The Tampa Bay Buccaneers can’t catch a break at wide receiver, and neither can Jalen McMillan. The third-year receiver has a PCL sprain in his left knee and is expected to miss six to eight weeks, and the team is placing him on injured reserve. That news comes on top of Baker Mayfield’s dislocated thumb, so the 0-3 Bucs will send undrafted rookie Jalon Daniels into his first start with one fewer pass catcher.
According to ESPN’s Jenna Laine, the injury is an aggravation of a knee issue McMillan first dealt with in early August. He sat out Week 1, played seven offensive snaps in Week 2 and lasted two snaps against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday before leaving. The team is also seeking a second opinion on the timeline. The knee never really let him get going.
McMillan’s availability problem keeps growing
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This is becoming a pattern. McMillan, a 2024 third-round pick out of Washington, flashed as a rookie with 37 catches for 461 yards and eight touchdowns. Then a neck injury in the 2025 preseason, which included fractured vertebrae and herniated discs, limited him to four games. He has appeared in 19 of 37 regular-season games in his career, and now he’s back on the shelf. That’s a tough résumé to build a receiver room around.
Emeka Egbuka leads the team with 13 catches for 141 yards and a touchdown, and Chris Godwin Jr. and rookie Ted Hurst III round out the top of the depth chart. But it’s thin from there. Tez Johnson and Kameron Johnson should see more work, and practice squad receivers Eric Rivers Jr. and Dean Patterson IV are options. Patterson, a Lutz native, led the Bucs with six catches for 56 yards in an August preseason win over Kansas City. That’s a lot of unproven talent around a quarterback making his first NFL start.
A trip to injured reserve means McMillan will miss at least four games, and the six-to-eight-week timeline pushes his return into November. First up, the Green Bay Packers visit Raymond James Stadium at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday, Oct. 4.
