A new Pewter Report Roundtable debuts every Tuesday on PewterReport.com. Each week, the Pewter Reporters tackle another tough Bucs question. This week’s prompt: Which injured player do the Bucs most need back in the lineup?

Scott Reynolds: Bucs Could Use Their Best WR – Emeka Egbuka – Back ASAP

No disrespect to Mike Evans, a future Hall of Famer and the greatest Buccaneers offensive weapon of all-time, but Tampa Bay’s best wide receiver this year has been rookie Emeka Egbuka. The numbers don’t lie. Egbuka is making a strong case for NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year honors with 27 catches for 469 yards and five touchdowns. All of those numbers lead the Bucs wide receiving corps, as he’s established an incredible early rapport with quarterback Baker Mayfield at the start of the season.

Bucs WR Emeka Egbuka – Photo by: USA Today

Make no mistake. It will be great to get Evans back for the Bucs offense on Monday Night Football in Detroit for Week 7. It’s doubtful that Egbuka will be in play for the Lions game and he could be out multiple weeks with a hamstring injury. The good news is that Egbuka was seen walking without a limp after Sunday’s 30-19 win over the 49ers. He exited the game early in the second half, and the hope is that his hamstring is just tweaked rather than strained.

Not only has Egbuka been a reliable chain-mover for Mayfield and the Bucs offense this year, he’s also been a deep threat. Egbuka’s 77-yard touchdown against the Eagles was the longest scoring play in Tampa Bay thus far, and he’s averaging a whopping 17.4 yards per catch. Evans needs to return quickly to get his annual 1,000 receiving yards, but so does Egbuka to get his first 1,000-yard receiving season.

Matt Matera: Bucky Irving Makes An Impact Like Nobody Else

While Rachaad White and Sean Tucker have done a solid job filling in for him, the Bucs lack some explosiveness without Bucky Irving in the lineup. Irving has done it all for Tampa Bay this season when playing. He has that big-play ability that can turn a five-yard into a 45-yard gain in an instant.

Bucs RB Bucky Irving – Photo by: USA Today

Irving has really had a big impact in the passing game more than he did a season ago. His 72-yard touchdown catch against the Eagles in Week 4 was one of the most exciting plays of the season. And a swing pass to him in Week 2 against the Texans got the Bucs all the way down the field to set up the game-winning score. The Bucs have taken their deep shots and had success downfield, but having Irving underneath also really helps out Baker Mayfield.

There’s also the element in home games of getting the crowd into it. Before fans were chanting “MVP” for Mayfield, they were chanting Bucky! Bucky! Bucky! any time he made a big play. That can’t be overlooked, and it’s the reason why they call it homefield advantage. Irving is arguably a top five running back in this league. Every team would miss that kind of player.

Bailey Adams: Bucs Need Luke Goedeke Back At Right Tackle ASAP

With Cody Mauch’s season-ending injury, the Bucs won’t play a single game this season with their expected starting offensive line fully intact. But they can get close to it with the return of right tackle Luke Goedeke, as having him back in the lineup would mean the right guard position being the only one occupied by a backup. And that would be a big boost for the Tampa Bay offense — especially in the run game.

To the credit of offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard, quarterback Baker Mayfield and the rest of the offense — including the makeshift right side of the offensive line — point production has still been there on a game-to-game basis. Even the last two weeks, the Bucs have scored 38 and 30 points, respectively. And swing tackle Charlie Heck, stepping in for Goedeke at right tackle, just had his best-graded game of the season against the 49ers.

Bucs RT Luke Goedeke – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

But there’s no denying that the play at right tackle drops off significantly from Goedeke to Heck, and while getting “Luke the Lifter” back would be helpful when it comes to protecting Mayfield, it could also help the Tampa Bay run game get back to being more effective. In turn, that would help the offense establish some drive-to-drive consistency and help the Bucs control games better.

