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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be ready to make some noise during the 2025 NFL season. Tampa Bay has dominated the NFC South for the past several seasons, first under Tom Brady and now under Baker Mayfield. The Buccaneers did not have any postseason success in 2024, so they’ll be plenty motivated to get back to the playoffs in 2025.
Tampa Bay’s Super Bowl window will not stay open forever. To be clear, they are are not a superpower in the NFC like Philadelphia or Detroit, but Tampa is always in the mix. However, that window could be closing with veterans like Mike Evans and Lavonte David getting up there in age.
Tampa made several good moves this offseason to fortify the roster ahead of another postseason push this fall. They extended Chris Godwin on a $66 million contract and drafted several talented rookies during the 2025 NFL Draft.
The Buccaneers will need all hands on deck if they want to repeat as NFC South champions in 2025. They may even need contributions from their depth and rotational players.
Below we will explore three Buccaneers hidden gems who every fan needs to know about ahead of the 2025 NFL season.
The Buccaneers have some seriously impressive depth at the wide receiver position.
Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, and Emeka Egbuka are excellent starters for Tampa Bay. Everyone on the depth chart, aside from Evans and Godwin, moved down a spot after Tampa drafted Egbuka in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft.
The Buccaneers also have a pair of youngsters in Jalen McMillan and Trey Palmer in reserve. They also have the veteran Sterling Shepard.
I could have easily written this about McMilland or Palmer, but I feel that they receive the proper amount of attention. Instead, I feel that most NFL fans have completely forgotten that Shepard is still on the Buccaneers in the first place.
Shepard quietly had his best season in a few years in 2024 with the Buccaneers. He logged 32 receptions for 334 yards and one touchdown. This was his best season since 2021 with the Giants.
To be clear, Shepard is not a superstar in the making. The veteran wide receiver is 32 years old and is likely to play only one or two more seasons in the NFL at most.
That said, Tampa is truly blessed to have a veteran like Shepard as their sixth wide receiver heading into mandatory OTAs.
If the Buccaneers deal with any injuries at wide receiver this season, they’ll have plenty of talented players like Shepard ready to step up.
SirVocea Dennis is a talented linebacker whose NFL career has been crippled by injuries.
Dennis was a backup linebacker in 2023, but started the 2024 season out on a hot streak. In just four games played, Dennis logged 22 total tackles and one sack. His best performance...
