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Pewter Report’s Scott Reynolds answers your questions Pewter Report This Week’s Bucs Mailbag Twitter account. Every week, submit your questions to the Bucs Mailbag via Twitter using the hashtag #PRMailbag. Here are your Bucs questions we’ll be answering in this week’s edition:
question: Where will the fiercest competition for starting positions be in training camp?
Buccaneers OLB Joe Tryon Soyinka and Anthony Nelson with Bengals QB Joe Burrow – Photo courtesy of USA Today
answer: I think the two most competitive positions are: Outside Linebacker And then there’s the interior of the offensive line. The Buccaneers have a ton of promising young outside linebackers in Yaya Diaby, Marquise Watts, Jose Ramirez and this year’s second-round pick Chris Braswell. They also have veteran holdovers Joe Tryon Soyinka and Anthony Nelson and rookie Randy Gregory in the mix. That means seven serious contenders for five or six roster spots.
Training camp will be a real battleground for roster spots and depth, and all of these edge rushers need to stay healthy or risk falling behind in the competition. Diaby will likely be one of the starters, but the other spot will be up for grabs. Add in the fact that both Traion Soyinka and Nelson are in the final years of their contracts, and Gregory signed a one-year deal to prove himself, and the outside linebacker spot should be one of the most competitive in training camp.
Behind them is the interior offensive line. Graham Burton and Robert Hainsey are vying for the starting center spot, but the loser will also be competing for the starting left guard spot opposite Cody Mauch. Veteran rookies Su’a Opeta and Ben Bredeson are also vying for a starting spot, along with rookie Elijah Klein, the team’s sixth-round pick.
Three other positions to watch are nickelback, cornerback and WR3. Current starter Christian Izien will likely compete for the nickel cornerback position over veteran free agent Tavierre Thomas and third-round pick Tykee Smith. Buccaneers head coach and defensive playcaller Todd Bowles is looking for a slot playmaker.
Zion McCollum is expected to start at outside cornerback opposite Jamel Dean and it will be his job to lose, but cornerbacks coach Kevin Ross said Bryce Hall is a starting-caliber cornerback and will battle McCollum in camp. And, of course, the battle for the No. 3 wide receiver spot will be fierce between Trey Palmer, who has improved since his rookie season, and the team’s third-round pick, Jalen McMillan.
Q: Now that free agency and the draft are over, is there any area on the team that you feel hasn’t been adequately addressed and could become an Achilles heel?
Buccaneers G/C Ben Bredeson – Photo courtesy of USA Today
answer: I think the Buccaneers’ starting 22 are very good this year. The roster is deeper and more talented than last year’s, but a lot will depend on whether the players selected in the last two drafts gain experience and move up, and whether the rookies can contribute and play at a high level in their first season with Tampa Bay. Left guard could still be the weakest position if rookie Elijah Klein doesn’t fit in the starting lineup and Su’a Opeta and Ben Bredeson aren’t much better than Matt Feiler and Aaron Stinney were last year.
But general manager Jason Licht and his personnel staff are so good at evaluating offensive linemen that I can’t imagine the team couldn’t find a solution at left guard in the offseason. The real weakness for this team, and for any team in the NFL, is depth at certain positions. We’ll have to see how healthy this team is and which positions truly lack deep talent if injuries occur.
Last year, the Buccaneers were remarkably healthy for the most part. Consider that Baker Mayfield, Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Trey Palmer, Cade Otton, Tristan Wirfs, Luke Goeddeke, Robert Hainsey and Cody Mouch all played in all 19 games, including the playoffs. That’s an incredible feat that was blessed with the luck of starting all but one position (left guard). Tampa Bay can’t count on that again.
It’s hard to pinpoint where this team’s true weaknesses are before training camp and the preseason begin, so come September we’ll have a better idea of which positions Licht and the front office need to further strengthen.
Question: What are the chances that Graham Barton will play guard? I’ve seen a lot of analysts and film critics think guard is the best position for him. If there is a chance, they would obviously want to give Barton as much time as possible at his final position. When will they make a final decision?
Buccaneers C Graham Burton and G Elijah Cline – Photo: Cliff Welch/PR
answer: If Robert Hainsey wins the competition and has a great camp and preseason, the Buccaneers could move the team’s first-round draft pick, Graham Burton, to left guard. In fact, unless Su’a Opeta, Ben Bredeson or rookie Elijah Klein wows the team and dominates at left guard in training camp, the top five offensive linemen this summer will be tackles Tristan Wirfs and Luke Goedeke, guards Cody Mauch and Burton and center Hainsey. Hainsey will be eager to join the team and play at full strength during his contract period.
In fact, the moment the Buccaneers drafted Barton on the night of April 26, I proclaimed, “The Buccaneers just drafted a starting left guard.” So it’s a bit surprising that the team would start him at center. A more logical move for Tampa Bay would be to have Barton compete with Opeta and Klein at left guard this year, while Hainsey competes with Bredeson at center. That way, unless Bredeson wins the center spot and proves a significant upgrade this season, the Buccaneers could let Hainsey go after 2024 and transition Barton to center.
It’s understandable why the team would want to move Barton to center, as it’s a more valuable position. Centers are the tip of the spear on the offensive line, and they anchor the defense on every play. Barton, who attended Duke, has a high football IQ and can handle the rigors of the position, as evidenced by his five-game center role as a freshman.
But if Tampa Bay is looking to start the five best offensive linemen in 2024, it’s hard to imagine Hainsey not finishing fifth behind Wirfs, Goedeke, Burton and Mauch. We’ll see what happens when they put on the pads in training camp and the battle really gets underway. The final decision on which players will be starters on the offensive line should be made near the end of the preseason.
Q: If you could add one player to the Buccaneers’ defense and one player on the defensive end this season who would have the biggest impact, which would you want, and if it were financially realistic and money wasn’t an issue, which would it be?
Former Vikings CB Patrick Peterson Photo courtesy of USA Today
answer: I don’t play much fantasy football, so I’m going to be as realistic as possible with this exercise. I think this team could have some depth at cornerback if something were to happen to either starter Jamel Dean or Zion McCollum. Certainly, Bryce Hall could fill in for an injury-prone Dean or Carlton Davis III, just as McCollum filled in for either Dean or Carlton Davis III on a weekly basis last year.
But there’s a big gap in experience and talent behind Hall — Josh Hayes was an elite gunner as a rookie last year and is the next CB4 right now — and cornerback is a very important position in today’s NFL, where the passing game is front and center every week.
So the player I would consider adding to this team as an emergency cornerback and veteran mentor is Patrick Peterson. At 34 years old, I know he is certainly declining. Peterson had five interceptions with Minnesota in 2022 and earned an 80.7 grade from Pro Football Focus, but his play took a nosedive last year with Pittsburgh when he earned a 60.5 grade and a 61.4 coverage grade. A 2022 season with the Vikings seems unusual at this point in his career.
Peterson, who played under Todd Bowles at Arizona, played 1,096 snaps last year, which is a lot for an aging cornerback, and he was being paid a lot by the Steelers. $7.15 million in 2023. Unless another team signs him as a starter (unlikely at this stage in his career), I think he could join Tampa Bay for less as a reserve.
There’s a lot of value in having a future Hall of Famer in that room, as was the case with Richard Sherman, the Buccaneers’ emergency veteran signing in 2021. Imagine how much McCollum, Dean, Hall and Hayes could learn from a legendary cover cornerback like Peterson. He has 36 career interceptions.
