Jalen McMillan wants Baker Mayfield to trust him when they're on the field together. The fact that Mayfield looked his way from the 20-yard line with four seconds left in a two-minute drill on Thursday suggests that McMillan has already made strides in that regard.
McMillan is in his first NFL training camp after being drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the third round this past spring. He's competing to grab the third-receiver job alongside primary starters Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, and he's off to a fast start over the first two days of practice. That he's catching a lot of passes specifically from Mayfield, the first-team quarterback, clearly means that the team feels like he's a serious contender for that role. McMillan wants to make sure Mayfield is never hesitant to throw him the ball, even in the most critical situations.
"One of my biggest goals for camp is to make Baker trust me with everything in his body," said McMillan. "Whenever he throws the ball my way I just want to be able to bring it in, and make myself be a target for him."
The two-minute strike from Mayfield came in a scripted situation in which only a touchdown would win the game. The first-team offense got the ball down to the 20 but only had time for one more play. McMillan ran an in-breaking route, caught the ball just before the goal line and dived in underneath a defender to get the score. He then spiked the ball and screamed his pleasure. Mayfield, understandably, was excited as well.
"Watching him growing up it's crazy for him to be my quarterback now," said McMillan. "Ever since Day One he's been giving me a lot of game. During routes on air, he'll make sure I go in so that can get good timing down. He's giving me small tips on my game, and on his game too so that I can adjust. He's a great leader."
The aforementioned catch wasn't the rookie's only big play of the day. His highlights also included a back-corner catch in the end zone in which he leaped and made the play over a defender during a seven-on-seven drill.
"You can't just let the ball fall into your hands," said McMillan of the high-point snag. "You've got to go up and attack it. I'm really just focused on going after the football and being fearless."
Whoever ends up as the primary third receiver alongside Mike Evans and Chris Godwin – Trey Palmer and Rakim "Rock" Jarrett are two other prime candidates – is likely to play primarily on the outside because Offensive Coordinator Liam Coen plans to use Godwin in the slot frequently. McMillan took most of his snaps out of the slot in his final season at Washington but previously worked extensively on the outside and the Bucs think he can handle a number of different assignments.
"Well, [McMillan's role] is still developing right now," said Head Coach Todd Bowles. "We know he has outstanding hands and competitiveness. We know he can play all three spots. Obviously, we've got Trey and Rock and a lot of guys in there playing, but we're really high on him. He's very smart, very competitive and he has a motor that doesn't stop, so that's only going to help us. I think we're still unwrapping the things he can do to put in the offense to help us. When we get a good two or three weeks in we'll see more of that."
McMillan values a set daily routine, which at the moment includes walking through practice scrips in the evening with fellow rookie and former Washington teammate Devin Culp. He does not like to deviate from the routine, and he fells the extra work with Culp allows him to visualize what he is going to do in practice the next day. He also is making sure to soak in whatever advice Evans and Godwin give him, which so far has included not complaining about the weather and staying level-headed.
"I know they're expecting a lot of me, and them being leaders in the receiving room, it's up to me to make good plays," said McMillan. "At the end of the day, there's going to be a lot of stresses on you in practice, such as the heat, sweating, and I'm not trying to make any excuses. I'm just trying to focus on the next play and the small details of my game."
