Todd Bowles Evaluates Tight End Position
January 13th, 2026
Despite missing a game this season due to injury, tight end Cade Otton ran the fourth-most routes in the NFL at his position.
He was an extremely busy man in the passing game for a Bucs team that ranked 15th in the league in pass attempts.
Otton was a top-15 tight end in both receptions and receiving yards among tight ends. But he hauled in just 72.8 percent of his targets, which was poor at the position.
The Bucs can do better than the 2022 fourth-round pick. Will Tampa Bay make moving on from Otton a priority? He’s a pending free agent and his market is tough to assess, but it seems he could fetch around $7 million per year.
Todd Bowles talked about his tight ends room during his final show of this season on the Buccaneers Radio Network.
Bowles lamented the loss of Ko Kieft, who was lost for the season after a Week 3 leg injury.
“You know, Ko was our main blocker when he got hurt, but Cade is our do-everything guy,” Bowles said.
Joe was surprised to hear Kieft called “our main blocker” because he only played an average of 7 snaps a game on offense last year.
Bowles referred to Payne Durham as “very tough” and sounded like a coach eager for Devin Culp to be more well-rounded.
“Devin is probably our most athletic. He’s just gotta get a little better in the run game so we can use him. So it’s promising going forward,” Bowles said.
It’s hard to imagine Bowles will want to move on from Otton unless the Bucs invest significant resources at the position. Otton is rather durable and certainly is a legitimate starter. Buccaneers Ring of Honor general manager Jason Licht might have a different view.
Joe would embrace a new offensive coordinator coming in and being eager to overhaul the position — or a guy who actually wants to use Durham and Culp as weapons.
January 13th, 2026 at 10:39 am
Hard to put any merit in anything Todd evaluates.
January 13th, 2026 at 10:41 am
“Devin is probably our most athletic. He’s just gotta get a little better in the run game so we can use him.”
Two years in, and he can’t play? This is heard time and time again. Either draft players ready to play or have coaches who can actually teach.
January 13th, 2026 at 10:45 am
Use Culp, let Otton give the ball to the other team somewhere else.
January 13th, 2026 at 10:47 am
If Otton starts next season then it’s further proof showing how unserious this team is. Otton isnt good, he can’t really catch, he isn’t fast and he doesn’t run block. Why is he on the team?
Plus it also depends on who the OC is. No need to invest in a good TE and not use him in the offense. It would be nice to have a TE that can catch and block.
It seems like Bowles falls in love with certain players and he never looks for upgrades, regardless of how bad they play. Thats why the roster looks the way it does.
January 13th, 2026 at 10:53 am
Yes, I think we need a tight end. However we have way bigger priorities right now. Whatever Culp lacks in the run game coach him up because the man has tremendous talent and is hard for LB’s to cover.
January 13th, 2026 at 10:59 am
This is the moron who wouldn’t use an edge rusher because “he was really good at rushing the passer.” Devin Culp should have seen way more snaps as a pass catcher for criminy’s sake. If Tood failed to notice, his top 4 WRs were all banged up.
This clown needs to be teaching life skills to college students at Temple.
January 13th, 2026 at 11:06 am
I like Todd Bowles, and I defend him, till this season….
We all probably agreed it was time to move on, but guess what?
IT DIDN”T HAPPEN…..
So stop this moaning and move on…..
We are all Bucs fans….
Start behaving like adults
January 13th, 2026 at 11:08 am
Draft Sadik from Oregon
January 13th, 2026 at 11:10 am
Lol, yeah TE is def a need this draft….Trigg, but they wont listen!
January 13th, 2026 at 11:13 am
Otton is not bad, but isn’t very good either. He is the very definition of meh. Durham…meh minus. Culp? Never see him. Kieft…more like a slightly slower Durham. Meh minus minus. Will our new OC even use a TE much? Not all do.
January 13th, 2026 at 11:14 am
zz, so youre member #6 of the fandom HOA Karen league…so worried about what someone else’s opinion of todd.
January 13th, 2026 at 11:16 am
Any statement that begins with “Todd Bowles Evaluates” should be immediately discounted as mis, dis, and mal information.
His evaluations set in motion a free fall from 6-2 to 8-9.
Every year there is a long sustained losing streak and a .250 playoff win percentage.
Please remind us again why he is still employed?
Oh never mind, that’s right. He gets special treatment.
January 13th, 2026 at 11:22 am
Cade not running to the sticks Otton can move along to another team; let him do that somewhere else!
January 13th, 2026 at 11:25 am
Todd Bowels should evaluating his 401K and retirement savings.
The reasons don’t matter
He results do and they are unacceptable on many levels!
The same reasoning applies to Jasmine Licht
January 13th, 2026 at 11:25 am
Watching the Houston Texans beat the Steelers revealed a few things.
They actually do play it better, scheme it better, and coach it better.
And as an added bonus, they draft it better. Imagine that!
Plus, they were able to successfully draft a franchise QB! Unheard of in Tampa.
