Tampa Bay Buccaneers Depth Chart 2018 Buccaneers Depth Chart

Preseason Analysis: Buccaneers In For a Rocky 2018

Tampa Bay is another team struggling for identity despite drafting the Florida State connection of Mike Evans and Jameis Winston. Letting Doug Martin walk this season, they went out and addressed a hole at the running back position. Ronald Jones out of USC was drafted in the second round and will likely land the top spot over Jacquizz Rodgers and Peyton Barber. Both might sneak in for some touches every now and then, but Jones should be the guy. The receiving core remains mostly the same, as DeSean Jackson and Adam Humphries will play with Evans. This leaves Chris Godwin out, who got some burn down the stretch last season. Godwin has potential to jump into the top three with injuries, but his overall talent would the Bucs a small bump. Cameron Brate and O.J. Howard both still command the tight end spots and will for the foreseeable future. It will be interesting to see if Howard takes a jump in year two at all. He was a talented tight end at Alabama, and showed some promise at times last season, but Brate continues to be a guy Winston trusts. The Bucs are in a bit of a turning point believe it or not for the future.

The 2018 Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be an exciting team on offense, with their big play focus, and on defense, with an intimidating pass rush. A very active offseason has addressed the team’s greatest needs, most notably the lack of a pass rush and the resultant poor overall defensive performance. The NFC South, however, is arguably the toughest division in football, so it remains to be seen whether the improvements will be enough to get the Buccaneers into the playoffs – or even out of the cellar. Looking at defense first, as did the team, the upgrades stand out clearly. Up front, free agency and the draft have given opposing quarterbacks a whole lot more than Gerald McCoy to worry about. Names like Jason Pierre-Paul, Vinny Curry, and rookie Vita Vea will bring the threat of sacks that was nearly absent last year. Those defensive line moves are the biggest free agent and draft acquisitions, and they alone would make the secondary look much better, but upgrades were obtained back there, too, with two good cornerbacks taken in the second round, plus a safety in the fourth. The best depth chart battles leading up to the regular season kickoff will be the healthy competition throughout the secondary, as the full crop fights to start. The defensive game plan disguises coverage and rush schemes.

The passing game plan features downfield attack, including trick plays and routes that take a lot of time to develop. Any substantial running game will be an improvement over last season, and will keep the attention of opposing defenses divided. The offensive line got one key upgrade - new center Ryan Jensen will allow two other linemen to shuffle to their best natural positions and provide better opportunities for both the passing and running games. Exploiting the adjustments will be rookie running back Ronald Jones II, a threat to go the distance at any time, taken in the second round, and looking to earn the most carries on the team. Quarterback expectations should not be too diminished with the three-game suspension of Jameis Winston, with Ryan Fitzpatrick a solid backup. Both quarterbacks will benefit from good tight end blocking and pass-catching, as the Buccaneers feature not one but two young, improving tight ends in Cameron Brate and O.J. Howard. Sophomore wide receiver Chris Godwin shone late in his rookie season and will make his case for more snaps, supplementing the other very good receivers and giving lots of mobile targets for whichever quarterback is executing the aggressive offensive scheme. On special teams, Tampa Bay improved at place kicker, picked up some rookie position players that should contribute to kick coverage and the return game, and stood pat with their punter. A slight improvement is all that can be expected from special teams overall, and with the biggest deficiencies on defense and offense addressed, special teams may remain their biggest challenge. The Buccaneers will win more games and threaten the universally strong NFC South rivals.