Jalen McMillan says he is fully healed from a neck injury that fractured three vertebrae and left him with herniated discs, and the Buccaneers are counting on him more than ever after Mike Evans’ move to San Francisco.
On a day when the Buccaneers were mapping out what comes next at wide receiver, Jalen McMillan sounded like a player who has finally gotten his life back.
McMillan missed the impact of last season’s schedule after a preseason injury that nearly ended everything. He fractured three vertebrae and suffered herniated discs after landing on his head in a preseason game. He played only four games before the injury shut him down.
In the final stretch of last season, McMillan returned to the field and closed with 12 catches for 178 yards.
“I am happy,” McMillan said last week, via Matt Matera of Pewter Report. “Just to be out there and to catch balls from Baker [Mayfield] and just to run on my feet. I feel good. . . . I am definitely taking appreciation for the small things and celebrating small wins and call my mom and dad every day. I am not taking any relationship for granted, so life has been good.”.
He described the months of waiting as the hardest part—time spent wondering whether his body would heal the right way.
“I had to sit in my bed and wonder, ‘Is my neck going to heal correctly?’ So, as soon as I was given the opportunity to play again, I knew that I could not look back and there was no time to be nervous and no time to be thinking about anything.”
That message matters to Tampa Bay now. The team needs McMillan in a bigger way this season with Mike Evans now in San Francisco.
The Buccaneers selected McMillan in the third round in 2024, and he flashed what the franchise was betting on when he was healthy: 37 receptions for 461 yards and eight touchdowns in 13 games.
With Evans gone, McMillan is being asked to provide both production and steadiness. Todd Bowles made it clear he believes he has the one thing you can’t manufacture on the practice field after a serious injury—trust in the player’s mindset.
“Jalen’s tough. His mental toughness is unbelievable,” Bowles said. “His competitiveness, the way he attacks the ball, the way he fights for every route and tries to get open and wants to be ‘that guy,’ you know, that gives you a lot of confidence that he’ll be doing that in the games.”
The path from preseason disaster to cleared return is unusually stark: McMillan went from worrying whether his neck would heal correctly to finishing last season with 12 catches for 178 yards. Now he’s carrying that momentum into a receiver group that has one fewer proven target after Evans’ move to San Francisco.
Jalen McMillan Buccaneers Mike Evans Todd Bowles neck injury fractured vertebrae Baker Mayfield preseason injury NFL wide receiver
Fractured 3 vertebrae?? Glad he’s “fully healed” but I don’t really buy it until I see him catch like 10 games in a row.
So Mike Evans goes to San Francisco and now Tampa just hopes McMillan is magically fixed? Practically every team says “mentally tough” like that wins routes lol.
My cousin had herniated discs and he said once you land wrong one time, it never really feels the same. So I’m happy for the guy but I’m also like… where’s the guarantee?
I read “cleared from neck injury” and thought he was like suspended or something, not literally fractured vertebrae. Either way, Baker to McMillan connection better be real, because losing Evans is huge. Bowles talking about trust in mindset sounds like coach-speak, but if McMillan’s healthy then cool, let him go get paid by being the WR1.