TAMPA – No Mike Evans. No Chris Godwin. No Jalen McMillan. No Bucky Irving.
Then, midway through Sunday’s game against the 49ers, clinging to a one-point lead, the Bucs lost rookie phenom Emeka Egbuka to a hamstring injury.
The players on the receiving end for Tampa Bay keep changing, but the guy throwing the passes hasn’t. Baker Mayfield pulled out another close win Sunday as the Bucs improved to an improbable 5-1 on the season.
Mayfield has been a wizard late in games this season, engineering fourth-quarter comebacks for each of the Bucs’ first four wins. Sunday was close to a fifth — the Bucs were clinging to a 20-19 lead late in the third quarter and facing a third-and-14 play when he eluded a sack, scrambled and reached out with the ball for 15 yards and a first down.
“It’s awesome. We all love Baker to death,” left tackle Tristan Wirfs said. “We know what he does for this team, what he comes out and does every week. I actually got him hit on that third-and-14, and he got out of it. I was like ‘Holy crap,’ and then to watch him go and pick up 15 yards and stretch for a first down, to watch Baker go to work every week is incredible.
“… He is a dawg. I say it week in, week out. Him putting us on his back every week and doing his thing is incredible to watch.”
Two plays after that, Mayfield threw a 45-yard touchdown to rookie Tez Johnson, who fully extended to make a leaping grab in the end zone for an eight-point lead.
“The thing I enjoy about this team is the confidence and the trust they have in the next guy,” said Johnson, a seventh-round pick from Oregon who caught his first NFL touchdown on Sunday. “I’ve never been a part of a team like that. Any other team I’ve played for, when one guy goes down, it’s like, ‘Oh, the season’s over,’ because they always depend on that one guy. But here, it’s just next man up. We believe in each other.”
Mayfield’s first touchdown pass went to another young receiver — Kam Johnson, a second-year pro from Barton College who didn’t have a catch in his first nine NFL games before Sunday. He was wide-open for a 34-yard touchdown from Mayfield, and caught three more passes for 30 yards in the fourth quarter to set up a field goal.
“Baker’s playing at an unbelievable level right now, an MVP level,” Kam said. “For him to see me right out of the gate and throw it to me, you can’t draw it up any better than that.”
Tez and Kam are literally the two smallest players on the Bucs’ roster — both listed at 5-foot-10 and 165 and 170 pounds, respectively, with no other players under 189. As he did in the preseason, Tez celebrated his touchdown with a wild flip in the end zone, one that drew some good-natured ribbing from Mayfield when asked about the celebration.
“I mean, if I weighed 142 pounds, I’d probably be able to fly too,” Mayfield said, “but I haven’t weighed that since probably sixth grade.”
Mayfield had 10 touchdown passes this season entering Sunday’s game, but eight were to players out of the game with injury in the second half. Relying on backups he rarely gets reps with in practice during the week, Mayfield still had confidence that they would make the catch if he got them the ball — it’s what the Bucs have done to persist through injuries all season.
“I truly, genuinely trust the guys that are in there,” Mayfield said. “They’re ready. We talk throughout the week. Guys are on the same page and that’s real. I trust these guys, even though some of them might not have played a whole lot of ball, but if we’re on the same page, good things happen.”
Evans has missed the last three games with a hamstring injury, Godwin has missed four games with an ankle injury, and McMillan has yet to play after spraining his neck in preseason. Egbuka had filled some of that void with five touchdown catches in his first four NFL games, but then he went down Sunday, and the Bucs’ continued success speaks volumes about their entire receiver room.
“It says a lot about the depth and the next man up,” head coach Todd Bowles said. “The coaches do a heck of a job getting these guys prepared to play, and they don’t flinch when they get in there. We have confidence in them, they have confidence in themselves. To keep losing guys, week after week, and those guys still step up to make plays, it says a lot about the resiliency of the guys in the locker room.”
As the Bucs took victory formation for the final snap Sunday — their first win by more than a single score in 2025, tying them for the best overall record in the NFL — the crowd at Raymond James Stadium chanted “M-V-P,” and Mayfield continues to build a strong case to be considered. In six games, he has 12 touchdown passes against a single interception, and he ranks in the top five in passing yards and passer rating.
“It’s Week 6,” he said. “So, (we’ve) got a big one next week. It’s awesome to have the support, don’t get me wrong, but we’re just getting started.”
Greg Auman is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He previously spent a decade covering the Buccaneers for the Tampa Bay Times and The Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter at @gregauman.
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