Welcome and thank you for tuning back into our "Camp Goals" series as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' much-anticipated training camp draws ever closer. Check this out if you want a greater explanation of the premise; essentially, we are surmising what the main focus is for each player on the Buccaneers' current 91-man roster as the team heads into training camp at the end of this month.
If you read the first installment of this series, you got a pretty wide variety of players and positions. There were running backs and edge defenders and kickers, the starting quarterback, his likely backup and even an off-ball linebacker and a receiver. Today's group is more streamlined. It's all offense, and primarily guys who either throw or catch the ball. It is a surprisingly young group of eight players (two of the numbers in this range are essentially off limits), though it is headlined by one veteran who is expected to be both one of the team's top producers and an important leader.
#10 QB Jalon Daniels: Daniels built up some serious momentum in the Bucs' offseason program and also impressed with his attitude and approach to the game. It was a very positive start for an undrafted rookie just hoping to break his way into the NFL. Could Daniels actually push Jake Browning (and Connor Bazelak) for the primary backup spot to Baker Mayfield? It is way, way too early to make any predictions along those lines. Offseason practices are a very different animal from training camp and preseason games. Still, that has to be Daniels' goal, right? More to the point, there will come a time when the Buccaneers' brass chooses whether to devote two or three spots on the 53-man roster for quarterbacks; in 2025, they did each setup for about half the year. If the final answer is just two spots, Daniels could still be a big-time winner by landing on the practice squad.
#11 WR Jalen McMillan: McMillan is another player who made positive headlines during the Bucs' offseason program. He suffered a serious neck injury in the preseason a year ago and was only able to return in the final month of the season, but he had a very encouraging December/January cameo. Couple that with the extremely productive end to his 2024 rookie campaign and there is a lot of reason for optimism regarding his third NFL season. As such, that's essentially the goal for McMillan: Maintain that positive momentum. It will also be interesting to see where he is slotted in the Bucs' passing attack. Chris Godwin is likely to play in the slot and Emeka Egbuka is the leading candidate at the "Z" position, so McMillan will be working to show why he needs to be on the field at all times, either as the "X" or as a do-it-all positional pass-catcher.
#14 WR Chris Godwin: Godwin is starting to hear "Unc" attached to his name, which has to be weird for a player who, to this point, has spent his whole career as the younger part of an incredible wide receiver pairing with Mike Evans. But it's true. At the age of 30, he's the elder statesman of a deep but mostly young receiving corps. As such, it is almost certain that Godwin – pretty much an all-around pro from the moment he arrived in the NFL – is going to be focused on being a leader at his position. But that's not all. Godwin has now worked his way back from two devastating leg injuries, and he will certainly be seeking to prove that he is back to being one of the best slot receivers in the NFL.
#15 WR Tez Johnson: Johnson had one of the better rookie seasons ever for a Buccaneers' seventh-round draft pick, catching 28 passes, scoring five touchdowns and making several critical plays in the team's most important victories last fall. Now it's a matter of building on that successful debut. There is still a crowded depth chart at receiver for the Buccaneers, and a need to figure out which pass-catchers fill which roles in Zac Robinson's offense. Is Johnson best suited as a slot weapon, given his shiftiness, or is he a smaller "X" who can take the top off a defense? Or perhaps he's a do-everything receiver who can fill in at multiple spots and possibly even make an impact as a punt returner. Defining his role will be the focal point of Johnson's second training camp, but he heads into it with a lot of promise.
#16 QB Connor Bazelak: Bazelak, who finished up his college tenure with a 3,000-yard season at Bowling Green, had a good start to his NFL journey in 2025. He initially made the Buccaneers' practice squad as an undrafted free agent, and then later spent the last six weeks of the regular season on the active roster due to concerns over Mayfield's mounting injuries. Now he's getting a full offseason and training camp in the NFL to try to further cement his spot in the league. The Buccaneers signed former Bengal Jake Browning who would seem to be the leading candidate to be Mayfield's primary backup, but that doesn't mean Bazelak doesn't have a shot at that role. He will surely be trying to prove he should move up another spot on the depth chart.
#17 WR Ted Hurst III: It seems likely that Hurst, a third-round rookie out of Georgia State, will have some sort of prominent role in the Bucs' offense this season. He's the most prototypical "X" receiver on the roster, which is a spot that has a vacancy after the departure of Evans, who dominated in that role for a dozen years. It's not yet clear how the receiver assignments will be defined in Robinson's offense or if there will even be a primary X, but it sure seems like there's an opportunity for the rookie to see a decent amount of playing time. Not every rookie receiver hits the ground running at the beginning of their career – Emeka Egbuka certainly did last year but Chris Godwin, now one of the best receivers in team history, had a quiet first half to his debut campaign – so there's no pressure on Hurst to produce right away. Presumably his day-to-day goal in training camp will be to show the coaching staff that he has a good grasp on the offense and that he's ready for any size of a role they want to give him.
#18 RB Josh Williams: Williams impressively made the Buccaneers' roster as an undrafted rookie out of LSU last summer and, notably, that was because the team chose to keep four running backs on their initial 53-man unit. (Williams later missed six games on an NFL suspension and finished the season on the practice squad). The Bucs have since seen Rachaad White depart but have added a new backfield piece of significance in Kenneth Gainwell. As such, it looks like the running back depth chart is likely to start with Bucky Irving, Gainwell and Sean Tucker. If that does prove to be the case – and certainly Williams can harbor goals of moving up that list – the key to making the 53-man roster again will be to prove his value as a fourth back over depth at another position, like tight end or receiver. He will almost certainly help himself by performing on special teams, possibly as a kickoff return man.
#19 WR Kameron Johnson: In his second season after making the roster as an undrafted rookie in 2024 but missing much of the campaign due to injuries, Johnson played in all 17 games in 2025. While he only caught four passes while playing 105 total snaps on offense, he handled all of the Bucs' punt returns and had the most kickoff returns as well, with 27. On punt returns, Johnson was both dependable and effective, ranking 10th in the NFL with an average of 11.2 yards per runback. Simply duplicating that season in 2026 would certainly rank as a success, but of course like every receiver he is surely aiming to do more on offense as well. Obviously, there are receiver snaps available this season after the departure of Evans, though there is still a very deep depth chart at the position. As noted earlier, there are still roles to be defined within that group, and Johnson will be aiming to prove there's a role of some size for him in that offense.
