Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Bucs begin OTAs without Dotson
By James Yarcho
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers reported to One Buc Place to begin their off-season workouts and OTAs – but are missing their starting right tackle.
*Deep inhale*. Ah, yes. Football is upon us. Well, kinda. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have reported to One Buc Place to begin their off-season training regiment. Pretty much all the big names are there. Jameis Winston, Mike Evans, Kwon Alexander, Gerald McCoy – even DeSean Jackson who has built a reputation for skipping on voluntary team workouts in favor of his own personal routine.
However, the Bucs are missing a key piece to the team – Demar Dotson. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported Sunday that Dotson had surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his knee, causing him to miss OTAs and mini-camp, but that he should be ready to go for training camp;
Sources: #Bucs RT Demar Dotson had surgery late this past week to repair a torn mensiscus in his knee. He’ll miss OTAs and minicamp but the belief is he’ll be good for training camp.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) April 15, 2018
This shouldn’t alter any draft plans that general manager Jason Licht or coach Dirk Koetter have moving forward. If he’s good to go by training camp, it’s simply Dotson missing out on the voluntary portion of the off-season – not something like tearing an ACL playing basketball in his driveway where he will miss significant time.
Dotson is entering his ninth NFL season – all with the Buccaneers – and is expected to play a major role in the revamped offensive line. The biggest question on the line isn’t Dotson or his surgically repaired knee, it’s still J.R. Sweezy who had a disappointing season to say the least.
Ali Marpet moving from center to left guard – his third position in as many years – allows for a little leeway for the Bucs in the draft. They could pursue a guard to develop and hope he unseats Sweezy or if they’re lucky enough to see Notre Dame’s Quenton Nelson fall to them at seven, he could be the starting left guard allowing Marpet to slide back to his original position on the right side.
Next: Buccaneers Draft Profile - OL Isaiah Wynn
Bottom line is this: the offensive line got a few upgrades thanks to free agency and there is no reason to panic or worry about this news regarding Demar Dotson. He’ll be good to go – barring any complications – by time August rolls around and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers stroll in to that brand new indoor practice facility to prepare for the 2018 NFL season.