The simultaneous returns of Mike Evans and Jalen McMillan in Week 15 shook up the Buccaneers’ depth chart and in-game usage patterns, in a very welcome way. The long-awaited opportunity to utilize those two in the same game as Chris Godwin and Emeka Egbuka produced a very significant change in Baker Mayfield’s decision-making, as that quartet was responsible for 26 of his 32 targets and 16 of his 19 completions, producing 254 of the team’s 277 passing yards.
The Bucs rearranged their official depth chart accordingly heading into Week 16. Evans, Godwin and Egbuka are now listed as the three starters, though it was actually McMillan who was on the field with Evans and Godwin for the first snap against Atlanta. The Buccaneers used a wide variety of combinations of those four, plus a dash of Tez Johnson (15 snaps) but it was Godwin at the center of most of it. He played 66 of the 69 offensive snaps (96%) and caught four passes for 20 yards and a touchdown. Egbuka was next with 44 snaps, which he turned into four catches for 64 yards. Evans played just over half the snaps but made the most of them, leading the team with six catches for 132 yards. McMillan logged 32 snaps and caught two passes for 38 yards.
Bucky Irving (37 snaps) and Rachaad White (29) continued to have a relatively even workload, though Irving got 17 touches to just two for White. Irving produced 71 yards from scrimmage, while White’s lone carry did produce 20 yards. Sean Tucker only got eight plays but did get the ball on four of them, scoring the game’s first touchdown on a one-yard run.
DL: Elijah Roberts*, Greg Gaines
NT: Vita Vea, Elijah Simmons*
OLB: Yaya Diaby, Chris Braswell, Markees Watts
ILB: SirVocea Dennis, Deion Jones, Nick Jackson*
ILB: Lavonte David, Anthony Walker, John Bullock*
OLB: Haason Reddick, Anthony Nelson
CB: Jamel Dean, Benjamin Morrison*, Josh Hayes
CB: Jacob Parrish*, Kindle Vildor
S: Antoine Winfield Jr., Christian Izien
S: Tykee Smith, Kaevon Merriweather
