Bucs WR Jalen McMillan  – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

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Pewter Report’s Scott Reynolds answers your questions from the @PewterReport X account this week in the Bucs Mailbag. Submit your question to SR each week via X using the hashtag #PRMailbag.  Here are the Bucs questions we chose to answer for this week’s edition.

QUESTION: I hate to say this, but even if Jalen McMillan is cleared to play for this season, wouldn’t the prudent move be to sit him for the entire season? I would feel better if he had more time to heal. A neck injury is serious.

ANSWER: It depends. If wide receiver Jalen McMillan is cleared to play in December or January and the Bucs are in a playoff push or have qualified for the postseason already, Tampa Bay needs to play him. That would be a “all hands on deck” situation. Playoffs are win-or-go-home games and are simply not a given each year – even though the Bucs seem poised to make the postseason for the sixth straight time given their hot 6-2 start in 2025.

I remember when the Bucs started off 9-3 in 2008, which was Jon Gruden’s final season as Tampa Bay’s head coach. That team lost four straight to finish 9-7 and miss the playoffs. Gruden was fired as a result, and the team didn’t return to the postseason until the 2020 Super Bowl season. That’s why McMillan needs to play if he’s medically cleared. This season could wind up being the Bucs’ best shot at winning a Super Bowl, so the team needs to be all-in and not squander this amazing start.

Bucs WR Jalen McMillan – Photo by: USA Today

Broken necks are certainly tricky injuries, and that’s what McMillan apparently has. I’m not sure why head coach Todd Bowles called it a severe neck sprain before the start of the season instead of revealing that he had broken bones. Regardless, I remember Jason Pierre-Paul suffering a broken neck in the 2019 offseason and he missed nearly the first half of that season before returning. His neck didn’t give him any problems the rest of the year – or the rest of his career – and he played in the trenches where there is a lot more helmet-to-helmet contact.

McMillan, a wide receiver, probably wouldn’t have nearly as much contact with the head and neck. Let’s hope he can get cleared to return later this season. He’s on track to do that, but it’s not necessarily a given as bones can take time to heal naturally. Apparently McMillan didn’t have surgery.

With the Bucs already losing Mike Evans likely for the rest of the regular season, and also some uncertainty around Chris Godwin’s return – and how effective he’ll be the rest of the season when he does make it back – Baker Mayfield could certainly use another established, talented receiver to throw the ball to. Emeka Egbuka, Sterling Shepard and Tez Johnson are a very good, but not quite great group of receivers to throw to. Having McMillan return would be an added boost that the offense might need come January.

QUESTION: What do you think abut getting Jordyn Brooks from Miami in a trade? A must-do in my opinion.

ANSWER: I would be in favor of trading for Miami inside linebacker Jordyn Brooks if the Bucs could pull off a trade for a late Day 3 or a Day 3 pick swap. I like Brooks and even wrote about him in last week’s Pewter Report Roundtable as the player I would pick if I were assuming Bucs general manager Jason Licht’s role and doing a trade at the deadline. Brooks is having a pretty good season.

If the Bucs lost either SirVocea Dennis or Lavonte David to injury the team would have to promote Deion Jones to the starting lineup and the depth would be dangerously thin and lacking in experience in the playoffs. The only other linebacker on the roster is John Bullock, an undrafted free agent, who is mostly a special teamer, and another undrafted free agent in Nick Jackson, who is on the practice squad.

Dolphins ILB Jordyn Brooks – Photo by: USA Today

Acquiring a player like Brooks would give the Bucs another option for depth as the team makes a playoff push, in addition to another starting-caliber linebacker for 2026 if Dennis proves not to be starting material and/or David retires in the offseason at age 36. Doing so now would give Tampa Bay head coach Todd Bowles time to get him acclimated in his defensive scheme and up to speed to where he could be ready to play by December if necessary. Brooks is already under contract for the 2026 season at a very affordable $8.385 million.

