“Veteran Quarterbacks Have A Little Bit Of A Say”
August 2nd, 2024
Baker Mayfield
The next receiver drafted after Jalen McMillan this year has interesting connections.
That was Luke McCaffrey, picked by the Washington Commadoes. He went No. 100 overall while McMillan was the 92nd overall pick by Tampa Bay.
McCaffrey is the brother of Christian McCaffrey and the son of very-hands-on-football-dad Ed McCaffrey, who has three Super Bowl rings and a trip to the Pro Bowl on his own football résumé.
Ed McCaffrey paid very close attention to receivers in the draft this season and has talked about it many times during his duties as a co-host on SiriusXM NFL Radio.
The elder McCaffrey is convinced this year’s draft was a gold mine for stud receivers with 16 taken in the first three rounds.
Speaking on SiriusXM NFL Radio, McCaffrey listened to audio (along with the audience) to Baker Mayfield talking on NFL Network this week lauding McMillan and how quarterback-friendly he his at the top of his routes. That rolled McCaffrey into noting that impressing coaches, teammates and fans is nice, but much more important is love from the quarterback.
“Especially veteran quarterbaks have a little bit of a say,” McCaffrey said. “They do, right? The veteran quarterback has a little bit of a say of who they want in the game. That was high praise from Baker Mayfield to Jalen McMillan.”
Also a third-round pick (1991), McCaffrey shared how “terrified” he was as a rookie knowing a mistake could lead to a quarterback making a slash-the-throat gesture to coaches. As in cut the rookie. So McCaffrey appreciates how great it is for McMillan that he’s impressing early.
Endless optimism for McMillan at One Buc Palace. Joe has written plenty about it.
Ed McCaffrey added that he had McMillan ranked higher than “a lot of the guys ahead” of where the Bucs drafted him.
August 2nd, 2024 at 1:31 pm
Go J-Mac.
August 2nd, 2024 at 2:22 pm
J-Mac is doing the right things – so far. Let’s see how he does in the scrimmages and regular season. Like all rookies, he has a lot to learn and needs to keep his head down and work hard and smart.
August 2nd, 2024 at 5:12 pm
So many are really impressed with McMillan. Cannot wait to watch him play.
August 2nd, 2024 at 5:18 pm
That’s great! Another J-Mac is a solid WR article. Happy to hear it.
The Bucs are THIN at MLB and I really question SirVocea Dennis as depth. He was injured for much of last year. Now he’s injured again. When do we start looking elsewhere?
August 2nd, 2024 at 6:04 pm
Sirvocea Dennis suited up for 13 games(not injured for much of the 17 game schedule) and played 313 snaps between ST & Defense as a rookie recording 13 and 1 pass defenses. No, he wasn’t injured much of last season. No we don’t even know if he’s hurt or just being protected with another 2nd year player going down so it’s likely we’re playing it safe. What was Dennis supposed to do, out play David, White, Britt, & Russell to get playing time in THIS defense?! C’mon man
It’s not 2014 anymore, our roster isn’t at a point where we need to be impatient about throwing rookies into roles they may not be fully ready for because we have nothing else. The team site is free and there are 90 players in camp, we’re not “thin” anywhere. Also, since the start camp DeLoach, Dennis, JJ Russell and even Vi frickin Jones have all made some sort of play.
August 2nd, 2024 at 6:57 pm
I was watching Luke McCaffrey highlights just to see what he looked right – and the Bucs made the right choice, but that’s more about McMillan than anything.
One thing shocked me from the Luke McCaffrey highlights was watching that and then looking at his combine numbers. A big disconnect. Luke has nearly the same workout numbers compared to his brother, but at a bigger size. However, in the highlights, he’s constantly getting chased down, doesn’t look nearly as fast as his numbers.
With that said, Luke McCaffrey does have some fantastic hands, reminds me a lot of Humphries, just with better size, and allegedly better speed. Not sure he’s an NFL starter, but who knows, if those combine numbers translate to the NFL, he could be.
But McMillan just so reminds me of Godwin in how he plays, which is likely why the Bucs picked him, since it’s going to be really difficult to afford Godwin next year.
August 2nd, 2024 at 6:59 pm
Dude Says:
What was Dennis supposed to do, out play David, White, Britt, & Russell to get playing time in THIS defense?! C’mon man
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Should he have outplayed Britt and Russell? Yes, absolutely.
However, the ILB’s are not interchangeable – at least not by choice, so Dennis was mostly stuck behind David, or limited to standing around in zone by Bowles.
Nothing wrong with that, but I’d like to really see him shine in the preseason when he should be playing a good number of snaps in that David position.