These should all be requirements of a HC and a GM. #ShortBus
January 13th, 2026 at 11:28 am
Mayfield went to Otton alot last year because the receiver routes were easily read and covered by Defenses.
He misses alot of blocks which screwed up alot of Offensive Drives last season – typical example of stats being misleading.
January 13th, 2026 at 11:29 am
Otton had a couple of tough games but that shouldn’t define him. Overall I think he is very good and he has good chemistry with Mayfield. He is tough to bring down in the open field. Coen used him much more effectively last year than Grizzard. I would definitely keep him.
January 13th, 2026 at 11:30 am
Monken going to one buc place tomorrow to interview for the OC
January 13th, 2026 at 11:32 am
Even the draft emotional high along with FA signings will not enjoy the typical honeymoon euphoria.
Too many fans are NOT buying into the propaganda and spin coming from the FRONT OFFICE on down!
January 13th, 2026 at 11:34 am
The NFL is a professional league: everyone is elite at this level, and everyone is getting paid. It’s ridiculous to evaluate anyone involved on whether they’re going to win a Superbowl: 31/32 of them aren’t. But when your team only outperforms 11 of 32 teams, it’s time to take a good, hard look at the top managment.
January 13th, 2026 at 11:42 am
JustVisiting ..that was what the past season was all about.
It was a gross performance and failure!
7 F’n games lost in a row!
7 losses in the last 8 games !
The 3 first games in 4th quarter come from behind with one never leading the game until the last second go ahead FG…
There is too much wrong with this FRANCHISE!
January 13th, 2026 at 11:48 am
Infuriating.
How many great receiving tight ends are poor blockers but still get a lot of playing time?
A lot
Evan Engram to me is a great comp to Culp. Similar athleticism and size. Jacksonville 2022 766 yard on 73 catches. 2023 114 catches 963 yards.
Why can’t we use Culp in that capacity. We have Durham to block on running downs let Culp play on 3rd and medium to long or in the 2 minute offense.
January 13th, 2026 at 11:49 am
Culp must not be very good at showing off his blocking skills in the walk throughs.
January 13th, 2026 at 11:50 am
Real fans will clamor for Todd Bowles to be truly and properly fired, until he is. His retention is an abomination and nothing to “just get over. “.
Sorry.
Fire Todd Bowles.
January 13th, 2026 at 11:50 am
I’ll never “just move on” from the terrible decision to retain Bowles. The cowards called Glazers didn’t even make him give up the DC duties. This franchise is back to being a laughingstock. Without question they retained the absolute worst HC in the entire 32 team league. Yeah let’s just move on.
January 13th, 2026 at 11:52 am
Not sure Tbowels should evaluate any offense player as he’s having enough difficulty with evaluating defensive players that he is supposed to be a Guru of.
Otton has been adequate. The best offensive teams have weapons at TE. No DC is losing sleep game planning for Otton. We could definitely use an upgrade in FA
as TE are the most affordable. Durham and Culp will be better if we get a quality OC. Note some teams have 2 TEs better than Otton like Rams and Seahawks. Hmmm
January 13th, 2026 at 11:55 am
You want this coaching staff to make schemes to take advantage of what players do well instead of making players play the scheme they design regardless if plays to their strengths or not silly fan you are talking about a good coach this isn’t that.
January 13th, 2026 at 11:57 am
Some teams have 2 TEs better than Otton. Rams and Seahawks for example.
Add one in FA and Durham + Culp will be better if we hire a quality OC.
Most rookie TEs do not have good 1st seasons
January 13th, 2026 at 12:00 pm
Otten should not be back for a cent over the veteran minimum.
January 13th, 2026 at 12:02 pm
Bowles should be hiring an OC to do the evaluations and spend every waking minute focusing on the defense.
Unless the defense is fixed, none of the changes are going to matter.
January 13th, 2026 at 12:05 pm
ALL good comments and conclusions in the above posts!
We ain’t buying the BULLSHEET that the franchise is selling!
January 13th, 2026 at 12:10 pm
I’d we don’t use all 7 draft picks for Defensive players and a backup QB, I’m out. Our TEs are good enough to win. With the WR room stacked and good RBs, we need them to be serviceable and used to their strengths. I like Otten in his role. He’s a tough guy nobody gives much credit to. Durham can block and needs to be used in red zone and mismatches with smaller LBs/DBs. Culp needs to be used down the seam. We at ok at TE. The Bears threw 19 passes to 3 TEs in Their last game(playoff win) . We just don’t know how to use ours.
January 13th, 2026 at 12:17 pm
Ko Kieft was a big loss this year for the team. We need more Tight ends that can block like him or the run game will be bad again next year.
January 13th, 2026 at 12:18 pm
TEs are NOT OTs. Yes, they should block some, but I’d rather they scared a defense at least a little bit. And they should know where the down marker is and not be constantly 1/2 a yard short of it. Kinda like pass rush LBs (aka DEs) shouldn’t have to cover WRs and RBs. