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The Tampa Bay Rays will be without the services of wide receiver Jalen McMillan for a period due to an upper-body injury. That also means that he's expected to sit out the Bucs' first game of the 2025 NFL regular season, according to head coach Todd Bowles.
“#Bucs HC Todd Bowles said WR Jalen McMillan suffered a severely strained neck and will miss time, including the start of the season. McMillan is currently in a neck brace,” wrote Ari Meirov of The 33rd Team via a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday morning.
The Buccaneers are scheduled to play the Atlanta Falcons on the road in Week 1 of the upcoming 2025 campaign
McMillan is also not on the practice field on Monday, reported Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, who noted that other wideouts in Trey Palmer and Kameron Johnson, have both returned.
The 23-year-old McMillan had a scary fall while trying to make a catch in a preseason game against the Pittsburgh Steelers last Saturday at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh. He exited the game in the first quarter after he landed on his head following a catch where it looked as though Steelers defensive back Daryl Porter undercut him. Before he left the contest, McMillan had a catch on a target for 18 receiving yards.
During his rookie season in the NFL in 2024, McMillan, selected in the third round of that year's NFL draft, had 461 receiving yards and eight touchdowns on 37 receptions and 58 targets.
The Buccaneers, who scored a 17-14 victory in the Steelers game, could be forced to give rookie wide receiver Emeka Egbuka lots of opportunities right out of the game in the 2025 season versus the Falcons at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. Apart from McMillan, Tampa Bay is also not 100 percent sure that wide receiver Chris Godwin will be ready to give it a go in Week 1, as the Bucs have yet to take the veteran off the physically unable to perform list.
The Buccaneers have one of the most prolific passing attacks in the 2024 season, having averaged 250.4 air yards per outing, good for third overall in the NFL. With a banged-up wide receiver room right away from the get-go, Baker Mayfield will have a big challenge in his hands to direct Tampa Bay's offense. Still, a 1-2 punch downfield composed of the promising Egbuka, who's been turning heads in the offseason, and future Pro Football Hall of Famer in the form of Mike Evans, the Buccaneers can still feel confident in its ability to torch the Falcons' defense through the air.
