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Trey Palmer catches touchdown from Baker Mayfield in NFL preseason debut

Nick Profile Picby:Nick Geddes•08/11/23•

NickGeddesNews

Trey Palmer
Joseph Cress/Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA TODAY NETWORK

Tampa Bay Buccaneers rookie receiver Trey Palmer hauled in his first-career NFL touchdown during his team’s preseason opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers Friday.

Palmer, a training camp standout, came down with the pass from quarterback Baker Mayfield in the back of the end zone for six. His toe-tapping effort capped off a nine-play, 64-yard scoring drive — Tampa Bay’s third offensive series of the game.

Palmer, who re-wrote the school record books during his lone season at Nebraska last year, was selected by the Buccaneers with the 191st overall pick in the sixth-round. The former LSU transfer set a single-season Nebraska record with 1,043 yards receiving. He topped the old mark of 1,004 yards held by Stanley Morgan Jr. in 2018. Palmer was the only player in the Big Ten Conference with three 150-yard receiving games this season. 

Palmer finished the season with 71 receptions, ranking second all-time behind Marlon Lucky’s mark of 75 from 2007. His nine receiving touchdowns are good for fifth all-time in school history. His biggest game of the season came against Purdue when he caught seven passes for a team-record 237 yards plus two touchdowns. He also had a 60-yard rush.

At the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine, Palmer had the top 40-yard dash time by a wide receiver and fourth-best time overall at 4.33 seconds.

Trey Palmer proving his worth to Buccaneers ahead of rookie season

Palmer has proved to be nothing short of impressive to the Buccaneers’ coaching staff since being drafted.

“Our guys felt it right away,” receivers coach Brad Idzik recently told Pewter Report. “He hit a couple deep routes in rookie mini-camp and then the first week against all the vets as well. He showed up. And you mention the motions and all of that. He legitimizes all of that and they have to honor his speed every single snap.

“I’m surprised he lasted that long [in the draft] as well, we were ecstatic to have him. Anytime you have a guy with that much speed all you’re trying to do is make sure he plays with that speed every single snap.”