivers routes and freed up space for each other. This was a really nice pick for us.
April 29th, 2024 at 7:58 am
I don’t know that a single knee sprain constitutes “injury prone”
April 29th, 2024 at 8:03 am
We desperately needed a good 3WR………an injury to Mike or Chris & we are toast…….Palmer is good…..but not a #3 yet.
April 29th, 2024 at 8:08 am
Mel Kiper is the guy that gets the number 1 pick correct 74.5% of the time. The NFL Draft is all he does, and he’s just as good as the worst meteorologist.
April 29th, 2024 at 8:14 am
@Beej,
Thanks for calling me out.
“Injury prone” may be too strong of sentiment.
Besides the MCL sprain, and just to finish my thought about my concern of him being injury prone, he suffered a right hand injury (August 2021), which required surgery and held him out for the 2021 season opener (so obviously not that big of deal) and as a true freshman in 2020, he suffered a high ankle sprain, he had played before that ankle sprain but after it they decided to redshirt him.
None of those injuries alone are concerning to me. But both the one in 2020 and the one in 2023, it seemed like it took a little while to get back to a normal Jalen McMillan.
Injury prone or two injuries in 4 college seasons that kept him out of 4 games or more, I do not mind either differentiation.
April 29th, 2024 at 8:16 am
I only listen to Mad Mel Kiper not regular Mel Kiper!
April 29th, 2024 at 8:30 am
He kind of gives me Keenan Allen vibes with the route running
April 29th, 2024 at 8:44 am
This was a great pick, the whole draft was really solid can’t wait for the season to start go bucs!!!
April 29th, 2024 at 8:53 am
Thx God Mel Kipper approves this one…..I couldn´t sleep waiting for his opinion.
April 29th, 2024 at 9:09 am
Kiper is just a mouthpiece for prospects agents. His credibility is not held in high regard by people employed by NFL teams
April 29th, 2024 at 9:59 am
Keenan Allen Is a good Comp LC.
April 29th, 2024 at 10:08 am
[Sorry, Joe is going to have that either later today or tomorrow. Joe will repost your take in the comments then because you typed a lot. — Joe]
April 29th, 2024 at 10:50 am
I would have preferred a RB in rd3 but I think McMillan is a good player. He had some attention drops but will be a good slot player for us when/if Godwin leaves. I do think that Godwin will ball out at slot in Coen’s offense. I hope Baker spreads the ball around a little more this year, especially to Godwin in the slot. I’m not sure if McMillan would replace Palmer but it will be interesting to see who the WR3 will be.
April 29th, 2024 at 10:59 am
I think Trey Palmer is a much better version of Scotty Miller: Speed to burn, but too small to take on NFL corners consistently and not shifty enough to be a Wes Welker type slot corner. He’s a good #4 receiver.
This Jalen McMillan looks the part of a true slot receiver. Maybe not super shifty, but his height and length make up for it. His floor is probably a guy like Ike Hilliard was for us during the Gruden years. His ceiling is probably Chris Godwin.
April 29th, 2024 at 11:00 am
“…Wes Welker type slot RECEIVER.”
Still can’t edit here, huh Joes?
April 29th, 2024 at 11:18 am
With his route running he reminds me of AB. Not nearly as good yet but he’s always open even when he played on the outside. If he can continue to improve on it we’ll have a star. Not a jump ball specialist or speed freak but getting open with good routes such as OchoCinco.
April 29th, 2024 at 11:24 am
Geno –that knee sprain thing just seemed to last ALL year, and every time they put him back in the lineup it started all over again
April 29th, 2024 at 11:38 am
Haha That’s okay, Joe! No problem. Sounds good.
April 29th, 2024 at 11:50 am
Can’t tell from that fuzzy low quality image, are those 6s or 8s listed for a bunch of those categories?
And no, I don’t consider Mel Kiper the voice of reason and knowledge considering how often he is wrong. But I do take his opinions under consideration. Consensus seems to be that we got lucky with McMillan due to his knee injury limiting production last year.
April 29th, 2024 at 2:38 pm
unbelievable Says:
I don’t consider Mel Kiper the voice of reason and knowledge considering how often he is wrong.
———
When you’re talking about hundreds and hundreds of players every year, and you have to give an opinion on all of them, you’re going to have a ton of misses. No idea why Kiper is more ridiculed than anyone else – his hit rate is pretty much the same as everyone else.
With that said, I agree with you, I will still take into consideration his opinion – and based on everything I read about McMillan, he seems like a high floor solid pro type of player, and I think the Bucs are hoping he can replace Godwin next year as I doubt the Bucs will keep him, short of a monster year or Evans falling off a cliff, play wise or literally.
April 29th, 2024 at 5:26 pm
He seems like he will be solid but I don’t think he will be anywhere as durable as Godwin has been. He needs to put in some mass
April 29th, 2024 at 8:51 pm
“who the hell is Mel Kiper”. Wasn’t he the same guy that said Sam Darnold with all those turnovers in college was a can’t miss highest ceiling and highest floor QB in the 2018 draft?
McMillan was a wasted 3rd round pick. Great maybe he replaces Godwin in 2 years and in 3 years we got to pay him Godwin money anyways. So we save 1 year of high WR money on a BIG MAYBE when Godwin has been our most reliable guy on the field on being where he needs to be. That 3rd round pick would have been better spent packing with other picks to move up to the 2nd round and grabbing one of the 7 CBs picked in the 2nd round. Godwin, Evans and Palmer were not the problem on this team. Giving up nearly 4600 passing yards (269 yds/gm) had more to do with us being 9-8 instead of 10-7 or 11-6. Cade Otton actually caught 2 last minute game winning TDs from Baker last year. One of them was negated by the awful CB and nickel play letting Stroud walk down the field with less than a minute left to beat us. We nearly lost that other Otton game winner by barely stopping Atlanta from doing exactly the same with a stop at the 4 yard line. It’s a little criminal to me we didn’t grab one of those 2nd round CBs.
April 29th, 2024 at 10:49 pm
I didn’t like this pick nor the RB we got but I am pulling for them to become great players on our team. Only time will tell if he can do anything.