Bucs WR Rakim Jarrett: “I’m Here To Make Plays”

With Mike Evans sidelined with a hamstring injury and Chris Godwin out for the year, the Bucs were counting on a young receiver to step up in their place and make plays against the visiting Falcons in Week 8. The weapon that emerged was one that few expected – second-year receiver Rakim Jarrett.

Tampa Bay was hopeful that the team’s third-round pick, Jalen McMillan would have a breakout performance against Atlanta. Or that Trey Palmer, who served as the team’s No. 3 receiver a year ago, would erupt for some big plays against the Falcons.

Instead it was Jarrett, who was fresh off injured reserve and only had a week’s worth of practice since he last took the field in Tampa Bay’s preseason game at Cincinnati where he suffered a knee injury. The former undrafted free agent came through in the second half with a pair of catches – each going for 19 yards – and another 20-yard reception.

Jarrett also came down with Baker Mayfield’s Hail Mary attempt at the end of the game. Unfortunately, he was a yard out of the back of the end zone when he hauled it in.

“The crowd kind of told me I was out of bounds,” Jarrett said. “When I saw the guys on the opposing sidelines celebrate instead of our guys I knew it.”

While that catch didn’t count, Jarrett’s three other receptions for 58 yards were eye-opening in the fact that he was really the Bucs’ only consistent playmaker in the passing game outside of tight end Cade Otton, who led the team with nine grabs for 81 yards and a pair of touchdowns. McMillan had four catches for 35 yards (8.8 avg.) and Palmer had a pair of receptions for 29 yards (14.5 avg.).

Bucs offensive coordinator Liam Coen liked what he saw from Jarrett, who is expected to receive more targets and a greater role in the passing game on Monday night in Kansas City.

“Yeah, I mean, ‘Rock’ has been, been working his tail off to get himself into shape and get himself back feeling better,” Coen said. “It was great to see him out there and, to produce and make some plays and be in the right spot at the right time. We’ve got to continue to get that from him – we’ve got to continue to get the most out of all these guys because we’re going to be able to rely on them and have to rely on them for the rest of the season.”

Rakim Jarrett’s Bucs Career Has Stalled Due To Injury

While the Bucs were excited to get Trey Palmer in the sixth round of the 2023 NFL Draft, the team was also buzzing about signing Rakim Jarrett, an undrafted free agent out of Maryland. Jarrett caught 119 passes for 1,552 yards (13 avg.) and 10 touchdowns in his Terrapins career and had a knack for making plays after the catch.

“I played against Rakim when he was at college at Maryland,” said Bucs defensive back Christian Izien, who played at Rutgers. “He’s always been a good player. He was a highly recruited player coming out of high school. He’s always had the skillset. It was just about him staying healthy. Now that he’s healthy I think he can make a pretty good impact on our team. He’s definitely good with the ball in his hands. He’s a good overall athlete. He has good instincts and good ball awareness that helps him make the catch.”

Injuries have stalled Jarrett’s career in Tampa Bay. He suffered a hamstring injury as a rookie that limited him to just two preseason games, but he wound up showing some big-play ability with seven receptions for 132 yards (18.9 avg.).

In limited playing time last year in the regular season, Jarrett caught four passes for 60 yards, including a 41-yard bomb at San Francisco. As Jarrett was striding to make that catch, he tore his quadriceps muscle in his thigh. Despite the excruciating pain, Jarrett played the rest of the 49ers game and didn’t tell the team trainers until afterwards that he suffered the injury.

Bucs cornerback Zyon McCollum marveled at Jarrett’s toughness after learning about his torn quad injury in San Francisco.

“He’s quiet, and normally it’s the quiet ones that have that kind of toughness,” McCollum said. “He’s always been kind of a quiet, under-the-radar-type person, but he’s matured a lot. What I’ve seen is him sitting back after being injured so early, going on IR, kind of being unsure of his positioning in that receiver group. So there’s a lot of maturity. I’ve seen him working in the training room up there early every day. He’s grinding every day.

“We knew that he had speed, and he had savviness, but now that he’s matured he’s kind of entering that role he kind of envisioned for himself. He has the desire – that want-to – to be great.”

