How can Trey Palmer influence the Bucs offense, return the game?
After having the oldest roster in the league last season, the Bucs’ goal this offseason was to get younger and faster…
After having the oldest roster in the league last season, the Bucs’ goal this offseason was to get younger and faster. As free agency and the recent NFL Draft have shown, the team has achieved this goal with the players they have brought in.
As it stands now in May, there are only five players on the team who are 30 or older, compared to last season’s finish with 15. In many of the skill positions, the team has traded veterans for young players. This is especially the case with the wide receiver position.
Veterans Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and Russell Gage remain, but behind them the depth chart is filled with young wideouts hoping to step up and move forward in the Bucs’ felony new look.
Julio Jones, Breshad Perriman and Scotty Miller are no longer with the team, although the Bucs will see the latter twice a year as he joined the Falcons this off-season. Deven Thompkins and Kaylon Geiger return in their place. Trey Palmer, the sixth-round selection of the Bucs from Nebraska, also joins the mix.
Trey Palmer grew up in Nebraska, LSU during his college career
Trey Palmer comes to Tampa Bay after a 2022 season in Nebraska where he emerged as the Cornhuskers’ biggest offensive threat. He led the team with 71 receptions for 1,043 yards and nine touchdowns. Palmer became only the second Nebraska receiver to post 1,000 yards in a season. His biggest game was against Purdue in October, when he had 297 yards from scrimmage (237 receiving, 60 rushing).
His nine touchdowns accounted for over 25% of the team’s total, while the second-highest receiver had 31 receptions for 471 yards. Although Nebraska went 4–8 last year, his only season there was as a true №1 option, before which he didn’t have the chance to be with LSU.
LSU Tigers WR’s Trey Palmer and Ja’Marr Chase — Photo by: USA Today
Palmer spent 2019–2021 in the Bayou with the Tigers in a reception room that included Ja’Marr Chase, Justin Jefferson, Terrace Marshall Jr. and Kayshon Boutte, who selected only four picks ahead of Palmer on Day 3 of the draft. In 2019, Chase, Jefferson, and Marshall Jr. the top three options for Joe Burrow for a team that went 15–0 and won the national championship.
As a result, he only had one catch for six yards that season, and he failed to make much of an impact in subsequent years. For Palmer, his transfer allowed him to grow as a player and bring some championship culture to Lincoln, Nebraska.
“I was really just trying to help my team win and really just help everyone around me get better and do my job [lead] by leading by example and not just talking,” Palmer said after being taken away by the Bucs. “I just brought the LSU culture to Nebraska and took them in and they took me in too. It really took off from there.”
After playing alongside what are now two of the top receivers in the NFL, Palmer took away what it meant to be the best.
“It helped me practice like a pro because [those] guys practice like a pro,” Palmer said. “They taught me how to do things, how to learn things, and I took that from them and embodied it in myself and took that to Nebraska to show [those] guys how to practice like a pro too.
Can Trey Palmer help in the return game?
What does Palmer’s addition mean for the Bucs’ reception room next season? Well, it means they have a burner with some intriguing skills. Special teams coordinator Keith Armstrong even alluded to having a spot in the second leg, an area where Deven Thompkins took the reins last season.
“Yeah, he’s going to get a chance,” Armstrong said of Palmer potentially returning kicks. Palmer returned both punts and kickoffs in college all four seasons, even bringing a punt (2019) and kickoff (2020) to the home for touchdowns. With his experience and speed of 4.33, it’s easy to see why Armstrong was optimistic about his skills. What else does he bring to the table?
“Size — he’s a good size,” Armstrong added. “I think he’s a willing guy — he can be physical. What I’m going to try is help him with, okay, this is how you set up a return, in terms of setting blocks and how you play penalty-free football. Sometimes you hear me say, “The cock is loose,” with a returner — in other words, his guys don’t know how to block for him because they don’t know where he’s going. Whereas if you get a sense of what a guy likes to do, your players can now react and start blocking better for you.
Hopefully no roosters will be unleashed, and that could start with Palmer quickly developing as a return option. He had a touchdown on a punt and a punt return at LSU.
Trey Palmer has a chance to emerge as Bucs’ WR №4
The biggest question is whether Palmer can claim the fourth spot in the receivers’ space. While it may not seem like such an important role to fill, the team will be looking to replace production of the aforementioned receivers. Jones, Perriman and Miller combined for 56 receptions last season, and the depth chart is inexperienced outside of the top three.
Nebraska WR Trey Palmer — Photo by: USA Today
What each of the three had in common was that they were deep threats throughout their careers. Vice president of player personnel John Spytek would not draw comparisons, but praised Palmer’s ability to track on the field and make catches.
“That’s a unique talent,” said Spytek after the draft. “The best I ever was with was DeSean Jackson. I mean it was on an elitist level where I think people can’t understand that he knows exactly where to go. And I’m not saying… Trey has a long way to go to become DeSean Jackson. I hope he gets there one day. But he feels that when he goes vertical and he runs towards people, he finds the ball further down the field, especially when he gets past people.
“The fact that we’ve seen him hit all those long touchdowns and have success when he runs down the field at full speed shows he can do it. He has proven that with the statistics he has.”
He has a chance to excel in that role, especially if he does well during the offseason at OTAs later this month, as well as training camp and preseason. His main competition is Thompkins and Geiger, who also want to prove themselves. Thompkins has only five career receptions, while Geiger has only nine career offensive snaps and has yet to record any stats.
Spytek added how Palmer could be a playmaker.
“You see the 4.34, okay, that’s nice, but then he put it to work,” said Spytek after the draft. “I think he had the most… three touchdowns over 70 yards this year, maybe the most in FBS. I think I heard that on TV. He had over 1000 yards in a school that doesn’t always throw the ball a ton.
“He plays down the field, and when he walks down the field, the defenses learn that and they have to account for it.”
There are still a few months to go before his role is fully determined, but Bucs fans need to know what kind of man they’re getting. Palmer kept it short and sweet when you talk to the local media For the first time.
“[They’re getting] a dog,” Palmer said.
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