![\"Matthew](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/western-kentucky-v-lsu-baton-rouge-louisiana-november-22-matthew-henry-e1787683625881.jpg\")
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Western Kentucky wide receiver Matthew Henry. <\/p>\n
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers<\/a> are signing a wide receiver ahead of their preseason finale against the Jacksonville Jaguars<\/a> on Friday.<\/p>\n \u201cBucs add receiver depth after all \u2014 they\u2019ve signed former Western Kentucky receiver Matthew Henry<\/a>, who spent time with the Titans and 49ers this year,\u201d Fox Sports NFL reporter Greg Auman wrote<\/a> on his official X account on Tuesday. \u201cThey\u2019ve placed DT Deshawn McKnight<\/a> on injured reserve.\u201d<\/p>\n Henry, 6-foot-1 and 180 pounds, started his career at NCAA Division II Livingstone College before stops at Western Illinois and Western Kentucky, where he earned All-Conference USA honors in 2025 with 55 receptions for 888 yards and 6 touchdowns,<\/p>\n \u201cHenry (6-1, 180) started all 13 games for the Hilltoppers in 2025, hauling in 55 passes for 888 yards and six touchdowns,\u201d Buccaneers.com\u2019s Scott Smith wrote on Tuesday<\/a>. \u201cHe was named to the All-Conference USA second team as a result of those efforts. Overall, in 40 collegiate games, Henry tallied 185 receptions for 2,939 and 20 touchdowns. After going undrafted in April, he participated in rookie minicamps with the Tennessee Titans<\/a> and San Francisco 49ers<\/a>, but this is his first appearance on an NFL<\/a> roster.\u201d<\/p>\n Bucs Rebooting at Wide Receiver in 2026<\/p>\n The Buccaneers won\u2019t look like anything anyone who has watched the team in recent years remembers at wide receiver \u2014 mostly thanks to the exit of longtime franchise stalwart Mike Evans<\/a> to the San Francisco 49ers in free agency.<\/p>\n Tampa Bay needs their 2025 1st-round pick, Emeka Egbuka<\/a>, to take over as the clear-cut WR1 and get a bounce-back season from highly-paid veteran wide receiver Chris Godwin and some kind of contribution from a \u201cWho\u2019s That Guy?\u201d group of players behind them, including former starter Jalen McMillan<\/a>.<\/p>\n Most Promising Option: Rookie WR Ted Hurst<\/p>\n The Buccaneers may have found a player who can make an impact from the jump with rookie wide receiver Ted Hurst<\/a>.<\/p>\n Bleacher Report\u2019s Gary Davenport<\/a> has already labeled Hurst, 6-foot-4 and 206 pounds, as 1 of the NFL\u2019s \u201cBiggest Draft Steals\u201d in 2026 \u2014 the Buccaneers used a 3rd-round pick on the former Georgia State star.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the dawn of a new age in Tampa Bay \u2014 after 11 seasons, wide receiver Mike Evans is gone,\u201d Davenport wrote. \u201cThe team still has veteran\u00a0Chris Godwin<\/a>\u00a0and second-year pro\u00a0Emeka Egbuka<\/a>, but the team needs a big-bodied wideout to step into Evans\u2019 \u2018X\u2019 receiver role outside \u2026 Granted, there\u2019s a long way to go before Hurst is an NFL starter (the jump from FCS to the NFL is a big one) and there\u2019s an even bigger way to go before Hurst can be mentioned in the same breath as a player like Evans. But Hurst possesses a tantalizing blend of size, 4.42-second speed and catch radius. He could have a real role in Tampa\u2019s offense as a rookie \u2014 especially with a solid summer.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tTony Adame<\/a> covers the NFL for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Denver Broncos, Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, San Francisco 49ers, and the entire NFC East Division. A veteran sports writer and editor since 2004, his work has been featured at Stadium Talk, Yardbarker, NW Florida Daily News and Pensacola News Journal. More about Tony Adame<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Western Kentucky wide receiver Matthew Henry. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are signing a wide receiver ahead of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":382400,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-382399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382399","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=382399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382399\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/382400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=382399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=382399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=382399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}