The Bucs could be in the market for a prototypical ‘X’ receiver now that Mike Evans has moved on from the team. Despite all of the talent they have in their receiver room, they lack a big-bodied pass catcher who can play physically on the perimeter. Which makes it even more curious that they just released someone who fits that exact bill.

According to Aaron Wilson of KPRC2, the Bucs have waived 6-foot-5 receiver Jaden Smith.

#Buccaneers waived receiver Jaden Smith

— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) April 2, 2026

After previous stops at Montana State and Tarleton State, Smith had his best college season in 2024 at Nevada where he caught 62 passes for 849 yards and seven touchdowns. He went undrafted last year before the Bucs signed him as an undrafted free agent in late July.

Jaden Smith’s Time In Tampa Bay

Jaden Smith suffered an undisclosed injury during training camp, and the team put him on injured reserve where he spent the rest of his rookie campaign. The team is now moving on from him just three weeks before the 2026 NFL Draft. Interestingly, had he stayed with the team he would have had a more natural path to potentially making the roster now that Mike Evans is gone.

He profiles more as an ‘X’, the position Evans played, than the rest of the receivers who have roles carved out for them currently.

Bucs WR Jaden Smith – Photo by: USA Today

Jalen McMillan, Chris Godwin Jr., Tez Johnson, Kameron Johnson and Emeka Egbuka are all 6-foot-1 or shorter. The team also has Garrett Greene and Dennis Houston on their roster currently, but they like the aforementioned receivers, don’t have the same size profile as Smith.

Bucs Could Target Receiver In 2026 NFL Draft

Bucs general manager Jason Licht has poured considerable resources into the receiver room. It has become one of the strongest position groups on the team, something he has acknowledged proudly. But when asked at the NFL Annual Meeting last week whether the team needed to replace the size they lost with Mike Evans’ departure (and that Jaden Smith provides) he pushed back that size isn’t everything.

“In an ideal world, but this isn’t fantasy football,” Licht said. “Those guys are kind of unicorns. You just can’t pick the tallest, biggest receiver and assume that he’s going to be the next X that’s going to be dominant. Those players are few and far between. Those guys don’t just grow on trees. In a perfect world, it would be great, but it doesn’t always work out that way.”

Bucs GM Jason Licht – Photo by: Jeffrey Jones/PR

That doesn’t mean that the team won’t look to add to a position of strength in the upcoming draft. When Pewter Report’s Scott Reynolds asked Licht to elaborate on how he felt his roster was taking shape, he brought up the possibility of making a strength stronger.

“That’s a pretty good pointy question there, Scott,” Licht said. “I’ve gone on record talking about how much I like the receiver room. Love our running back room. Very happy that we got Cade [Otton] back. I think there’s always room to make improvements, especially on the defensive side, in terms of depth, in terms of starting positions in some spots.

“But I think we’re always going to have an eye on, like I said before, you want to make an offense who I think could be very good, even better. Accentuate that. There are a lot of positions which some would view as maybe a negative. I view it as a positive. Whatever players we draft or assign from here on out until the season starts, it’s going to help our team.”