Monday, August 23, 2021

2021 Fantasy Football Projections: Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Our 2021 Fantasy Football Projections will be viewable by both position and team.

Below you will find our 2021 fantasy football projections for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

MORE: Fantasy football projections for more NFL teams

QUARTERBACKS

PlayerAtt.Comp.YardsTDINTRushYardsTDPoints
Tom Brady616.8402.5462636.711.7233.133.12.32325.63
Blaine Gabbert35.920.6244.11.510.910.418.20.0516.12

Tom Brady: In his first season in Tampa, Brady scored the eighth-most fantasy points and only three quarterbacks had more top-five weekly finishes than the future Hall-of-Famer. Brady's 40 touchdowns thrown were the second-most of his career and his 4,633 passing yards were a five-year high. Brady will have all of the team's starters and top pass-catchers back as he enters his age-44 season.

RUNNING BACKS

PlayerAtt.YardsTDRec.YardsTDPoints
Leonard Fournette161.5654.15.0926.2187.51.3135.6
Ronald Jones156.3687.75.6317.8124.21.1130.47
Giovani Bernard41.4161.50.8343.6340.93.296.22
Ke'Shawn Vaughn8.334.90.172.3170.17.96

Leonard Fournette: The Buccaneers leaned on Playoff Lenny in their Super Bowl run as Fournette tallied 448 scrimmage yards and four all-purpose touchdowns on 82 touches including 18 receptions over four playoff games. With the addition of Giovani Bernard to the backfield as a viable threat to steal valuable passing-down reps, Fournette enters the season no better than a flex option.

Ronald Jones: Despite missing a couple of games and the fact that Fournette emerged as the team's primary back, Jones had his best season as a pro with career highs as a runner -- 192 carries, 978 yards, 5.1 YPC and seven touchdowns. RoJo took a step back as a receiver, however, with a 66.7% catch rate (77.5% in 2019) and 5.9 Y/R (10.0 in 2019).

Giovani Bernard: Signed in part due to Tampa's woeful 14.4% drop rate for its running backs, Bernard is locked into the third-down running back role. While we've seen how productive a third-down back (James White) can be with Tom Brady under center, Bernard may deflate the outlook for the team's other backs more than any other fantasy impact.

WIDE RECEIVERS

PlayerRec.YardsTDRushYardsTDPoints
Mike Evans74.31039.88.4000191.53
Chris Godwin80.41025.27.8000189.52
Antonio Brown65.8720.85.52.18.90.02138.99
Scotty Miller9.9129.11.115.50.0225.13
Tyler Johnson8.5109.60.800020.01
Jaelon Darden4.243.80.30008.28

Mike Evans: Although he set a career low in yards per game (62.9), Evans exceeded the 1,000-yard mark -- now seven consecutive seasons to begin his career -- and set a career high with 13 scores. The Bucs have franchise tagged Chris Godwin and re-signed Antonio Brown, which could lead to more week-to-week inconsistency for all of the team's receivers.

Chris Godwin: Godwin finished a disappointing 2020 campaign with a receiving line of 65/840/7 as he averaged 25.2 fewer yards per game than in 2019. An assortment of injuries (four missed games) and the presence of Antonio Brown (7.75 targets per game) interfered with Godwin's consistency last season. In fact, Godwin ranked third on the team in targets (55) over the final eight games behind both Evans (63) and Brown (62).

Antonio Brown: Brown posted a respectable 45/483/4 half-season line on 61 targets in 2020. For Brown to emerge as a weekly start, however, it will likely take an injury to either Evans or Godwin.

TIGHT ENDS

PlayerRec.YardsTDRushYardsTDPoints
Rob Gronkowski43.2552.84.3000102.68
O.J. Howard34.74483.400082.55
Cameron Brate12.3131.51.100025.9

Rob Gronkowski: Not there to just "block," Gronkowski didn't score his first touchdown until Week 6, but he finished 2020 as fantasy's TE8 and ended the year with 45 catches for 623 yards and seven touchdowns. Returning from a torn Achilles he suffered in Week 4, O.J. Howard limits Gronk's ceiling. In fact, Howard (11/146/2 on 19 targets) was more productive than Gronkowski (9/88/0 on 14 targets) when both were active.

O.J. Howard: Through four NFL seasons, Howard has averaged an impressive 15.3 Y/R and 10.1 Y/TGT. With so many talented options on the roster, however, there is unlikely to be enough volume for Howard to post consistently useful production.

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