Things have been trending down for Tampa Bay Buccaneers rookie Ted Hurst. After dropping a pass in Week 8, he dropped his only target in Week 9 and ended up playing a career-low one snap. Head coach Todd Bowles noted after the game that they did reduce his snaps, but they are not giving up on the rookie.
“I think he can help us,” said Bowles on Monday after the loss to the Chicago Bears in Week 9. “We think he can help us. I think he got off to a bad start. And then we kind of went with some other guys and wanted to see what they could do.”
The Bucs saw second-year receiver Tez Johnson record a season-high 54 snaps in Week 9. He had two catches for 76 yards in the loss.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers Bench Rookie Ted Hurst in Week 9
Bowles noted that there are still a lot of nuances to the game that Hurst is a bit behind on. The team drafted him from Georgia State, and the jump is a bit bigger than expected.
“Just grasping the entire offense,” said Bowles when asked where Hurst needs to improve. “We have a lot of things. There’s a lot of nuance in the offense that he’s still grasping as a rookie. That he’s got to take care of and have confidence in.”
Bowles did try to offer some praise, but was reminded of another flaw in the game of the rookie.
“But route running, I think he’s progressed in that,” said Bowles. “We just got to get him the ball more, but he’s got to come down with some of the catches as well.”
Hurst was already mixing in with Tez Johnson. The team got Emeka Egbuka back, so his snaps might have already been trending down. Still, Hurst played fewer snaps than David Sills, a sure sign that he was benched.
Buccaneers Need More From Hurst
Hurst has been trending down in a bad way since a somewhat hot start. The third-round pick had 36 yards in his rookie debut and had 128 yards in his first four weeks. The issue is that he has 168 yards.
Hurst has produced 40 yards in five games combined since then, and they all came in Week 6. This was the only game that he was benched, but it was the fourth game in the past five where he had zero catches.
On the flip side, Johnson has seven receptions for 180 yards in the past five weeks. He also has a rush for 14 yards. He played 54 snaps in Week 9 while Hurst played one. There is a chance that the Bucs will give Hurst a chance to reset during the bye week and come back in the same split.
However, he could be behind Johnson. With Egbuka healthy and Chris Godwin in the mix, Hurst might end up sitting a good bit in the back end of the season.
Bucs Coach Sends Strong Message to Benched Rookie