No Desean Jackson. No Breshad Perriman. No Adam Humphries. No experienced veteran in front of third-year receiver Justin Watson at all actually, just a fellow fifth-round pick, a sixth round pick and a couple of roster long-shots competing with the Penn graduate for the coveted WR3 role in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers offense.

It’s a huge opportunity for Watson, who will likely enter training camp running with the first team in 11 personnel, waiting to prove to the greatest quarterback of all-time and one of the most respected offensive minds in the NFL that he is ready for such an important role. Given the Bucs loaded depth chart at tight end, and increase in 12 personnel is expected. but Bruce Arians’ offenses are typically among the league leaders in three and four-wide receiver sets. Whoever wins the Bucs No. 3 job could be looking at least a 65 percent snap share, if not more.

So is Watson ready for such an opportunity? I’d love to make a proclamation, but there’s absolutely no way for us to know at this point. The 25 year-old has been on the field for just over 300 career snaps, 230 of which came last season. During that time he’s caught 16 passes for 164 yards and two touchdowns, while being targeted 27 times. Pro Football Focus has credited Watson with two drops on those 27 targets, which isn’t exactly the drop rate you’d like to see, although the sample size is extremely small.

What we can do is dive into Watson’s snaps from last season, and see how he handled being thrown into the fire late in the year when Mike Evans and Chris Godwin missed some time with injuries.

In that time Watson’s didn’t make many eye-popping plays, but he still managed to impress with his burst, speed, route-running and ability to finish with a defender on his back.

If you recall my comments on O.J. Howard and Cameron Brate in Wednesday’s Bucs Briefing, I talked about how important it was to sell vertically when running routes that break back to the quarterback. That’s one of the things Watson does best, accelerating off the line of scrimmage with his pads out over his toes to threaten cornerbacks vertically before breaking his routes off.

Watson isn’t the quickest change-of-direction receiver, but he’s adequate enough in that area to create throwing windows because he plays fast off the ball. He’s a quick starter who has improved against press coverage enough to be a respectable vertical option.

That’s a great job by Watson to dip his inside shoulder and slash down on the defender’s jam to get upfield cleanly. You can see the burst and long speed too. It shows up when he breaks off deeper routes too.

This is Cover 3 so the defender is getting depth anyway, but it’s still a well-run route by Watson, who drops his pads and doesn’t lose a ton of speed in his break.

Now let’s look at some of his targets, where Watson made a bunch of catches with defenders closing over his back, showing strong hands and the frame to finish through contact.

Watson can be a little stiff changing directions, even slipping a bit here, but good recovery and box out to shield the oncoming defender from the ball. Love seeing that toughness to work the middle of the field when aligning in the slot.

Gets hammered by the linebacker in the middle of the field here, but recovers and keeps working in the scramble drill, making a tough catch through traffic for a big play on 3rd-and-goal. One thing that stood out on tape was Watson’s passion and effort. He hustles in scramble drills and is visibly angry at himself when he makes a mistake.

Watson rounds this one off a bit at the top, but loses very little speed out of his break as a result. Terrific throw from Jameis Winston, and a strong finish with a defender on his back and the sideline nearing. Good concentration in tight quarters by Watson.

I did not see many opportunities to make high-degree-of-difficulty catches for Watson in watching all of his 2019 targets, but this was probably the toughest catch he made. Blown coverage, but swivels all the way around to catch a throw that was low and behind him.

Watson has grown as a route runner, but things tend to unravel for him a bit when he makes a hard lateral cut or has to stop and start on a dime. You may have noticed that in some of the earlier reps in this article, but on this full speed fake at the top of his route against Gareon Conley, Watson actually stumbles so badly he can’t track down a would-be touchdown.

Still, there is way more good than bad here. Watson has shown enough prowess against press coverage and as a route runner to be playable during the 2020 season. It’s hard to determine much more than that given his limited target numbers, but most of what we’ve seen has been encouraging so far. He’s never going to be a No. 1 option for an offense, but in Tampa Bay we are talking about a role that does not need to produce at a high rate.

The most important thing Watson can bring to the table in year three is a strong understanding of the offense and how to execute his assignments against different coverages. The Bucs starting No. 3 receiver is probably going to be the one who makes the fewest mistakes and offers the most versatility, at least to begin the season. Watson has the upper hand over Johnson in that regard given his year of experience in Arians’ offense, but he’ll need to keep impressing in his increased opportunities in order to stave off his more talented teammate.