Things are looking up for Antonio Brown. He’s been sidelined since injuring a knee in a win at New Orleans, but he was a full participant at Tampa Bay’s practice today. Bruce Arians indicates that barring any setbacks, Brown will be a full go on Sunday.
Assuming that Brown is reasonably healthy, that gives the Buccaneers a deep and talented group of receivers. Mike Evans and Chris Godwin are about as good as any one-two punch in the league. And it can be argued that Tampa Bay will be fine even if Brown isn’t in uniform. Scotty Miller has been an effective deep threat, and Tyler Johnson is also a viable pass catcher.
But if Brown is right physically, he’s got some potential to lead the Bucs in receiving. He joined the team at the halfway point of the season, and in his eight regular-season games he caught a team-high 45 passes – 5 more than either Evans or Godwin.
Looking just at the second half of the season (the final eight games for each team) the Bucs were the only team that had three top-20 wide receivers. Using PPR scoring, Evans ranked 7th in production in those final eight games, just ahead of Godwin (11th) and Brown (16th). Evans was the most productive in those games even though he missed most of a high-scoring Week 17 game against Atlanta.
Brown led the team in receptions in those eight games, but Evans and Godwin averaged 19 and 10 more yards per game – tending to get downfield more often on their routes. All three of these players caught 4-6 TDs in those eight games.
For Sunday, I think any one of these three could lead the Bucs in receiving. It will depend on matchups and coverages. Is there a defensive back the Bucs feel they can go after? And will coverages allow them to get one of these pass catchers isolated often?
| WIDE RECEIVERS, SECOND HALF OF SEASON | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | No | Yards | Avg | TD | PPR |
| Davante Adams, G.B. | 62 | 699 | 11.3 | 10 | 191.9 |
| Stefon Diggs, Buff. | 73 | 840 | 11.5 | 5 | 187.0 |
| • Tyreek Hill, K.C. | 52 | 739 | 14.2 | 8 | 173.9 |
| Marvin Jones, Det. | 51 | 670 | 13.1 | 5 | 148.0 |
| Diontae Johnson, Pitt. | 57 | 613 | 10.8 | 4 | 142.3 |
| DeAndre Hopkins, Ariz. | 55 | 673 | 12.2 | 3 | 140.3 |
| Mike Evans, T.B. | 40 | 633 | 15.8 | 6 | 139.3 |
| Calvin Ridley, Atl. | 47 | 717 | 15.3 | 3 | 136.7 |
| Allen Robinson, Chi. | 52 | 619 | 11.9 | 3 | 131.9 |
| A.J. Brown, Ten. | 39 | 618 | 15.8 | 5 | 130.8 |
| Chris Godwin, T.B. | 40 | 561 | 14.0 | 5 | 126.1 |
| Brandin Cooks, Hou. | 44 | 640 | 14.5 | 3 | 126.0 |
| Adam Thielen, Min. | 37 | 445 | 12.0 | 7 | 123.5 |
| JuJu Smith-Schuster, Pitt. | 52 | 392 | 7.5 | 5 | 121.2 |
| Curtis Samuel, Car. | 48 | 589 | 12.3 | 2 | 118.9 |
| Antonio Brown, T.B. | 45 | 483 | 10.7 | 4 | 117.3 |
| T.Y. Hilton, Ind. | 34 | 511 | 15.0 | 5 | 115.1 |
| Robert Woods, LAR | 53 | 500 | 9.4 | 2 | 115.0 |
| Corey Davis, Ten. | 36 | 615 | 17.1 | 2 | 109.5 |
| Tyler Lockett, Sea. | 47 | 439 | 9.3 | 3 | 108.9 |
| Amari Cooper, Dall. | 38 | 526 | 13.8 | 3 | 108.6 |
| Nelson Agholor, L.V. | 31 | 549 | 17.7 | 3 | 103.9 |
| DK Metcalf, Sea. | 40 | 515 | 12.9 | 2 | 103.5 |
| Sterling Shepard, NYG | 44 | 447 | 10.2 | 2 | 100.7 |
| Cole Beasley, Buff. | 41 | 473 | 11.5 | 2 | 100.3 |
| Marquise Brown, Balt. | 28 | 352 | 12.6 | 6 | 99.2 |
| Jarvis Landry, Clev. | 39 | 421 | 10.8 | 3 | 99.1 |
| Russell Gage, Atl. | 39 | 418 | 10.7 | 3 | 98.8 |
| Michael Gallup, Dall. | 33 | 411 | 12.5 | 4 | 98.1 |
| Chase Claypool, Pitt. | 31 | 429 | 13.8 | 4 | 97.9 |
—Ian Allan