Baker Praises 'Natural' Talents Of Rookie

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers drafted receiver Jalen McMillan in the third round, and the rookie has been making heads turn over the course of preseason.

With the Buccaneers' offense already having Mike Evans and Chris Godwin along with Trey Palmer, there were already decent options for Baker Mayfield to throw to.

But now we can add McMillan, who in the Buccaneers' final preseason game against the Miami Dolphins, hauled in a 28-yard reception after a dime from Baker on the first drive of the game.

“Just putting one up there for him, a one-on-one contested catch that [I] don't have to make a perfect throw when a guy is able to high point it like that,” Mayfield said of McMillan. “I talked about his body control and some of the things he does naturally that you can't teach, and I think that was a really good example of it. I keep mentioning teams are going to have to decide on how they want to defend us you can't exactly just shade a safety over on the top of Mike [Evans] every time now, we have threats and yeah confident where we're at.”

With the Buccaneers' offense under Liam Coen showing great signs on the first drive of the game as Mayfield and Co. marched down the field for a touchdown, confidence is high as we approach the regular season.

While Tampa Bay has had many detractors over the offseason, with most of those doubts leveled at Baker and his inability to replicate his 2023 Pro Bowl season, but the Buccaneers have a lot of talent on both sides of the ball.

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Evans and Godwin highlight the star power on offense, and if McMillan and Palmer can elevate their game, then the Buccaneers' offense might be difficult to stop.