- Kyle Pitts has the best fantasy performance of his career: The upcoming unrestricted free agent caught 11 passes for 162 yards and three touchdowns, helping the Atlanta Falcons in an upset victory
- Mike Evans gains over 100 receiving yards in his return: The Tampa Bay Buccaneers veteran receiver led the team in receiving production upon his return, while fellow returning wide receiver Jalen McMillan also contributed in his first game of the season.
- Get PFF+ for 30% off: Use promo code HOLIDAY30 to unlock the PFF Player Prop Tool, Premium Stats, fantasy dashboards, the PFF Mock Draft Simulator, industry-leading fantasy rankings and much more — everything you need to win your season.
Estimated reading time: 8 minutes
PFF’s fantasy football recap focuses on player usage and stats, breaking down all the vital information you need to achieve fantasy success in 2025.
Atlanta Falcons @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Buccaneers reach full strength at wide receiver: Mike Evans and Jalen McMillan were activated off injured reserve, giving Tampa Bay all of its wide receivers for the first time this season.
It was unclear how the Buccaneers would rotate Evans, Chris Godwin Jr., McMillan and Emeka Egbuka after Egbuka was their first-round pick. We hadn’t been given an opportunity to find out, as McMillan suffered a neck injury in the preseason, costing him the first 14 weeks of the season. Godwin has only played five games this season, and Evans has only played four, and there has ben no game where Evans and Godwin both played.
Last season, when everyone was healthy, Evans was the X receiver, Godwin was the Z, and then in the slot while McMillan was the Z in 11 personnel. Once Godwin suffered a season-ending injury, McMillan was the Z in both 11 and 12, while Sterling Shepard took over in the slot. This season, Egbuka has played all over depending on who is healthy. He’s mostly played the X receiver spot in place of Evans. Tez Johnson has emerged as a Z receiver while Godwin was out. Godwin’s role in 11 personnel over the last three weeks has been dependent on whether Johnson or Sterling has been on the field.
Evans and McMillan had their practice window open up a week ago. Both were limited in practice all week, but both were activated for this game. Godwin was also limited in practice on Monday due to his ongoing fibula injury. Tampa Bay released Ryan Miller on Wednesday to help make room for the returning receivers, and the New York Giants claimed him. This gave Tampa Bay seven wide receivers for this game, and Kameron Johnson was the seventh option.
Godwin’s playing time has increased each week since his return from injury, and that trend continued this week. He played more in the slot than he has in past weeks this season, as there are so many other receivers who can play on the outside. He didn’t produce much until a touchdown and two-point conversion to start the fourth quarter. Atlanta has performed better against slot receivers compared to outside, so he could have bigger games in future weeks.
Evans and Egbuka were generally in a rotation at the X receiver spot, while McMillan and Johnson rotated at Z receiver, although Tampa Bay used several different pairings of wide receivers. One common alternate pairing was McMillan at X and Godwin at Z in two-receiver sets. Another was Evans at X and Egbuka at Z in 11 personnel. The Buccaneers tended to pass when Evans was on the field, but they were more balanced with the other receivers. Shepard was no longer part of the rotation. It wouldn’t be surprising if he is inactive in future weeks or potentially released and signed to the practice squad.
This represented a significant decrease in offensive snaps for both rookie wide receivers. If anything, Evans and McMillan will play more going forward once they can fully practice, although it’s also possible this is the rotation the Buccaneers stick with going forward. Johnson can be dropped from any league where he is still rostered. Egbuka probably shouldn’t be in fantasy starting lineups going forward despite gaining 64 yards in this game. The decrease in playing time will make it harder to trust him, and the Buccaneers’ next two games are against top-10 teams at preventing fantasy points to wide receivers. If your fantasy team’s wide receiver depth is strong enough, Egbuka can be dropped.
Tampa Bay adjusts without Cade Otton: The Buccaneers’ lead tight end was inactive due to a knee injury.
Otton has been a consistent presence in Tampa Bay’s offense these last two seasons. He’s played 1,659 offensive snaps over the last two seasons, which is second to Trey McBride. He’s played 92.7% of the Buccaneers’ offensive snaps this season. Payne Durham has been the second tight end option at 30.9%, followed by Devin Culp at 5.5%. However, if the Buccaneers have needed a tight end in 11 personnel on third downs, it’s been Culp more often than Durham.
Otton didn’t practice on Monday or Tuesday and was limited on Wednesday but ultimately inactive. Tampa Bay opted to stick with two active tight ends rather than activating Tanner Taula off the practice squad.
Tampa Bay stuck with 11 personnel for most of the game, and if it needed more blockers, it used an additional offensive lineman rather than using traditional 12 personnel. Durham was the main tight end for early downs, while Culp was on third downs and other clear passing situations.
Neither was involved in the passing game until Culp scored a six-yard touchdown. If Otton continues to miss time, neither should be considered in most fantasy leagues. If you’re in a deep enough league where you need one of the two, and Otton continues to miss time, then Culp would be the better option.
The Falcons continue to tinker with their wide receiver depth: The Falcons have nine wide receivers on the roster while no other team has more than seven, and they still activated someone off the practice squad.
Atlanta’s top two wide receivers are Drake London and Darnell Mooney, but London has missed four straight games due to a knee injury, and he still wasn’t able to practice this week. David Sills V emerged as the third wide receiver, and he has been the second receiver while London has been out. He only had eight receptions for 65 yards over 13 games before Thursday.
Casey Washington and Ray-Ray McCloud III are the only other wide receivers on the team with at least 100 offensive snaps prior to this game, but McCloud played his last game with Atlanta in Week 4, while Washington has been a healthy inactive for four consecutive games. Dylan Drummond has emerged as Atlanta’s third wide receiver with London out, but the team has used 12 personnel as its base offense.
Deven Thompkins and KhaDarel Hodge were both active for Atlanta, despite Hodge being limited in practice earlier in the week due to a shoulder injury. They were just special teams players, and Thompkins returned kicks. Chris Blair was activated from the practice squad for the first time this season, and he was the fourth wide receiver.
Not only were London and Washington inactive but so were Jamal Agnew and Malik Heath, who was recently waived from the Green Bay Packers now that they are at full strength at wide receiver and claimed by Atlanta. It wasn’t surprising to see Heath inactive, given he’s only been with the team for a few days. Agnew being inactive was a surprise, as he’s been the team’s primary kick and punt returner, when healthy, this season.
This is a position group to avoid over the last two weeks, unless London returns. Atlanta should prioritize adding at least one more wide receiver in the offseason.
Miscellaneous Notes
- Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield and running back Bucky Irving were both full participants in practice this week. They were dealing with shoulder injuries and were limited at times last week.
- Tampa Bay has used Sean Tucker significantly when it is within 10 yards of scoring for a second straight week. This led Tucker to score the first touchdown of the game on a one-yard run.
- Falcons running back Nathan Carter was back in the lineup after being a healthy inactive last week.
- Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts Sr. was limited all week due to a knee injury and was questionable but was active. Pitts playing time has been excellent this season, joining Trey McBride as the only tight ends to run a route on over 85% of their team’s passing plays. This was the best fantasy performance of his career, as he finished with 11 receptions for 166 yards and three touchdowns.
Table notes
- Snaps include plays called back due to penalties, including offensive holding or defensive pass interference. The other three stats have these plays removed.
- Targets may differ from official NFL sources. The most likely discrepancy would be from a clear thrown-away pass, where the NFL may give the target to the nearest receiver, while this data will not.
- Carries are only on designed plays. Quarterback scrambles won’t count for the total number of carries in the game.
