John Franklin III has a new position on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers list.
When the former Auburn quarterback joined the Bucs last season, the list included him as a cornerback, the position he had played since he began his NFL journey as a test player in the Chicago Bears rookie minicamp in 2018.
When Tampa Bay enters training camp for the 2020 season, the list lists Franklin as a wide receiver. And Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians said it could be more than that.
“He is a very interesting athlete,” Arians said during a press conference on Tuesday. “I mean, you know he never played defense. He’s one of those guys who has so much talent and athletic ability, you’re trying to find a place for him. We ran that little pack of wildcats with him, and he did a great job with it. He can shoot.
“He comes as a wide receiver, so he will be in the offensive rooms. He could possibly give us a third quarterback on Sunday with his ability, so he has a lot of options, and it’s up to him to make the ball club a wide receiver. “
Franklin joined the Tampa Bay practice team on November 13, and before the penultimate game of the 2019 Buccaneers season, the team used Franklin on the scouting team to impersonate Deshaun Watson, the quarterback of the The Bucs’ next opponent, the Houston Texans.
Franklin’s performance in that role gave Arians an idea.
The following week, Tampa Bay elevated Franklin to the active roster, and made his NFL debut as a wild quarterback in his 28-22 loss to the Atlanta Falcons.
Franklin took the first two snapshots of the second half and logged 11 yards on his first NFL career attempt.
Tampa Bay’s Mike Evans and Chris Godwin received Pro Bowl invitations last season, but no other member of the Buccaneers’ current wide receiver body caught more than 15 passes in 2019.
Among wide receivers hoping to earn a spot on the regular season roster at training camp is Josh Pearson, an undrafted rookie from Austin High School in Decatur and Jacksonville State.
Franklin has been a great receiver previously.
Franklin completed 14-of-26 passes for 204 yards with a touchdown and rushed for 430 yards and two touchdowns for Auburn in 2016. But he switched from quarterback to wide receiver during spring practice in 2017 and caught four passes on the A-Day. Game.
However, Franklin did not play for Auburn in 2017. After transferring to Florida Atlantic, Franklin caught seven passes for 95 yards and a touchdown and ran 16 times for 229 yards and two touchdowns.
Franklin had been strictly a cornerback since May 14, 2018, when he exited the Bears’ rookie minicamp on a contract.
Franklin did not make the Chicago active roster in 2018, but spent the last five weeks of the regular season and the week of the Bears’ playoff game on the team’s practice team.
Franklin spent the offseason, training camp, and preseason with the Bears in 2019. He was released when Chicago reduced his roster of 90 preseason players to the regular-season limit of 53 on August 31.
Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ AMarkG1.
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