The Tampa Bay Buccaneers open up their 2026 preseason slate on Saturday with a game against the New York Jets in the Meadowlands. It will likely be contested by younger players and those battling for the last spots on the regular season roster. As such, it probably will not provide many clues as to how the depth chart is shaking out. Still, the NFL requires teams to release a depth chart prior to their preseason openers, even though many of the battles for spots on that chart are still being waged.
Thus, we have the Buccaneers’ first official – if not exactly set in stone – depth chart of 2026, which was published on Monday as part of the game release distributed by the team’s Communications Department. The listed starters are not exactly surprising; the Buccaneers are returning a high percentage of their starters from last season, particularly on offense.
There are some listings of note on this work-in-progress depth chart. First-round draft pick Rueben Bain Jr. is the only rookie listed among the starters, though several of his teammates from the 2026 draft class are expected to earn significant roles. With Mike Evans not on the squad for the first time in 13 years, the listed starters at wide receiver are Jalen McMillan, Chris Godwin and Emeka Egbuka. Second-year cornerback Jacob Parrish has been running with the first team defense as an outside corner for the duration of training camp, and that’s indicated here with his listing as a starter opposite Zyon McCollum. Incumbent starter SirVocea Dennis is one of the two linebackers listed as starters but he is getting significant competition for that job from rookie Josiah Trotter. Again, however, these are all developing situations.
Here’s the first listing of the 22 starters on offense and defense for the 2026 Buccaneers: