Pewter Report analyzes every place’s strengths and weaknesses in Tampa Bay, because the Bucs try and three-peat as NFC South champions.
Quarterbacks
Running Backs
Wide Receivers
Subsequent up is the tight finish place, which is the youngest group within the NFL. Gone are veterans Cam Brate and Kyle Rudolph – and lengthy gone is future Corridor of Famer Rob Gronkowski, who retired after the 2021 season. The Bucs drafted two tight ends in 2022 in Cade Otton and Ko Kieft. They determine to be the returning veterans in a really inexperienced room.
Ideally, new Bucs offensive coordinator Dave Canales likes to run quite a lot of 12 (one again, two tight ends and two receivers) and 13 personnel (one again, three tight ends and one receiver) to assist set up the working recreation. Will Tampa Bay’s tight finish room be as much as the problem? Or will Canales be compelled to go along with quite a lot of 11 personnel (one again, one tight finish and three receivers) within the 2023 season as a result of lack of expertise? That shall be determined as soon as the pads come on in coaching camp and the preseason.
The Power of Bucs TEs: Untapped Potential
Bucs TE Ko Kieft – Picture by: Cliff Welch/PR
It’s loopy to assume that second-year tight ends Cade Otton and Ko Kieft may very well be the leaders of Tampa Bay’s tight ends room, however that’s what is going to occur in 2023. Just like the working again and security positions, the Bucs determined to go along with a youth motion at tight finish. Essentially the most skilled tight finish is David Wells, who has three years within the league, however he’s not a lock to make the roster and even the observe squad.
Otton, who caught 42 passes for 391 yards and two touchdowns throughout his rookie season, is predicted to be the featured tight finish within the passing recreation. The previous fourth-round decide had clutch touchdowns in come-from-behind wins in opposition to the Rams and the Saints. His first NFL TD got here in opposition to Los Angeles and proved to be the game-winner with simply seconds left. Otton, who’s simply 24, has labored laborious to enhance his energy this season and needs to be a greater blocker in 2023. The Bucs hope he can enhance his yards per catch common from final 12 months, which was a pedestrian 9.3 yards.
Kieft returns as a jack-of-all trades tight finish. He can line up within the backfield as a fullback, be set in movement like an H-back and likewise line up on the road of scrimmage as an everyday tight finish. Kieft can also be a core particular teamer, and shall be no worse than No. 3 on the depth chart. Like Otton, he has loads of room to develop and enhance in his second season.
Bucs TE Payne Durham – Picture by: Cliff Welch/PR
The Bucs spent a fifth-round draft decide on Purdue’s Payne Durham, who hauled in 21 touchdowns in 4 seasons for the Boilermakers, together with eight as a senior. Durham isn’t quick, however he has nice dimension at 6-foot-5, 255 kilos, and is aware of how you can field out defenders and make contested catches. He was an enormous pink zone weapon in school and figures to be utilized that means by new offensive coordinator Dave Canales. Durham might rise as much as No. 2 on the depth chart with an awesome camp and preseason.
Undrafted free agent Tanner Taula has created some buzz within the offseason. The massive 6-foot-6, 251-pound rookie did an awesome job getting open and catching the ball in OTAs and the mini-camp. The Bucs are anxious to see how he blocks when the pads come on in camp. Taula is battling Wells and Dominque Dafney for the fourth and closing spot on the depth chart. Particular groups will play an enormous consider deciding which tight finish makes the 53-man roster.
Finest-Case State of affairs at TE
Tampa Bay’s tight finish room is stuffed with potential. If Otton and Durham present a 1-2 punch within the receiving recreation, and Kieft continues to be an anvil within the working recreation, this place might go from being an enormous query mark to an enormous exclamation level within the Bucs offense.
The Weaknesses of Bucs TEs: Inexperience
Bucs TE Cade Otton – Picture by: USA At this time
There are such a lot of questions concerning the Bucs tight finish room, beginning with the 2 returners from a 12 months in the past. The place is Cade Otton’s ceiling as a weapon within the passing recreation? And might Ko Kieft be something extra than simply an additional blocker?
Throw in the truth that the Bucs have 4 different tight ends, together with two rookies, who they haven’t even seen in pads but and Tampa Bay really doesn’t know what it has within the place. Is there sufficient “grown man energy” within the trenches with such a younger group of tight ends? That query merely can’t be answered till they don the pads in coaching camp.
Is there sufficient velocity on the tight finish place for anybody within the group to be thought-about an actual risk within the passing recreation? The Bucs understand that they don’t have a Travis Kelce or George Kittle on the roster. However can Otton generate extra huge performs? And does Payne Durham, who solely clocks a 4.87 within the 40-yard sprint, have sufficient energy to create some run-after-catch alternatives by breaking tackles?
Worst-Case State of affairs at TE
The worst-case situation is that the Bucs have only a bunch of Day 3 expertise at tight finish with Otton’s manufacturing simply matching what it was a 12 months in the past, and Durham simply being a median goal within the passing recreation resulting from his lack of separation. If this occurs, search for Dave Canales to play much less 12 personnel and rely extra on 11 personnel.
