Team news: Tampa Bay Buccaneers | Page 4

This is consistent with Dave Canales’ philosophy of “taking the quarterback off the high dive” and making him “more of a distributor.” Taking less risks through the air and incrementally moving the ball downfield can work as long as the ground game is consistent, and avoid penalties, which was a huge problem in the first preseason game (12 of them).

Related players: Baker Mayfield, Chris Godwin, Mike Evans, Rachaad White

The story said the offense did just that in the final preseason tune-up. Mayfield went 6-for-6 for 43 yards. Godwin accounted for 39 of those yards on four catches, with 22 coming after the catch - which also included a TD. Evans missed the game with a hamstring injury, but the team says he'll be good to go in Week 1. Mayfield is currently ranked 31st among our QBs with Godwin and Evans more WR3 targets in drafts heading into this season. Both WRs can be had between rounds 6-8, according to ADPs.

A few injury updates I’ve gathered:

• WR Wan’Dale Robinson: ACL. Expecting him to be activated from PUP by the Tuesday deadline.

• WR Cole Beasley: Quad. He’s close to 100%. Ford-Wheaton injury boosts Beasley’s odds for a roster spot.

Related players: Isaiah Hodgins, Darius Slayton, Sterling Shepard, Parris Campbell, Jalin Hyatt, Jamison Crowder

The Giants have a crowded receiving room, and Robinson will need some time to get up to speed, so it remains to be seen what kind of role he'll start with and eventually get to on the Giants. Robinson has played most of his time in the slot and that area of the room is especially crowded, and includes the rookie Hyatt. Robinson was having the best game of his young career last season in Week 10, catching nine balls for 100 yards on 13 targets before tearing his ACL.

One to watch heading into the season: Broncos WR Jerry Jeudy is being carted off at practice with an apparent hamstring injury.

Related Players: Courtland Sutton, Marvin Mims, Marquez Callaway, Kendall Hinton

Early prognosticators believe the best-case scenario would leave Jeudy out for Week 1, while something more severe could immediately land him on the PUP. It seems like even moderate timetables put him at a six-week recovery from today, so it would seem that he is going to be missing some game time regardless, unless we see an additional report about a mistaken diagnosis. Conservatively, we should be ignoring Jeudy at his ADP and push him far down draft boards until we hear otherwise.

The #Bucs are going with Baker Mayfield as their starting QB, coach Todd Bowles announced.

The former No. 1 overall pick, Mayfield beat out Kyle Trask for the right to succeed Tom Brady and will start the Sept. 10 opener at Minnesota.

Mayfield's stock should rise - a little - with the news he's the starter, but it's tough to see him passing too many QBs at the bottom of our rankings leading up to Week 1. For now, Mayfield is more of a QB3 or bottom end QB2 until we see more. However, he certainly has some quality WRs to throw to in Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. All three players will need one another in order to provide fantasy managers with the points they need. Also for now, Godwin and Evans are ranked as lower-end WR3s on our list.

The Buccaneers have placed receiver Russell Gage on injured reserve, formally ending his 2023 season.

Gage suffered a ruptured patellar tendon in his right knee last week during a joint practice with the Jets, an injury that will sideline him for the year.

Related players: Deven Thompkins, Trey Palmer

After signing with the Bucs in the 2022 offseason, Gage caught 51 passes for 426 yards with five touchdowns last year in 13 games. Thompkins and Palmer are next up behind Chris Godwin and Mike Evans.

Russell Gage is down and surrounded by trainers, in obvious duress. A cart has been brought out to take him off the field.

Related Players: Trey Palmer, David Moore, Deven Thompkins

Very unfortunate news for Gage, who was likely to get quite a lot of run this season, even after the trade rumors surrounding Chris Godwin and Mike Evans came and went. Trey Palmer and Deven Thompkins are both projected as kick returners, so one of them may get extra snaps as a speedy slot option, depending on the severity of Gage's injury.

Rachaad White looks OK.

Knight posted a video of White doing individual drills, which is a great sign after he went down with a non-contact injury on Sunday. White, himself, posted on X he was 'fine' and told everyone to 'relax.'

It was mostly Parris Campbell working out of the slot, Darius Slayton and Isaiah Hodgins out wide, and Darren Waller all over the field with the first-team offense. That’s in part because Sterling Shepard (knee) and Wan’Dale Robinson (knee) worked on the side as part of their rehab from torn ACLs.

Related Players: Jalin Hyatt

Campbell, who was signed this offseason as a free agent, is destined for a significant role regardless. The Giants think he can do more than be the 68-catch player he was with the Indianapolis Colts last season if he’s healthy in this offense. This spring only validated what they thought they could be getting.

This usage has sent a clear message about third-round rookie Jalin Hyatt, who is "coming along slowly and working primarily with the third-team offense."

The Giants are bringing rookie wide receiver Jalin Hyatt along slowly. The third-round pick mostly worked with the third-team offense this spring. Wide receivers coach Mike Groh dismissed concerns about Hyatt’s limited route tree in college, while acknowledging that it’s a big adjustment for any rookie receiver to transition to the NFL.

Related Players: Isaiah Hodgins, Darius Slayton, Sterling Shepard, Wan'Dale Robinson, Parris Campbell

The article would go on to mention that Hyatt "could" have a role as a deep-threat specialist as a rookie but that it will be an "uphill climb" for him to unseat an established veteran. In Underdog drafts, Hyatt is currently coming off the board as the WR70 around guys who have already proved they can be valuable at times in fantasy, such as; K.J. Osborn, DJ Chark, and Marquez Valdes-Scantling.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are poised for an offseason quarterback competition between Baker Mayfield and Kyle Trask that could last deep into training camp.

Asked Wednesday about the balance between naming a starter early so he can get extra reps in the offense and allowing the competition to run its course, new offensive coordinator Dave Canales cited his experience last year during the Geno Smith-Drew Lock battle in Seattle.

The Tampa Bay job is sneakily a good one for fantasy purposes, as the team decided not to move on from any of their veteran pass catchers, despite many rumors to the contrary. Superstars Mike Evans and Chris Godwin may be aging, but they're still a fantastic one-two punch, while Cade Otton and Rachaad can pull their weight at their respective positions.
We would assume that Mayfield has the initial leg-up here since the team went out and got the former first round pick, who has 69 starts under his belt. Compare that to Trask, who has nine dropbacks to his name.