{"id":295294,"date":"2026-06-04T02:33:25","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T02:33:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/295294\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T02:33:25","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T02:33:25","slug":"former-uw-football-star-to-assume-larger-role-for-tampa-bay-buccaneers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/295294\/","title":{"rendered":"Former UW football star to assume larger role for Tampa Bay Buccaneers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>June 3, 2026, 5:00 p.m. PT<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">After a stellar rookie season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, former <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/sports\/college-sports\/big-ten\/washington\" data-autotag=\"e2d27eb1-fb64-411e-93e5-a29debbf9997\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">Washington Huskies<\/a> star wide receiver Jalen McMillan had his second NFL campaign derailed by fractured vertebrae in his neck.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">The injury limited him to just four games in 2025, during which he recorded 12 catches for 178 yards, and now that he&#8217;s healthy, he&#8217;s looking to take a big step forward in his third year. With All-Pro Mike Evans leaving in free agency for the San Francisco 49ers, McMillan should have a golden opportunity to establish himself alongside All-Pro Chris Godwin and former first-round pick Emeka Egbuka as one of the primary targets for quarterback Baker Mayfield this fall.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">\u201cI am happy,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pewterreport.com\/bucs-jalen-mcmillan-mental-toughness\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":b|z|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">McMillan told Pewter Report.<\/a> \u201cJust to be out there and to catch balls from Baker and just to run on my feet, I feel good\u2026I am definitely taking appreciation for the small things and celebrating small wins, and call my mom and dad every day. I am not taking any relationship for granted, so life has been good.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"gnt_em_ig_bl\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/DZGFufUJWMi\/?igsh=cGd3b2d0ZmdpMWZx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" aria-label=\"view Instagram post: \"><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">&#8220;I had to sit in my bed and wonder, &#8216;Is my neck going to heal correctly?&#8217; So, as soon as I was given the opportunity to play again, I knew that I could not look back and there was no time to be nervous and no time to be thinking about anything.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Now that he&#8217;s back in the mix, McMillan could quickly prove himself as one of Tampa Bay&#8217;s top pass catchers, after hauling in 7 touchdowns in a five-game span to close out the 2024 season. While his physical skill set is vital, head coach Todd Bowles was quick to praise the former third-round pick&#8217;s mental toughness.<\/p>\n<p>Expert NFL picks: <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":body nav (nfl)|e|auto spike click:6|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_sp_a\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/picks\">Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">&#8220;Jalen&#8217;s tough. His mental toughness is unbelievable,&#8221; Bowles said. &#8220;His competitiveness, the way he attacks the ball, the way he fights for every route and tries to get open and wants to be &#8216;that guy,&#8217; you know, that gives you a lot of confidence that he&#8217;ll be doing that in the games.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"June 3, 2026, 5:00 p.m. PT After a stellar rookie season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, former Washington&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":295295,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[31,116805,55005,303,298,4857,299,12409,342,332,96,9811,300,55009,13082,135,137,136,34],"class_list":["post-295294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-accessfree","tag-sourcehuskies-wire","tag-sstssportscollegehuskiesfootball","tag-sstsnfootball","tag-tagamerican-football","tag-tagbig-10-hub","tag-tagcollege-sports","tag-tagjalen-mcmillan","tag-tagnational-sports","tag-tagnfl","tag-tagoverall-positive","tag-tagsmg-timely","tag-tagsports-news","tag-tagwashington-huskies","tag-tagwashington-huskies-football","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-typestory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295294\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/295295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}