Jarrett wound up on injured reserve after the 49ers game and didn’t play another down during his rookie season. In the midst of a really solid training camp this year, Jarrett suffered a knee injury in the preseason opener at Cincinnati where he had two catches for 35 yards (17 avg.), including an impressive, diving, 28-yard grab on a throw from Kyle Trask.

That led to another stint on injured reserve and minor surgery to fix his knee.

“I had what’s called chondral defect,” Jarrett said. “You have cartilage on your thigh bone and your calf – cartilage that was connected to my knee was starting to wear off. They had to go in and scope it and took the loose cartilage out and shave the bone so it moves gradually. That was it. Nothing major – no ACL, no ligament tear. I feel good.

“It was frustrating, but it was for the betterment of my career to do what needed to be done. We’ve got guys like JMac, Shep and Trey Palmer to step up as well.”

With Mike Evans out of action through the bye in Week 11 and Chris Godwin out for the year, Jarret’s return to action is a welcomed sight for a Bucs offense in desperate need of a playmaker to emerge.

“I caught two digs, on the first one, it was the first pass I had caught in months, so I was just a little hesitant at first,” Jarrett said. “Then as the game went on, I got more comfortable.

“I was just going out there doing what was called upon me to do. The opportunity presented itself. Some guys went down, so some guys had to step up. I’m just doing my job.”

X Marks The Spot For Rakim Jarrett Right Now

No one can truly replace Mike Evans, the team’s X receiver, also known as the split end. Evans is Tampa Bay’s best receiver – and offensive weapon – of all-time. But Rakim Jarrett is going to give it a shot.

Jarrett’s 19.3-yard receiving average is currently the best on the team, albeit a small sample size. And despite playing his third position in three years, Jarrett looks comfortable going deep and making some of the plays that Evans is accustomed to making downfield.

“Throughout my college career I only played in the slot,” the 6-foot, 192-pound Jarrett said. “Last year I only played Z (flanker), and I had to learn that for the first time. This year I’m only playing X. I don’t play all three positions here, but I know I can play all three.”

When asked about Jarrett’s potential to play all three positions, Bucs offensive coordinator Liam Coen didn’t rule it out at some point. But the fact that he missed the second half of training camp and the preseason, not to mention the first seven games of the regular season recovering from knee surgery impeded his progress of learning Coen’s system.

“He’s more of a probably a ‘Z’ [or] ‘X’ type body,” Coen said. “I mean, these guys kind of interchange in terms of like formally moving them to different places, right? They’re all kind of able to move outside, inside, left, right, ‘Z,’ ‘X,’ ‘F.’ I could see that ‘Rock’ could definitely be body-type-wise a ‘Z’ and a little bit of an ‘X’ for us down the line. I could see him being able to go inside some if he needed to.

“So it’s more just like getting him and just like playing him at one position because he hasn’t played, right? Like, we cannot give him an information overload. He’s done a phenomenal job of being on the screws and listening, paying attention. We’ve just got to keep him in one position just for time on task.”

Jarrett has no problems being on the perimeter where he can use his speed and physicality to get open one-on-one.

“My ability to beat man coverage is the best attribute I bring to the team,” Jarrett said. “I think I can get open at a high clip if given the opportunity. I’m going to go out there and do what’s asked of me.”

Jarrett does have a knack for getting open. Zyon McCollum, the Bucs’ best cover cornerback, has seen that over the last two years in practice.

“It’s his savviness within his route-running and just subtly pushing off,” McCollum said. 
“A lot of people don’t understand how fast he is. He’s really good at lulling DBs to sleep and then just letting his stride carry him down the field. He’s continuing to get better. You think you have him covered and then he makes the catch.”

While the Bucs are hoping for more production and big plays from rookie Jalen McMillan and second-year receiver Trey Palmer against the Chiefs, the team can count on it from Jarrett after his eye-opening 2024 debut versus the Falcons.

“This week should be even bigger for the guys on the perimeter,” Jarrett said. “We’re taking it day by day and getting ready for the Chiefs on Monday Night Football.

“It’s a great opportunity for all the guys that usually wouldn’t get the targets to kind of show people around the league what we can do. We are playing for our careers. That’s what I told Coach Bowles. He said something to me, and I said, ‘That’s why I’m here. I’m here to make plays.”