Payne Durham Is A Scoring Machine
April 30th, 2023
Rookie Bucs tight end Payne Durham, a fifth-round pick.
As Joe has stated, new Bucs tight end Payne Durham really reminds Joe of former Bucs 2002 hero receiver Joe Jurevicius, only Jurevicius is much faster.
Durham can go up, high-point and catch balls. And he doesn’t go down easy thanks to a nasty stiff-arm he’s not scared to use.
Well, the following may surprise most defensive-minded head coaches: the easiest way to beat teams is to score points. Lots of ’em. And Durham does that.
Per Jenna Laine of ESPN, only one tight end in Division-I/FBS football had more touchdown catches than Durham and that was Notre Dame’s Michael Mayer who was drafted by the Raiders in the second round Friday.
Mayer had nine touchdown catches and Durham had eight.
Laine also noted Seattle last season used a heavy amount of two-tight end sets. And yeah, new Bucs offensive coordinator Dave Canales came from Seattle.
So as long as Durham isn’t a stiff, look for a lot of formations from Canales using both Cade Otton and Durham.
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April 30th, 2023 at 1:05 pm
and tackle eligible for tufuss who has great hands
April 30th, 2023 at 1:08 pm
Watched Durham quite a bit at Purdue. Doesn’t look athletic but gets open and catches the ball. And catches TD’s.
April 30th, 2023 at 1:11 pm
I like this draft. It will combine with the draft next year and Bucs will bust out year after next with new coach and players.
April 30th, 2023 at 1:19 pm
Can’t wait to see what kind of one two punch Otton and Durham are after they both put on NFL weight and gain strength!
April 30th, 2023 at 1:19 pm
I like the potential for the Cotton/Purdham pairing. Bring on some TE sets!
April 30th, 2023 at 1:21 pm
Durham is a big body, but he isn’t going to beat anybody downfield, but if you get him a little space, he’ll catch it and make defenders pay. And yes, due to his length, physicality, and good hands, he should be a reliable red zone target.
The TE room may lack star power, but it’s pretty solid with good young talent.
April 30th, 2023 at 1:22 pm
I’m pretty happy with the draft. My biggest concern was RB but this undrafted guy could be the speed answer. On the another subject I’m pretty sure we’re going to bring in an experienced QB from the USFL, etc. It would be great if you did an article on the best options. Thanks
April 30th, 2023 at 1:30 pm
BTW I saw somewhere Tucker ran a 4.3 40 in HS
April 30th, 2023 at 1:36 pm
There will be names released between now and the end of TC established starters that teams will move on from that will be signed here to shore up the roster.
Now let’s move on to the elephant in the clubhouse
Traskfield … who will it be and what will the new OC be like???
SpaceExHeavyLift type questions ahead
April 30th, 2023 at 1:43 pm
Ya we have to bring in two more QBs, just for there to be enough arms to service all the skill guys just signed.
Don’t worry Trashk to the Dumpster and Leave Trashk at Home, your loveboi will be allowed to service the skill guys, too. I hope he services them very well. It would be the best of surprises to see #2 actually produce.
April 30th, 2023 at 1:58 pm
FrontFour Says:
April 30th, 2023 at 1:08 pm
Watched Durham quite a bit at Purdue. Doesn’t look athletic but gets open and catches the ball. And catches TD’s.
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Did he have a big growth spurt or something? Watching his highlights, in some of them he looks much smaller and much faster and more agile – then in others, he looks much bigger, but also slow and lumbering. Wondering if maybe I’m just flat out wrong on how he looked, physically, and maybe he had a nagging injury or something – but it looked almost like two different guys at some points.
April 30th, 2023 at 1:58 pm
The way he lumbers down the field and is so hard to tackle reminds me of Gronk
April 30th, 2023 at 2:01 pm
Rod, you watched his junior high school tape and then watched his Purdue tape!
April 30th, 2023 at 2:07 pm
Brate’s replacement.
April 30th, 2023 at 2:08 pm
Guy catches over 50% of contested passes too, I like that
April 30th, 2023 at 2:08 pm
A young Brate.
April 30th, 2023 at 2:14 pm
Good to hear Durham is heavy and physical because, if the Goat needed protection (to say the least), so will Baker Mayfield: can Durham block?
Otten’s overall offensive performance last year was encouraging: if he improves this year he could become part of the core-offense with Evans and Godwin; so, the more targets he gets the better; Durham as a reliable backup
Is what I’d like to see.
