Whereas all eyes are set on the 2023 season, Pewter Report is looking on the Bucs in 2023 and into the long run. Going place by place, we’ll present a three-year outlook to get an thought of what the 2024 and 2025 Bucs would possibly appear like — and the way 2023 might affect these future groups.
Quarterbacks
Working Backs
Huge Receivers
Right this moment, we proceed with the tight ends.
Bucs Tight Finish Contracts
Bucs TE Cade Otton – Photograph by: Cliff Welch/PR
Due to the current youth motion the Bucs have gone with on the tight finish place, all of their prime tight ends are on rookie contracts. Cade Otton (a fourth-round decide final yr) and Ko Kieft (a sixth-rounder final yr) are the senior members of the group, and so they each have contracts that run by means of 2026.
Payne Durham was drafted within the fifth spherical this yr and has an ordinary rookie deal that runs for 4 years, so he’s locked in by means of 2027.
As for the remainder of the tight finish room, it’s unsure heading into 2023. Dominique Dafney and David Wells are on one-year offers and aren’t locks to crack the 53-man roster.
Tanner Taula is an undrafted free agent tight finish who the Bucs are keen on, and he’ll have an opportunity throughout coaching camp to latch on as a TE4.
Tampa Bay appears to be in a great place with its tight ends, as there’s not some huge cash invested within the place however there’s some promising expertise within the 24-year-old Otton and the 23-year previous Durham. The 25-year-old Kieft additionally performs his blocking specialist/occasional H-back position exceptionally properly, too.
How This Yr Impacts 2024 & 2025
Bucs TE Payne Durham – Photograph by: Cliff Welch/PR
The Bucs are excessive on Otton, and he’ll have an opportunity to essentially set up himself as their TE1 in 2023. If he takes on that position and appears the a part of a prime tight finish, Tampa Bay will have the ability to really feel comfy concerning the prime spot on the depth chart for no less than a pair extra years.
Kieft excels as a blocker and can sometimes shock within the passing recreation, however his ceiling could also be that of a TE3. If he will get surpassed by Durham and is restricted to blocking, he might discover himself as an end-of-the-roster man. And I’d that’s the case, he’ll have his work reduce out to him to hold on to a roster spot in 2024 and 2025.
What Durham does together with his snaps will decide the place he falls within the Bucs’ future plans. If he’s a real TE2 or borderline TE1, all Tampa Bay should do within the coming years is spherical out its depth on the place. But when he doesn’t present the promise the staff wants him to indicate, he might discover himself fading into TE3 territory as quickly as subsequent offseason if the Bucs add one other younger tight finish or signal one in free company.
Three-Yr Outlook: Bucs Tight Ends
Bucs TE Cade Otton – Photograph by: Cliff Welch/PR
The Bucs will hope they’re set on the tight finish place for the subsequent three years. Otton, Durham and Kieft nonetheless being the highest three on the depth chart in 2025 would imply good issues for Tampa Bay, and it might depart staff decision-makers solely needing one other tight finish to finish the room. Whether or not that’s Dafney, Wells, Taula or one other addition stays to be seen.
Otton appears to be like properly on his technique to being an entire tight finish, whereas Durham initiatives as a chain-mover and massive goal within the crimson zone. What Kieft does is efficacious too, and if he continues so as to add no less than some worth as a receiver, the Bucs are set for the subsequent few years.
On the similar time, Tampa Bay doesn’t have quite a bit invested within the tight finish room. It’s not as if they’ve any big-money gamers with long-term offers or high-end draft standing. Every tight finish on the roster was a Day 3 decide and whereas the staff believes in every of them, it doesn’t want to provide all of them a protracted leash. Lack of manufacturing or total poor play might imply an overhaul before deliberate.
Three-Yr Outlook Abstract
Lengthy gone are the times of established veterans Rob Gronkowski, Cameron Brate and O.J. Howard main the tight finish room. The youth motion is absolutely on in Tampa Bay and there’s plenty of intrigue as to how issues will pan out with this group. The ground feels fairly excessive for the trio of Otton, Durham and Kieft, however the ceiling could also be restricted. In the event that they disprove that this yr, the longer-term outlook on the place will look fairly good for the Bucs.
