Russell Gage

27-Year-Old Wide ReceiverWR

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Injury Knee

Est. Return 2/12/2024

2023 Receiving Stats

REC

YDS

AVG

0.0

TAR

Rest-of-Season Projections

REC

YDS

AVG

TAR

Unlock Our Projections

2023 Fantasy Outlook

Gage's first season in Tampa Bay in 2022 saw the veteran record 51 receptions, 426 yards and five touchdowns on 70 targets across 13 games. His short-area role led to him posting the second-lowest yards per target of his career (6.1) and setting a new low-water mark in YPC (8.4). Looking ahead to 2023, Gage's outlook is somewhat difficult to ascertain, considering he'll be working in a new offense and with a new coordinator and position coach. Plus, he'll see a significant downgrade at quarterback from the retired Tom Brady to Baker Mayfield or Kyle Trask. One constant should be his slotting on the depth chart, as he projects to continue serving as the No. 3 wideout behind Chris Godwin and Mike Evans. That went out the window when Gage suffered a season-ending injury in training camp, however. Trey Palmer, Deven Thompkins and perhaps David Moore will compete for the third wide-receiver role to replace Gage. Read Past Outlooks

RANKS

#429.56

ADP

Overall

Wide Receiver

Bye Week 5

Height 6'0"

Weight 185

DOB 1/22/1996

College LSU

Drafted 6th Rd 2018 #194 Overall

Officially lands on IR

WRTampa Bay Buccaneers

Knee

August 20, 2023

The Buccaneers placed Gage (knee) on injured reserve Sunday, Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2 Houston reports.

ANALYSIS
Gage will miss the entirety of the 2023 campaign after he suffered a patellar tendon tear during Wednesday's joint practice with the Jets. The 27-year-old dealt with numerous injuries last regular season, including hamstring, ankle and back issues, which sidelined him for four games. He also sustained a scary concussion during Tampa Bay's wild-card loss to Dallas in January. Gage reworked his contract with the team in March, and he dealt with a lower leg injury to begin training camp. After finally looking healthy again heading into joint practices, the 6-foot slot receiver will now have to sit out until the final season of his three-year contract with the Bucs in 2024.

Read More News

NFL Stats

Loading NFL Stats...

Fantasy/Red Zone Stats

See red zone opportunities inside the 20, 10 and 5-yard lines along with the percentage of time they converted the opportunity into a touchdown.

Loading Fantasy/Red Zone Stats...

Advanced NFL Stats

Loading Advanced NFL Stats...

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2023 NFL Game Log

Calculate Stats Over Time

Just click on any two dates.

Scoring

Standard

PPR

Half PPR

FanDuel

DraftKings

Yahoo DFS

Loading Game Log...

2022 NFL Game Log

Calculate Stats Over Time

Just click on any two dates.

Scoring

Standard

PPR

Half PPR

FanDuel

DraftKings

Yahoo DFS

Loading Game Log...

2021 NFL Game Log

Calculate Stats Over Time

Just click on any two dates.

Scoring

Standard

PPR

Half PPR

FanDuel

DraftKings

Yahoo DFS

Loading Game Log...

2020 NFL Game Log

Calculate Stats Over Time

Just click on any two dates.

Scoring

Standard

PPR

Half PPR

FanDuel

DraftKings

Yahoo DFS

Loading Game Log...

2019 NFL Game Log

Calculate Stats Over Time

Just click on any two dates.

Scoring

Standard

PPR

Half PPR

FanDuel

DraftKings

Yahoo DFS

Loading Game Log...

2018 NFL Game Log

Calculate Stats Over Time

Just click on any two dates.

Scoring

Standard

PPR

Half PPR

FanDuel

DraftKings

Yahoo DFS

Loading Game Log...

Snap Distribution / Depth Chart

Snap Counts

Snap %

Buccaneers 2023 WR Snap Distribution See more data like this | See last season's snap counts

C.Chris Godwin

M.Mike Evans

T.Trey Palmer

D.Deven Thompkins

R.Rakim Jarrett

#% of Team Snaps

10879%

9771%

5641%

5037%

2216%

Loading Weekly Snap Counts...

#6 WR

Buccaneers

View Full Depth Chart

Receiving Alignment Breakdown

See where Russell Gage lined up on the field and how he performed at each spot.

Detailed

Grouped

Side

Loading Alignment Breakdown...

Loading Team Alignment Breakdown...

This Week's Opposing Pass Defense

How does the Eagles pass defense compare to other NFL teams this season?

The bars represents the team's percentile rank (based on QB Rating Against). The longer the bar, the better their pass defense is.

vs Eagles

Monday, Sep 25th at 7:15PM

Overall QB Rating Against

100.7

Cornerbacks

112.8

Safeties

102.9

Linebackers

60.4

Loading Opponent Pass Defense Stats...

