3 biggest takeaways from first Buccaneers depth chart

The Buccaneers are a few days out from their first preseason game of 2021, and the first depth chart provides plenty to discuss.

The first depth chart each year is always a moment of excitement for Buccaneers fans, but unfortunately, it never does much to reveal anything of note for the regular season.

While there is usually a name or two that sticks out in an unusual way, this depth chart doesn’t surprise. There won’t be many surprises on the Buccaneers this season regardless of how you look at the roster, which is a good thing in many ways, but we still hoped to see a bit more from the initial chart.

Either way, here is the first depth chart of the season for the Bucs, and these are the biggest takeaways:

1. Take nothing at face value 

We would love to take this list and run, but there is no way that this is even close to an actual representation of how the roster will look during the regular season. The general theme is that newcomers are below returners regardless of the position they play, which we already know isn’t going to be the case once the season starts.

Rookies may not be in many starting roles come the start of the season, but they will be in more prominent roles than what we see here.

2. Jaelon Darden is impressing on special teams 

Perhaps Bruce Arians and the rest of the staff want to rest Scotty Miller more and use him predominantly on offensive snaps, but there is also something to be said about Jaelon Darden being the second guy for kick and punt returns.

The Bucs already have a great receiver in Darden, but there may be more to the initial Antonio Brown comparisons than just on the offensive side of the football.

3. The Cameron Kinley train may be losing some steam

The vast majority of the Buccaneers fanbase and the NFL want Cameron Kinley to make the final roster. The preseason games will do plenty to show us where Kinley is really at, but the initial depth chart does little to inspire confidence that he will be in Tampa long term.

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