Baker Mayfield Growth Key For Jalen McMillan: Do The Right Things

July 27th, 2024

Advice for rookie receiver.

Baker Mayfield had a simple suggestion for rookie receiver Jalen McMillan: Keep making plays.

McMillan said his main goal for his first NFL training camp is to earn Mayfield’s trust. Once that’s accomplished, McMillan believed, everything else will fall into place including playing time, targets and, hopefully, touchdowns.

Mayfield, in so many words, said the impressive rookie from Washington just needs to keep doing what he’s doing.

“Quarterbacks and receivers, the more reps you get, the more you trust them – the more you see their body language coming in and out of cuts and understanding how they’re moving around,” Mayfield said. McMillan is “going to make plays when the ball is in the air, and that’s one thing that I’m continuing to learn – really, just give him a chance.

“He might not be the biggest guy, but he’s going to go up and highpoint the ball and that’s a natural skill that he has. My trust is going to continue to grow as long as he keeps doing the right things, and he is.”

Mayfield lauded McMillan — and his old Oklahoma teammate Sterling Shepard — as “mighty mouses” who play bigger than their size and love to trash talk and keep the juice flowing.

That type of attitude, Mayfield said, helps make otherwise mundane, hot, grueling practices fun.

“So, it’s good to see Jalen and those guys bring juice to it,” Mayfield said. “For Jalen to enjoy football, bring a little pep to it, and just continue to get better and work on his craft is very important.”

Joe is so eager to see what happens beginning Monday when the pads will come on, per Todd Bowles. That is when the wheat begins to be separated from the chafe, the studs from the posers in the receivers room.

And there is every reason to believe McMillan can be the former and not the latter.

17 Responses to “Baker Mayfield Growth Key For Jalen McMillan: Do The Right Things”

  1. Lt. Dan Says:

    The Bucs receiving group is going to unbelievable! LOVE this roster!!

  2. Dude Says:

    This new episode of “in the current” is easily the best ever, and I encourage anybody reading this to go watch right meow.

  3. Dude Says:

    Bucs dropped the best “In The Current” ever today, if you’ve got the time and consider yourself a fan of the team(and draft process) this is a must watch

  4. Crickett Baker Says:

    It’s funny. I thought that was the worst “In the Current” that I have seen. 🙂 Spelling errors, bad word placement, not identifying speakers..oh well.

  5. Dude Says:

    ^^^
    Behind the scenes draft access? Dude I could watch that in a movie format, we don’t get enough John Spytek and give his credit to Licht all the time. Licht-Greenberg-Spytek, our front office trinity

  6. Anyhony Says:

    ^^^On my way^^^ (After I finish with Joe of coarse)

  7. Hodad Says:

    Make such a big deal “when the pads come on”. They still don’t hit, they just thud up. Nobody is taken to the ground. It’s a stage above underwear football it’s patty cake football. We’ll really get a feel for all the new players during the meaningless preseason games.

  8. Joe Says:

    Make such a big deal “when the pads come on”. They still don’t hit, they just thud up.

    Tackling, sure.

    Line play they hit. Blocking, they hit. Shedding blocks, they hit. But no, they don’t bring guys to the ground, at least not when guys get in the open field. That’s actually smart. Why try to put a teammate out for the season? What does that accomplish?

    Guys trying to run up the middle will get drilled. You can still hit guys without burying them.

    Joe has to make the difference between underwear football and putting pads on because it is a big deal.

  9. JimBobBuc Says:

    OL play and the RBs next week. Let’s see how Barton does against the ‘skinny’ VV! Let’s see if any backs can get some YAC. Will Bucky fall down like
    A sack of potatoes? Will DJ punish some DBs? Exciting!

  10. stpetebucfan Says:

    What Lt. Dan said!

    This team already has won me over. Now if they produce on the field they are the perfect team. Fun to cheer on and happy that they’re winning.

    I love being the underdog! I like the disrespect starting with Baker, and ironically his backup Trask should also be playing with a chip on his shoulder. When forecasting how the Bucs will do in the South most people forget that Trask could represent the difference between winning and losing if and when Baker gets hurt.

    Given his balls to the wall style odds are pretty strong that Baker will miss some games. I predict the number of games depends on Trask. For whatever reason the Bucs/Bowles/Canales did not trust Trask enough and they sent Baker out onto the field for at least one game where he probably shouldn’t have even suited up much less started.

    I hope Trask’s continued improvement means the Bucs can win the NFC South with EITHER QB!

  11. SenileSenior Says:

    Looking to get a better read on Trask during this camp. Ever hopeful. You are right, stpetebucfan. Won’t be surprised if he will have to start a couple of games for us.

    Go Bucs!

  12. Fred McNeil Says:

    All signs prove to this being an improved team this year. How much better? I don’t know yet. As has been pounded home all spring and summer, much will depend on our second year guys improving. Whitehead alone should make a huge difference. The play design alone should help a little too. Even a few rookies look like difference makers
    10-11 wins should be in the cards this year. #3 seed instead of #4. Go BUCS.

  13. heyjude Says:

    Sounds like Joe, Baker, Mike, coaches, and others are giving us a lot of positive hints about McMillan. It’s getting more and more exciting. Our roster is looking great! Go Bucs!!

  14. OrlandoBucFAn Says:

    I find it humorous that Mayfield refers to McMillan (along with Shephard) as “mighty mouses.” NFL.com has McMillan listed has 6-1, 197. That does not seem small to me, unless you are comparing him to Mike Evans (or Mike Greenberg). I wonder if McMillan is actually closer to 5’11 than 6-1. Doesn’t matter to me because the dude makes plays, but I find it funny how there is so much height inflation in football…at all levels. If Ira were in the NFL, I bet they would list him at 6’0.

  15. go dawgs Says:

    Heres the cliff notes version of the read on Trask ^^ The guy is a backup on the last year of a rookie deal.

  16. Citrus County Says:

    go dawgs Says:
    July 28th, 2024 at 9:54 am
    Heres the cliff notes version of the read on Trask ^^ The guy is a backup on the last year of a rookie deal.
    ^^^
    Let it go moron. We all know where you stand and can see through your sarcasm.

  17. Dave Pear Says:

    Trashkophiles are so funny.

    The former number 2 QB is in a heated battle with Wolford for the backup job. He’s been observed and measured by the Bucs coaches and players for four years. He can’t even get on the field when the guy ahead of him has one arm and one leg crippled. You don’t know what you have in him? Haha. Ask a coach, they’ll tell you. Better still, watch who dresses for games on Sundays while Baker is throwing for touchdowns.

    The Kyle Trashk era is over.