With Tampa Bay Buccaneers Pro Bowl receivers Mike Evans and Chris Godwin not playing, the game plan for the Bucs was that Breshad Perriman would be the number one receiver for the team when the Houston Texans came to Tampa.
Perriman, coming off of a game where he had five catches for 113 yards and three touchdowns in the Bucs’ 38-17 win over the Detroit Lions, was not slowed down by the Texans defense either. Perriman saw 12 passes come his direction, and was able to haul in seven of them for 102 yards.
Throughout the game, Perriman had a series of toe-tapping catches on the sidelines and was clearly Jameis Winston’s go-to in the passing game. Fellow wide receiver Justin Watson saw 10 targets come in his direction and caught five of them for 43 yards and a score. When a team is missing their top receiver, there is usually a significant lull in the offense, let alone missing the top two targets, both of whom are over 1,000 yards receiving on the year. To have someone like Perriman that is capable of stepping up and filling the shoes left by Evans and Godwin, and effectively filled the void, is a blessing for any team.
On March 14, 2019, the Buccaneers brought in Perriman on a one-year contract for $4 million and he has shown what he can do for the team when he is utilized. This puts the Bucs in an interesting position on what to do with him going forward, but smart money says to bet on the team offering him another deal and get a full year of Evans, Godwin and Perriman in the Bruce Arians system, now that the team has seemingly fully bought in.
While Godwin has not been officially placed on IR alongside Evans, it’s assumed that Perriman will see the lions’ share of targets for the Week 17 matchup against the Atlanta Falcons.
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