Heck did grade out with a season-high 64.2 run blocking grade in Week 6, but his previous season high was a 50.3 in Week 3. His run blocking grade this season is a woeful 40.5, and that pairs poorly with a 43.7 pass blocking grade and a 41.8 grade overall. Goedeke, for comparison’s sake, earned a 70.0 run blocking grade in 2023 and a 75.7 mark last year. He had a 78.5 run blocking grade in limited action this year before suffering his foot injury.

So, for the boost it could give the run game, what it could do for the protection of the franchise quarterback and the overall benefit of having 4/5 of the expected offensive line back together, Luke Goedeke feels like the guy this Bucs team needs back in action ASAP.

Adam Slivon: Mike Evans Will Be Eager To Return And Go On A Tear

The Bucs’ offense has come alive in the past two weeks, putting together back-to-back 30-point performances. In each game, it seems like another offensive player goes down, though. In Week 3, it was Mike Evans who succumbed to a hamstring injury late in the game, keeping him sidelined for the last three weeks. Heading into Detroit, Tampa Bay needs M1K3 back for more reasons than one. Chris Godwin Jr. is likely out this week, with Emeka Egbuka joining him after he suffered his own hamstring injury. Unequivocally, a utopian world features all three of them at 100% catching passes from Baker Mayfield, but getting Evans back is the most realistic this week – and he would offer a big boost.

Bucs WR Mike Evans Photo by: USA Today

It is no secret that Mayfield has turned back the clock a little bit to his early days with the Browns with just how much he is throwing the deep ball. The veteran quarterback was held back a little bit from doing so in Liam Coen’s offense in 2024, while he failed to have much success with it under Dave Canales. With Josh Grizzard not being afraid to call plays that allow No. 6 to sling it at a career-high rate, getting his 6-foot-5 target would only help. Surprisingly, Evans was not involved within the offense like his normal self during the first three games he played, with only 14 catches for 140 yards and a touchdown. 

Getting Evans back as soon as possible helps his cause to get to 1,000 yards, but it would also provide a jolt to a Bucs’ offense that left last Sunday’s game with just Cade Otton standing as the last starting offensive skill player. Likely missing Godwin, Egbuka, and Bucky Irving against the Lions, Mayfield getting back his trusty target for Monday Night Football makes him the most important player that Tampa Bay needs now – and for the rest of the season.

Josh Queipo: Zyon McCollum And Benjamin Morrison Help Tie The Secondary Together

I have said all off-season this defense has a chance to be special. And believe it or not we have seen glimpses of special through six weeks. They held the Jets to just six points through three quarters. The Eagles’ passing game was completely neutered in the second half of week four. And the Bucs limited San Francisco to just three points in the second half last week. What can help bring everything together? Given the current lay of the injury landscape I’d measure it’s getting Zyon McCollum back to pair with Jamel Dean on the outside of the Bucs secondary.

In the four weeks Tampa Bay had Zyon and Jamel both healthy they ran man coverage at a 33.8% clip. Their EPA/dropback allowed was just +0.07 and they had a defensive success rate of 50.3%. Over the past two weeks, one without Dean and one without McCollum, the Bucs man coverage rate was just 18.4% as they allowed +0.21 EPA/dropback and had a defensive success rate of 42.1%.

Bucs CB Zyon McCollum and Eagles WR AJ Brown – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Now the solution isn’t “run more man coverage”. But it is clear that the Bucs defense has less on the menu when they don’t have two of their top three corners. Sometimes the gameplan doesn’t require more man coverage. Both of Dean’s interceptions this year have come in zone coverage. Some offenses perform better against man coverage.

It’s not about the man coverage per se. It’s about the ability to fully adjust the gameplan based on the individual opponents. The Bucs feel comfortable going to man or zone when they have three of their top four corners. But if they have to use Kindle Vildor on the outside or Christian Izien in the slot some of those options come off the table.

McCollum and Morrison allow Jacob Parrish to stick in the slot and the full assortment of coverages, both static and dynamic to be available. Get one, or both(!), of them back and those glimpses of potential may finally come fully together to show what this defense can be at it’s best.