The Bucs drafting of North Dakota State offensive lineman Cody Mauch within the second spherical brings a variety of intrigue – and that’s not simply because he’s lacking his entrance enamel. Neither is it as a result of he joins heart Ryan Jensen and tight finish Ko Kieft to type a trio of gingers on offense.
Tampa Bay traded up two spots just to ensure they acquired Mauch, who now joins an already crowded offensive line room. It by no means hurts to have depth, however the query turns into whether or not he’ll play on the inside or on the skin.
Cody Mauch Is Comfy Enjoying Both Spot For The Bucs
North Dakota State OL Cody Mauch
Cody Mauch predominantly performed left sort out at North Dakota State, constructing a fame as an athletic blocker that’ll destroy his opponents within the run recreation. On the Senior Bowl, Mauch impressed with plenty of pancake blocks all through the week. However caught much more consideration for enjoying all throughout the offensive line at heart, guard and sort out – and performing properly at each place.
“I believe that helped essentially the most,” Mauch stated. “Possibly some groups have been me simply as a sort out or possibly some groups have been me simply as a guard. My capacity to go in there and show that I can play all of these totally different spots completely opened up eyes to each crew. The Senior Bowl expertise was superior and I used to be joyful to have the ability to plug and play wherever they wished me to.”
Bucs Now Have A Surplus Of Guards
Cody Mauch’s versatility is a trait that the Bucs completely love. It offers them choices for a gaggle that already has Robert Hainsey, Nick Leverett, Aaron Stinnie, Matt Feiler and Luke Goedeke within the combine. Tampa Bay hasn’t shied away from kicking school offensive tackles to the within on the subsequent degree. Most notably they did it with Alex Cappa, a left sort out from Humboldt State, a few seasons in the past. He helped the Bucs win a Tremendous Bowl by growing into a high quality proper guard.
For time being Mauch doesn’t know the place he’d line up, although he’s open to taking part in wherever.
“I’m not too positive the place they see me – that’s a part of the joy,” Mauch stated. “I believe, my capacity to go in and play wherever. Undecided what they’re seeing by way of place, however no matter it’s, I’m able to go.”
Jason Licht Has Plans For Cody Mauch
Bucs GM Jason Licht – Picture by: Matt Matera/PR
After Day 2 was full, common supervisor Jason Licht cleared up some questions on the place their latest offensive lineman shall be taking part in. He did depart it with a caveat that issues might change as soon as the crew is finished with the draft and will get to coaching camp.
“We see him as a guard,” Licht stated. “We see him as an inside play – we’ll begin him off at guard. On the Senior Bowl, he performed some heart, performed some guard, performed some proper sort out, performed some left sort out there. He’s performed up and down the road – he did a very good job in any respect of them. Proper now, we see him as a guard. As you understand, we love guys – we’re not the one crew – however we love guys that may play all of them. We’ll see how he suits in.”
Who’s Enjoying Deal with In Tampa Bay?
Enjoying Cody Mauch on the inside is sensible on account of the truth that he has a variety of room to develop as a move protector coming from a run-heavy college like North Dakota State. However who’s going to play sort out reverse of Tristan Wirfs, particularly if Wirfs strikes to left sort out?
Presently Wirfs, Brandon Walton, Michael Niese, Grant Hermanns and Justin Skule are listed on the roster as tackles. Outdoors of Wirfs, none of those lineman are anticipated to be official choices to get taking part in time except Walton, who’s extra of swing sort out than a beginning candidate. He obtained some taking part in time final season, however that was out of necessity.
Bucs LG Luke Goedeke – Picture by: USA Right this moment
The answer comes from a participant we talked about earlier than in Luke Goedeke, final yr’s second-round choose. Goedeke began at proper sort out in Week 18 on the highway towards the Falcons on fared very properly. The Bucs consider in him sufficient to maintain him there, and that’s the place he performed for seasons at Central Michigan.
“We’ll see how that goes,” Licht stated. “We’re enthusiastic about how Luke did for us at sort out there on the finish of the yr – it’s his pure place. He may be there, Tristan may transfer to left – I’m very assured and all of us are that he’d do job over there. It’s sort of a piece in progress. I’m actually not going to set the depth chart right here. You’ll be able to speak to Todd [Bowles] everytime you get to speak to Todd and he can speak slightly bit extra about that.”
