There are a few things you can’t teach in football. The most important of those is elite speed.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers rookie wide receiver Eric Rivers has speed to spare, with a 4.35-second 40-yard dash time. It’s 1 of the reasons why Bleacher Report’s Gary Davenport put the 5-foot-10, 177-pound former Florida International star at the top of his list of the NFL’s “Most Exciting” undrafted free agents just 2 months from training camp.
“It wasn’t all that surprising that Rivers went undrafted despite a 2024 season in which he topped 1,100 receiving yards at Florida International, averaged almost 19 yards per catch and scored 12 touchdowns — at just 5’10” and 177 pounds, he has the build of a slot receiver but the game of a boundary wideout,” Davenport wrote. ” … those wheels and athleticism got Rivers a chance to show that big impacts can come in small packages. And as the old saying goes, you can’t teach speed.”
Rivers spent his last season of college football at Georgia Tech in 2025 after playing his 1st 2 seasons at Memphis and 2 seasons at FIU in 2023 and 2024.
Eric Rivers Predicted to Make 53-Man Roster
In a year where things are very much in flux at wide receiver for the Buccaneers, there’s already some thought Rivers might have a chance at the 53-man roster, which Bleacher Report’s Kristopher Knox predicts he will this fall.
“(Rivers) is a blazing fast (4.35-second 40-yard dash) downfield threat who can give Baker Mayfield a legitimate downfield target,” Knox wrote. “Rivers averaged an impressive 15.7 yards per catch in college. While he had a modest 658 receiving yards with the Yellow Jackets last season, he racked up 1,172 yards and 12 touchdowns with Florida International the previous season.”
While 1 way to look at Rivers’ drop-off in production from FIU in 2024 to Georgia Tech in 2025 might be perceived as a negative, it shouldn’t be. It’s a marked upgrade in competition from Conference USA to the ACC, and Rivers’ numbers show a player more than capable of playing to that level and probably only getting better.
3 Different Colleges, 2 Different Positions
Rivers, 5-foot-10 and 176 pounds, started his college career as a walk-on at Memphis and played cornerback as a true freshman, redshirted with a shoulder injury as a sophomore before transferring to FIU and re-emerging as a wide receiver in 2023.
In his 1st season at FIU in 2023, Rivers got his footing with 32 receptions for 343 yards and 2 touchdowns, then had his breakout season in 2024 with 62 receptions for 1,172 yards and 12 touchdowns. That included a single-game record 295 receiving yards and 3 touchdowns against New Mexico State.
At FIU in 2024, Rivers was named not only All-Conference USA but also All-American. NFL draft analyst Lance Zierlein predicted Rivers would be a 7th-round pick or priority free agent.
Where Rivers might help the Buccaneers most in 2026 is by using his elite speed as a return specialist — something new special teams coordinator Danny Smith might want to take advantage of.
“Eric Rivers is an intriguing receiver prospect in the 2026 NFL Draft,” NFL draft preview account I Don’t Watch Film wrote on its official X account on March 18. “I like him more than a lot of other smaller-framed prospects that are projected to go ahead of him.”
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