Tampa Bay

Buccaneers

Assuming the Buccaneers do not advance out of the wild card round, this will be a season-ender for McCollum. He started 13 games for the Bucs after signing a three-year extension ahead of the 2025 season. McCollum ends the regular season with a 61.9 PFF coverage grade in 766 defensive snaps, playing roughly equivalent to his 2024 numbers by the same metric.

With Cade Otton (knee) unavailable, it was Culp who scored the first touchdown of the season for a Tampa Bay tight end. It’s reasonable to wonder if it’ll be the last. Culp has impressive athleticism, but is miles and miles away from fantasy relevancy at this stage of his career.

McMillan came mere inches short of turning his first catch of 2025 into a touchdown, but instant replay deemed him to be down inside of the one yard line. The second-year wideout has missed the entirety of the campaign prior to Thursday due to a neck issue, and while there are a lot of bodies to feed in the Tampa Bay offense, it’s worth keeping in mind that McMillan was a significant part of the passing attack in 2025 as a rookie. Still, it’s hard to see him being a fantasy option for the remainder of 2025, and there’s more risk than reward for Week 16 against the Panthers.

it was a very quiet day for Godwin, but he was able to not only get into the end zone on a connection with Baker Mayfield, but he also picked up the two-point conversion a play later on a pass from Mayfield. Godwin now has added competition with both Mike Evans and Jalen McMillan back, but he he’s in the WR3 conversation for Week 16 against the Panthers.

Well, it’s better than the previous two weeks. Egbuka wasn’t great, but he was involved even with Mike Evans and Jalen McMillan returning from injury Thursday. Still, it’s another statline that pales in comparison to what his early success looked like, and it’s fair to wonder if those numbers are going to come again in 2025. The next chance to do so comes in a massive matchup for the Bucs against the Panthers in Week 16.

Tucker got the scoring started by volturing a touchdown early in the contest. That makes back-to-back games with a trip to paydirt, but it’s also three straight games he hasn’t cleared 30 yards. He’s as touchdown-dependent as you’ll find in the league right now, in terms of offering potential fantasy value. It’s potentially worth noting that Tucker did receive more carries than Rachaad White, as White carried the rock just one time for 20 yards in the loss.

Irving also caught one of his three targets and picked up 11 yards. The 23-year-old had some decent runs, but outside of a 16-yard burst he wasn’t able to get into the Atlanta secondary, and he saw Sean Tucker vulture a touchdown from him early in the contest. Irving should see a similar amount of touches in Week 16 against the Panthers.

It may not have been the most efficient outing for Evans, but when you consider it was the first time on the field for the future Hall of Famer since Week 7, it’s an incredibly impressive performance. The 32-year-old worked the sideline for most of the contest, and showed he’s still as good as it gets at jump balls with a 45-yard snag. Evans is far from a lock to put up these kind of numbers each week, but clearly the connection with Baker Mayfield is going to make these kind of outings possible. The Panthers are next in Week 16.

Mayfield had the majority of his playmakers available for the first time all year, and of course, his first touchdown pass went to Devin Culp. The second went to Chris Godwin to extend the Bucs’ lead to 28-14, but he threw an egregious interception that set up an Atlanta score, and there were several more questionable decisions — and less-than-spectacular throws — that saw Tampa Bay drop another close contest. Mayfield remains a QB1, but the Panthers are a much tougher test than anticipated.

Otton is, unfortunately, sidelined by a knee injury. The pass-catching corps gets WR Mike Evans (collarbone) and WR Jalen McMillan (neck) back tonight, though, boosting QB Baker Mayfield’s fantasy-scoring potential. Mayfield will also helpfully have LT Tristan Wirfs (oblique) protecting his blindside this evening.