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Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Sterling Shepard.
This is the type of move that makes sure free agents continue to want to come play for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Despite coming up short on several bonus clauses in his contract, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers still paid wide receiver Sterling Shepard an extra $500,000 in incentives — mainly as a “Thank You” for being such an incredible team player this season.
“Cool move by the Bucs — receiver Sterling Shepard was inactive the last four games as other WRs got healthy, and finished one catch and 29 yards short of $125,000 incentives as a result,” Fox Sports NFL reporter Greg Auman wrote in a series of posts on X. “Team paid out both, and an additional $250k for $500k as a separate bonus … Shepard finished with 39 catches for 371 yards, and had incentives paying $125k each for reaching 40 and 50 catches, and 400 and 500 receiving yards. They paid out all four as a new $500k bonus as a gesture for his hard work when other WRs were injured.”
While the Buccaneers finished 8-9 overall and missed the playoffs for the 1st time since 2019, without efforts like Shepard’s things could have been much worse.
How Bad Were WR Injuries for Buccaneers?
The Buccaneers surprised everyone by drafting a wide receiver in the 1st round of the 2025 NFL draft with Ohio State’s Emeka Egbuka. It could end up being the key to their future at the position after he led the team in receiving as a rookie.
The Buccaneers went into the season as NFC dark horse contenders but injuries to their skill positions — specifically at wide receiver — proved to be the season’s undoing.
The 3 starting wide receivers from 2024 were all back this year and expected to contribute in big ways and all 3 suffered through the worst seasons of their careers.
NFL All-Pro Mike Evans saw his 11-season streak of 1,000-yard receiving seasons — also an NFL record — come to an end as he missed a career-high 9 games with a hamstring injury and a broken collarbone. Now, he’s a free agent.
Pro Bowler Chris Godwin returned too early from a serious leg injury suffered midway through the 2024 season and was never effective — he missed 8 games and looked like a shell of the player he was in the past. That’s unfortunate, considering he signed a 3-year, $66 million contract before the 2025 season.
Finally, second-year wide receiver Jalen McMillan had 7 touchdown receptions over the final 5 games of the 2024 season and seemed ready for a breakout year in 2025 but missed 13 games after he suffered a serious neck injury in the preseason.
Shepard Has Almost $40 Million in Career Earnings
Shepard’s bonus from the Bucs pushes his career earnings to a well-earned $39.52 million over 10 seasons.
The path to Tampa Bay for Shepard actually began long before he ever showed up on the roster in 2024 — back to when he was teammates with Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield in 2015 at the University of Oklahoma.
In Shepard’s final college season and Mayfield’s 1st as the starter for the Sooners, Shepard had a breakout year with 86 receptions for 1,288 yards and 11 touchdowns in 13 games.
That big year propelled Shepard into the 2nd round of the NFL draft, where he was taken No. 40 overall by the New York Giants — where he spent his first 8 seasons before coming to the Buccaneers.
Tony Adame covers the NFL for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Washington Commanders, Dallas Cowboys, Baltimore Ravens, Philadelphia Eagles and Denver Broncos. A veteran sports writer and editor since 2004, his work has been featured at Stadium Talk, Yardbarker, NW Florida Daily News and Pensacola News Journal. More about Tony Adame
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