2023 Russell Gage Split Stats

Loading NFL Split Stats...

Recent RotoWire Articles Featuring Russell Gage See More

NFL Game Previews: Monday Night Matchups

8 days ago

Erik Siegrist previews the Monday night games as Nick Chubb and the Browns face the division-rival Steelers on the road in the nightcap.

NFL Game Previews: Bills-Jets Matchup

15 days ago

Erik Siegrist breaks down the Week 1 Monday night matchup as Aaron Rodgers makes his Jets debut against the Bills.

NFL Waiver Wire: Week 1 Deep Dive

15 days ago

Dan Marcus goes deep into the free-agent pool to find upside adds who could pay off down the road, if not this week.

Past Fantasy Outlooks

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

He missed three games for the Falcons early last season and then initially failed to take advantage of Calvin Ridley's absence, but Gage turned things around in November and has been on a winning streak ever since. He averaged 6.3 catches for 76.4 yards in the final eight weeks last season, which allowed him to essentially match his 2021 receiving line with two fewer games and 15 fewer targets. The 26-year-old then cashed in with a three-year, $30 million contract from Tampa Bay, where he could be Option B for Tom Brady while Chris Godwin rehabs an ACL tear. The Bucs hope to have Godwin available for Week 1 (and also signed Julio Jones in July), but there's still some chance of Gage seeing an even larger workload than he got in Atlanta, at least temporarily. The Bucs made a sizable investment, with the $15 million guaranteed in Gage's contract including half his 2023 base salary, whereas Kansas City's Marquez Valdes Scantling signed a "three-year, $30 million contract" with only injury protections beyond Year 1 and $9 million guaranteed at signing.

Since the Falcons dealt Mohamed Sanu in the middle of the 2019 season, Gage has operated as the team's primary slot man. Last year, Gage established new personal bests in targets (109), receptions (72), yards (786) and TDs (four) in 16 games. His most consistent run of production came over the final four contests, which coincided with Julio Jones sitting out with a hamstring injury. Though Jones has expressed a desire to be traded, Atlanta thus far has shown no motivation to honor that request, so, for now, Gage remains third on the depth chart behind Jones and Calvin Ridley. Perhaps more than Jones' status, 2021 fourth overall pick Kyle Pitts - touted as one of the best tight end prospects in history - will influence Gage's outlook, with both working in the short and intermediate range.

Gage emerged as a playmaker in the second half of the 2019 season, when he was promoted to the No. 3 slot in the receiving corps following Mohamed Sanu's trade to New England on Oct. 22. The third-year man out of LSU could pay dividends as a late-round pickup for invested fantasy GMs, with all signs indicating that he will remain the third wide receiver for a Falcons offense that last season finished behind only Tampa Bay and Dallas in passing yards per game (294.6). He came into his own by averaging five receptions per game between Weeks 8 and 17, and he may become even more involved this season considering the possibility of a tight end downgrade going from Pro Bowler Austin Hooper to unproven Hayden Hurst. What's more, offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter gave a recent nod to his young receiver during virtual OTAs, noting Gage's talent and that he'll "see a jump in his game."

The ultra-athletic Gage got an audition at receiver in 2018 after Atlanta's playoffs hopes disintegrated with a 4-9 start. His workload remained relatively minimal, but Gage proved to be somewhat efficient, hauling in six of 10 targets. What was surprising was his inability to produce explosive gains with those touches, as he accumulated 10.5 yards per catch, a stark drop-off from his 13.6 YPC average during his senior year at LSU. In a best-case scenario, Gage will fully overtake Justin Hardy for the No. 4 receiver job, while continuing to play a key role on special teams. Gage fielded 63.6 percent of the special teams snaps last year for the Falcons, recording seven tackles while serving as one of the primary gunners on punts.

The rookie out of LSU has been featured all over the field since the Falcons selected him in the sixth round of April's draft. He started off taking snaps at cornerback during rookie minicamp in May and then transitioned over to wide receiver during minicamp and training camp, while also seeing reps on special teams coverage. Gage is highly unlikely to break the top four on the depth chart at either receiver or cornerback, leaving him with the opportunity to pursue playing time as a member of the Falcons special teams coverage unit. Though he possesses a slight frame of 6-foot, 180 pounds, Gage boasts blazing speed as exemplified by his 40-yard dash time of 4.42 seconds at LSU's pro day. He has a long way to go in terms of polishing his skill set to become an offensive or defensive starter, but Gage's track team-caliber speed could lead to him locking down a gunner position on punt coverage.

More Fantasy News

Suffers torn patellar tendon

WRTampa Bay Buccaneers

Knee

August 17, 2023

Coach Todd Bowles confirmed Thursday that Gage is out for the season with a torn patellar tendon, Scott Smith of the Buccaneers' official site reports.