“One Of The More Complete Tight Ends In This Draft”
May 5th, 2022
Rookie Bucs tight end Cade Otton, the first pick of Round 4.
A former general manager (no, not Mark Dominik) assessed the Buccaneers’ 2022 NFL Draft and his tone of voice clearly suggested he had a favorite pick by Tampa Bay.
That pick came with Saturday’s first action, when the bell rang on Round 4 of the draft. The Bucs held Jacksonville’s pick (via a Thursday night trade) and selected tight end Cade Otton out of the University of Washington.
Rick Spielman, the former Dolphins and Vikings GM, gave the Bucs’ a “B+” grade for the entire draft and was most enthusiastic about Otton. He called him “one of the more complete tight ends in this draft.” Also factoring into Spielman’s overall assessment was the trade of a fifth-round pick for Patriots starting guard Shaq Mason, a guy with two Super Bowl rings and experience with Tom Brady.
As for Otton, Joe likes that he’s a seasoned rookie at 23 years old from a football family. His dad is a high school head coach. Otton was a four-year starter but was limited last season with COVID and a minor injury.
At 6-5, 250 pounds, Otton is big enough to be versatile, and he surely will put on more man weight. Based on everything Joe has read and seen, it’s unrealistic to think Otton will make a splash as a rookie, but he certainly seems like a player who can develop quickly and has the tools to block and get open.
Joe almost hopes Rob Gronkowski sits out until training camp. That would give Otton a ton of spring reps with the first team and, hopefully, accelerate his development.
Spielman likened Otton very much to Jeremy Rucker, the tight end drafted by the Jets in the third round.
May 5th, 2022 at 12:34 pm
Good footwork for a guy who may not be the most athletic at his position and really good hand eye coordination high pointing the ball on targets. I like the looks of Otton and I think he also gives us another big target down in those redzone packages and goal line sets.
May 5th, 2022 at 12:34 pm
I like him. But I like all of our picks.
May 5th, 2022 at 12:36 pm
I think the most you can expect from this season, is that he shoulders some of the blocking gronk does. The bucs need more production from TE not named gronk. Howard and Brate were bad last year. If this kid can give you another RedZone threat, it would exceed expectations
May 5th, 2022 at 12:37 pm
I don’t know if Gronk will be back and with the bucs drafting two TEs I don’t think they know either.
May 5th, 2022 at 1:05 pm
For all those whining and squealing (like a character in Deliverance)…..that their pick was lost because of the drop-down from 27-33….
Keep in mind that we got Cade Otton absolutely free with that 4th round pick gift from the Jags…
May 5th, 2022 at 1:24 pm
The more i dig into our pick the more i like them
May 5th, 2022 at 1:26 pm
This will turn out to be one of the best drafts ever.
May 5th, 2022 at 1:44 pm
Cant wait to see this guy in Pewter. If Hall plays up to his billing, the Otten pick is that much sweeter!
May 5th, 2022 at 1:55 pm
Gronk will be better, for sure and Brady knows it. Two TEs were drafted because it’s probably Gronk’s last year and they want them to learn from him.
May 5th, 2022 at 2:49 pm
Cade and Ko will benefit greatly from Gronk’s tutelage (I fully expect him to be in a Bucs uni!).
As an aside, there do appear to be undertones of more running of the the football. I might be wrong but it would sure be nice to get a little more balance in our attack.
May 5th, 2022 at 3:37 pm
I BELIEVE WE HAD A VERY SOLID DRAFT & FREE AGENCY SUCCESS , WE ADDRESSED ALL OUR NEEDS & THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN TOM BRADY FOR FREEING UP 9 MILLION IN CAP SPACE TO HELP OUR TEAM..HE IS NOT ONLY THE G.O
A.T. AS A QUARTERBACK, BUT HE’S ALSO AN INCREDIBLE HUMAN BEING..
& VERY INTELLIGENT TO MAKE THINGS EASIER TO BUILD A CHAMPIONSHIP CALIBER TEAM BY MAKING THESE SORT OF SACRIFICES FOR THE GOOD OF THE TEAM..HE’S A WINNER IN SO MANY WAYS..I FULLY EXPECT GRONK TO RE-JOIN THE BUCCANEERS & IF WE CAN STAY HEALTHY ( THAT’S THE KEY ) WE WILL WIN ANOTHER SUPER BOWL THIS YEAR.
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May 5th, 2022 at 4:20 pm
I like all the big guy picks on both offense and defense. The Bucks have “muscled up”. Should help against physical teams like the Rams.
May 5th, 2022 at 5:04 pm
Brate’s in his last year too, likely.
May 5th, 2022 at 5:53 pm
Yes, he’s one of the more “complete” TEs because the draft was loaded with INcomplete move/pure pass catching TEs who couldn’t block. There were perhaps 4 guys who were decent or even willing blockers. Not a high standard, but here’s to hoping he busts out.
May 5th, 2022 at 6:20 pm
Not a jab at him but I see Luke Stocker.
May 5th, 2022 at 7:53 pm
Starting to like this class of rookies more and more. I am really interested to see how ZYON is doing a few years from now
May 6th, 2022 at 7:20 am
Good pick so far but only time will tell. I think we all know rob G will be back for 1 more season so no need for this guy to be a starter but I like what Joe said. Hopefully gronk doesn’t come back for a little bit so this kid can get some 1st team reps to help chemistry n development. I know it’s a super bowl run but the new TE most likely will get some game action at some point in the season n he needs to be ready n the only way for that is to get developed.