The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are going to need to change a lot of things about their franchise this offseason if they want to contend for Super Bowls again, because their collapse this past season was one of the worst in recent memory and a reminder of some of the glaring holes in this team.
Tampa have already made sweeping changes, because even though they are, rather unwisely, keeping Todd Bowles at head coach, they have fired a large portion of the staff, including another highly embattled name in offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard.
While most of the Buccaneers personnel changes and upgrades will need to be on the troublesome defensive side of the ball under Bowles, there are a couple of needs worth investigating around quarterback Baker Mayfield.
Full of ups and downs
The Bake has all he could ever hope for at the wide receiver position, and he has a fine feature back in Bucky Irving, too. But the tight end position has been a bit of an enigma for the Buccaneers this past season, as Cade Otton frustrated with his inconsistency and was a big liability in the blocking game.
Otton, though, had quite the performance in a must win Week 18 game against the Panthers, standing out with some big catchs to move the chains. The young tight end ended the day with his best statistical performance of the 2025 NFL regular season, grabbing seven passes for 94 yards and a touchdown. It is almost hard to believe, but it was the big guy's only touchdown catch of the entire campaign.
His statistics from 2025 are pretty disappointing for someone in a high octane Bucs offense with Mayfield at quarterback. The 26 year old's lone touchdown was a career low, and while he matched the career high of 59 receptions he set in the previous season, he only turned them in to 572 yards for 9.7 yards per reception. That said, he did hit a career high with a 72.9 percent catch rate and 7.1 yards per target.
Otton has never been a playmaker who can give more than what he gets per target after the catch, and he is not a great athlete as a blocker in the running game. He looks like a better athlete than he plays, and he can never quite get that consistency.
But with all the chips on the table, Otton looked like a star, and he does have these flashes that make you think he could be a great tight end. At 26, Otton is still relatively young, but it is hard to say he is a high upside player. So with his contract expiring and free agency beckoning, the Bucs have to wonder if Otton is worth banking on and paying or if the tight end position is a need that must be addressed wtih a better football player.