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Just a day after signing 6-foot-6 wide receiver Jaden Smith to help mitigate its depth at the position in the wake of injuries, the team has added yet another receiver. Greg Auman of Fox Sports is reporting that the team is adding former UCF Knights wide out Jacob Harris.

With injuries at receiver, Bucs are signing former UCF and Rams receiver Jacob Harris. He’s 28, good size at 6-5, 211, local from Palm Harbor. Had one catch with Rams, was a fourth-round pick in 2021, last played in UFL.

— Greg Auman (@gregauman) August 1, 2025

Harris is a former fourth-round pick of the Los Angeles Rams who also played with the Jaguars in 2023.

Jacob Harris’ History Before The Bucs

Jacob Harris played 36 games at UCF from 2018-2020. He caught 49 passes for 987 yards and nine touchdowns. His 23.6 yards per reception in 2019 would have been a top 10 mark in the FBS if he had qualified for the leaderboard. Fellow Pewter Reporter, and UCF alumni Bailey Adams would want me to tell you that the best game of his career was in 2020 against my USF Bulls, when he hauled in five catches for 110 yards and three touchdowns.

Despite relatively modest career numbers, Harris generated draft buzz thanks to his field-stretching abilities and elite athleticism. At 6-feet-5-inches and 219 pounds while running a sub-4.4 forty-yard dash, few receivers have his size and speed combination. Those traits highlighted his scouting reports at the time. At the time of him entering the draft he scored top 15 marks at the position from Kent Lee Platte’s Relative Athletic Score system.

Jacob Harris is a WR prospect in the 2021 draft class. He scored a 9.96 RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 12 out of 2488 WR from 1987 to 2021.

Splits projected, times unofficial.https://t.co/oZrDeYEXP5 #RAS pic.twitter.com/csqKhPxsDq

— RAS.football (@MathBomb) April 1, 2021

His high-end athleticism led the Rams to drafting Harris in the fourth round of the 2021 NFL Draft. He played the first nine games of his rookie season, playing four offensive snaps and 135 special teams snaps before he was placed on injured reserve in November. In 2022 he failed to make the team’s 53-man roster out of training camp, but the Rams signed him to the practice squad.

Harris bounced back and forth between there and the active roster until December, when he was once again placed on injured reserve. All told he played in seven games that year and caught his first pass as a pro in a Week 12 matchup against Kansas City, while logging another 107 snaps on special teams that season.

UCF TE Jacob Harris – Photo by: USA Today

Harris spent the majority of the 2023 season on the Jaguars practice squad, getting elevated to the gameday active roster a few times. In 2024 he signed with the Eagles but did not play a snap for them.

Given the timing of this signing, Harris is unlikely to have a strong shot to make the Bucs roster, especially given the depth of the unit when healthy. But this is an opportunity for Harris to continue to pursue his dream and if he plays well enough, possibly earn a spot on the team’s practice squad.

It is interesting that the Bucs may feel like they are missing a certain body type along their receiver depth chart. Harris, like Jaden Smith, has a taller build. Before these signings the Bucs only had one receiver over 6-feet-2-inches – Mike Evans. If they feel like there is a need for a taller receiver to back up Evans as a more prototypical ‘X’ – even as a practice squad player – Harris and Smith may end up battling for a spot.

This is a homecoming for Harris, who not only played college football in Orlando, but also had a brief stint as a soccer player at Florida Gulf Coast University after attending high school at Palm Harbor University High School.