After having the oldest roster within the league final season, the Bucs’ purpose this offseason was to get youthful and quicker. As free company and the current NFL Draft has proven, the workforce has achieved this purpose with the gamers they’ve introduced in.
Because it stands in Might, there are solely 5 gamers on the workforce age 30 or older, in comparison with ending final season with 15. At lots of the ability positions, the workforce has traded in veterans for younger gamers. That is very true on the vast receiver place.
Veterans Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, and Russell Gage stay, however behind them, the depth chart is crammed with younger wideouts hoping to step up and emerge within the Bucs’ new-look offense.
Julio Jones, Breshad Perriman, and Scotty Miller are not with the workforce, though the Bucs will see the latter twice a 12 months, as he joined the Falcons this offseason. Of their stead, Deven Thompkins and Kaylon Geiger return. Additionally becoming a member of the combination is Trey Palmer, the Bucs’ sixth-round choice out of Nebraska.
Trey Palmer Grew All through His Faculty Profession At Nebraska, LSU
Trey Palmer involves Tampa Bay after a 2022 season at Nebraska the place he emerged because the Cornhuskers’ high offensive menace. He paced the workforce with 71 receptions for 1,043 yards and 9 touchdowns. Palmer grew to become simply the second Nebraska receiver to publish 1,000 yards in a season. His greatest sport was in opposition to Purdue again in October, when he had 297 scrimmage yards (237 receiving, 60 speeding).
His 9 touchdowns accounted for over 25% of the workforce’s complete, whereas the next-highest receiver had 31 receptions for 471 yards. Though Nebraska went 4-8 final 12 months, his lone season there was as a real No. 1 choice, which he didn’t have the prospect to be at LSU.
LSU Tigers WRs Trey Palmer and Ja’Marr Chase – Photograph by: USA At present
Palmer spent 2019-2021 down within the Bayou with the Tigers in a receiver room that includes Ja’Marr Chase, Justin Jefferson, Terrace Marshall Jr., and Kayshon Boutte, who chosen simply 4 picks earlier than Palmer on Day 3 of the draft. In 2019, Chase, Jefferson, and Marshall Jr. have been the highest three choices for Joe Burrow for a workforce that went 15-0 and gained the Nationwide Championship.
In consequence, he solely had one catch for six yards that season, and within the following years, he didn’t have a lot of an affect. For Palmer, his switch allowed him to develop as a participant and convey some championship tradition to Lincoln, Nebraska.
“I actually was simply making an attempt to assist my workforce win and actually simply assist everybody round me get higher and do my job and [lead] by instance and never simply by speaking,” Palmer mentioned after being taken by the Bucs. “I actually simply introduced the LSU tradition to Nebraska and took them in and so they took me in, too. It actually simply took off from there.”
After taking part in alongside what are actually two of the most effective receivers within the NFL, Palmer took away what it meant to be the most effective.
“It helped me follow like a professional as a result of [those] guys follow like a professional,” Palmer mentioned. “They taught me the best way to do issues, the best way to study issues, and I took that from them and embodied it into myself and took that with me to Nebraska to point out [those] guys the best way to follow like a professional, too.”
Can Trey Palmer Assist In Return Sport?
What does Palmer’s addition imply for the Bucs’ receiving room subsequent season? Effectively, it means they bought a burner with some intriguing skills. Particular groups coordinator Keith Armstrong even alluded to him having a spot within the return sport, an space the place Deven Thompkins took the reins final season.
“Yeah, he’s going to get an opportunity,” Armstrong mentioned on Palmer probably returning kicks. Palmer returned each punts and kickoffs in school all 4 seasons, even bringing a punt (2019) and kickoff (2020) to the home for touchdowns. Together with his expertise and 4.33 pace, it’s simple to see why Armstrong was bullish on his skillset. What else does he deliver to the desk?
“Measurement – he’s bought good dimension,” Armstrong added. “I believe he’s a keen man – he might be bodily. What I’m going to attempt to do is assist him with, okay, that is the way you set a return up, so far as the best way to set blocks up and the best way to play penalty-free soccer. Typically you hear me say, ‘The rooster is free,’ with a returner – in different phrases, his guys don’t know the best way to block for him as a result of they don’t know the place he’s going. Whereas, should you get a really feel for what a man likes to do, now your gamers can react and begin blocking higher for you.”
Hopefully, there aren’t any roosters let free, and that would begin with Palmer growing shortly as a return choice. He had a landing on a punt and a kick return at LSU.
Trey Palmer Has Probability To Emerge As Bucs’ WR No. 4
The most important query is whether or not Palmer is ready to declare the fourth spot within the receiver room. Whereas it could not appear too vital of a task to fill, the workforce might be trying to substitute the manufacturing of the aforementioned receivers. Jones, Perriman, and Miller mixed for 56 receptions final season, and the depth chart is inexperienced past the highest three.
Nebraska WR Trey Palmer – Photograph by: USA At present
What every of the three had in widespread was being deep threats all through their profession. Vp of participant personnel John Spytek didn’t need to make comparisons however praised Palmer’s capability to trace and make catches down the sphere.
“That’s a novel expertise,” Spytek mentioned after the draft. “The most effective I ever was round was DeSean Jackson. I imply, it was at an elite stage that I believe individuals can’t comprehend for him to know precisely the place to get to. And I’m not placing … Trey’s bought an extended option to go to be DeSean Jackson. I hope he will get there someday. However he’s bought a way when he will get vertical and he will get working on individuals of discovering the ball down the sphere, particularly when he will get previous individuals.
“The truth that we noticed him have all these lengthy touchdowns and have success when he’s working full-speed down the sphere exhibits you he can do it. He’s confirmed that with the stats that he has.”
He has the prospect to excel in that position, particularly if he does effectively all through the offseason at OTAs later this month, in addition to throughout coaching camp and the preseason. His foremost competitors might be Thompkins and Geiger, who’re additionally trying to show themselves. Thompkins has simply 5 profession receptions, whereas Geiger has simply 9 profession offensive snaps and has but to document any statistics.
Spytek added how Palmer may very well be a playmaker.
“You see the 4.34, okay effectively that’s good, however then he put it to work,” Spytek mentioned after the draft. “I believe he had probably the most…three 70-plus-yard touchdowns this 12 months, which was possibly probably the most in FBS. I believe I heard that on TV. He had over 1,000 yards at a college that doesn’t all the time throw the ball a ton.
“He makes performs down the sphere, and when he walks on the sphere, defenses bought to know that and so they’ve bought to account for it.”
There are nonetheless just a few months to go earlier than his position is totally decided, however Bucs followers ought to know what sort of man they’re getting. Palmer stored it brief and candy when speaking to the native media for the primary time.
“[They’re getting] a canine,” Palmer mentioned.