The Bucs could also sign Anthony Walker Jr. off the Colts practice squad if they needed an emergency veteran linebacker this season without giving up a draft pick. Walker was signed as a free agent in March and he spent the offseason and training camp in Tampa Bay before being released at the end of the preseason. Walker had a leg injury that placed him on the PUP list during camp and he was never able to practice or play in the preseason. But at least he knows the defense and has camaraderie with the players and plenty of experience.

QUESTION: With Luke Goedeke still out, are the Bucs willing to trade for a vet like Kevin Zeitler to help shore up the ride side of the line? The guy has thousands of snaps at right guard and could definitely help for little return.

ANSWER: I would be in favor of making this trade depending on what the draft pick compensation is. The Bucs currently have three options at right guard with Cody Mauch out for the rest of the year – Luke Haggard, Mike Jordan and Dan Feeney. Each of those three have started at least one game at right guard, with Haggard being the first option when Mauch went down. Haggard might still be starting if not for a shoulder injury he suffered against San Francisco.

Then the team turned to Jordan, who struggled at Detroit as he coming off a knee injury, before replacing him with Feeney, who got the start at New Orleans. Feeney is the most experienced of the bunch, while Haggard brings the most size to the position. There’s a chance he could be ready to go after the bye week either against the Patriots or versus the Bills in Buffalo. It will be interesting to see which player suits up at right guard in Week 10 versus New England, as well as when Luke Goedeke is able to return at right tackle.

Titans G Kevin Zeitler – Photo by: USA Today

Titans guard Kevin Zeitler, a 14-year NFL veteran, does have a lot of experience. But it would take him a few weeks to get up to speed in the offense like it did for Feeney when Tampa Bay signed him off the Bills practice squad earlier in the year after Mauch went on I.R. Zeitler would likely be a one-year rental though at age 36, and what would Tennessee want in return? If I’m Tampa Bay it’s nothing more than a late Day 3 pick for Zeitler, who has a 67.6 Pro Football Focus grade with Tennessee one year after posting an 86.5 PFF grade in Detroit last season.

Bucs general manager Jason Licht has made a similar trade before, sending a fourth-round pick and tight end Tim Wright to New England to acquire six-time Pro Bowl guard Logan Mankins in 2014. However, Mankins was 32 when that deal was made and played two seasons in Tampa Bay, making a Pro Bowl in 2015, which was his final season in the league.

QUESTION: What’s the percentage you’re at where Jason Licht will make a move? Also shame on Licht for not doing anything when we are 6-2 and this team deserves things like the 2020 team did.

ANSWER: Jason Licht did make a trade at the deadline back in 2020 when he had a late round future pick swap with the New York Jets for reserve defensive tackle Steve McLendon. Vita Vea was lost for the regular season and the first two playoff games after suffering a broken leg at Chicago in Week 5 that year. That was the only trade deadline deal Licht has made, and it paid off as the move helped the Bucs win Super Bowl LV.

I’m not anticipating Licht making a deal this year, although I certainly would applaud a trade if he made one. This team, when healthy, has the components to make a legit Super Bowl run and that can’t be squandered. I’ve covered this team for 30 years and the Bucs have only had what I consider four “special” seasons – 1999, 2002, 2020 and 2021. Thankfully Tampa Bay won two Super Bowls out of that quartet in 2002 and 2020, but that’s just four seasons out of 30, which shows how rare it is to have a legit shot at a Super Bowl run.

Bucs GM Jason Licht, HC Todd Bowles and WR Emeka Egbuka – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

At the same time, Licht and his personnel staff have absolutely killed it in the draft over the past couple of seasons. So even parting ways with a fourth-round pick to Licht is like giving up a potential Cade Otton or Bucky Irving. A fifth-round pick is a potential Zyon McCollum, SirVocea Dennis or Elijah Roberts. At this point, even a seventh-round pick could be another Tez Johnson-type to the Bucs.

Remember, draft picks – when they hit – are players that are on cheap, four-year deals that help the salary cap for years to come. If I’m Licht and I do a deal before Tuesday, November 4 at 4:00 p.m. ET, I try to at least do a pick swap rather than just giving up a draft pick. Tampa Bay has shown the ability to really hit on some Day 3 picks over the last couple of drafts. We’ll see what happens over the next 24 hours.