April 30th, 2023 at 2:22 pm
GF, preach it brother. once baker inevitably gets hurt, I fear we’ll actually have to dress Trask. That means he could conceivably play in a meaningful game. Gives me the shivers. What scares me more is the fact they like this QB room. A reclamation project and a bust?
April 30th, 2023 at 2:22 pm
If you have too many tight ends you don’t have any 🤣🤣
April 30th, 2023 at 2:34 pm
Rod, maybe he got on the “program” you know what I mean. I saw the same thing. Everyone is on something, and I don’t mean donuts. Kind of strange they took two tight ends last year, in a bad TE draft. This year they take one late in what was a consensus good te draft. A tad confusing
April 30th, 2023 at 2:43 pm
Redeemer said, “…….once baker inevitably gets hurt, I fear we’ll actually have to dress Trask. That means he could conceivably play in a meaningful game. Gives me the shivers. ”
Whatever reproductive parts I had left just shrunk inside forever. Good God.
And I’m out of scotch.
April 30th, 2023 at 3:10 pm
Redeemer Says:
Rod, maybe he got on the “program” you know what I mean.
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I didn’t mean anything like that, I mean he physically looked bigger, like he grew 2 or 3 inches or something and also put on weight in a proportional way. Maybe it’s just me, it’s not like I did a deep dive on it or anything, but some of his highlights are really impressive, and in others he looks like a lot taller and a lot stiffer.
Someone who watched Purdue would likely know if I’m just imagining things or perhaps he did in fact have a growth spurt, which slowed him down.
April 30th, 2023 at 3:25 pm
This kid looks and plays just like Cade Otton. Can be a target at all 3 levels of the route tree, big catch radius, obviously not the fastest player, but that’s kind of offset by how his size doesn’t make him an “easy” target to take down the further he gets outside of the box. Hope he’s ready for camp
April 30th, 2023 at 3:46 pm
Definitely a up and coming TE room. Got Cade for pass happy…got this guy to block and catch passes decievingly..then we got Ko to block. Can’t wait to watch. Hopefully these guys can help the line block.
April 30th, 2023 at 3:50 pm
Rachard White should be grinning from ear to ear after this draft .
So should Mayfield and Trask ..
April 30th, 2023 at 4:01 pm
Kid looks like a good red zone threat much needed. Let’s see what he & Otton can do this year. I’m a big Otton fan hopefully he’s putting on some muscle this off-season. Expect him to be much improved from last year.
April 30th, 2023 at 4:13 pm
Rayswave, I’m with you on this. In his interview he said when in the redzone, if the ball was thrown, it was his! After last year’s redzone fiasco, he will be a welcomed sight. And who knows, maybe they’ll call ME13’s # there too!
April 30th, 2023 at 4:19 pm
It drove me nuts last year when lefty refused to call plays to ME13 in the redzone and would run 2 or 3 times instead and lose yardage. Then kick a field goal. Totally insane!!!!
April 30th, 2023 at 5:44 pm
This really solidifies the TE group. It seems like this team is getting much much younger. Also most of the draft picks have great speed. Getting younger and faster ain’t a bad thing
April 30th, 2023 at 6:35 pm
@TDTB2022,
He isn’t anything like Brate. Brate had decent wheels at the beginning and was never big and imposing like this guy.
April 30th, 2023 at 7:10 pm
Was kool to see him get drafted
Most outlets didn’t have him getting picked
April 30th, 2023 at 7:38 pm
I don’t understand why some of y’all think trask is a bust. He’s never even taken a meaningful snap. Sorry not sorry I don’t agree with y’all vs what BA n JL saw. BA has developed some good QBs he deff knows more than y’all do.
April 30th, 2023 at 9:22 pm
I like this young man.
He may have an impact this year
May 1st, 2023 at 1:20 am
1#bucsfan Says:
April 30th, 2023 at 7:38 pm
I don’t understand why some of y’all think trask is a bust. He’s never even taken a meaningful snap.
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Well the fact he hasn’t taken a meaningful snap is why they think he’s a bust.
With that said, I’m pretty sure Bowles and Licht aren’t commenting here, so it doesn’t actually matter what anyone thinks – if he’s not a bust he’ll have his chance to prove it this year. But not getting snaps isn’t proof he’s NOT a bust, the logic there is exactly backwards.
May 1st, 2023 at 8:10 am
1#bucsfan
The Trask haters gotta chime in on posts about everything at JBF. Otherwise they explode like Mentos in Cola and mess up their moms couch.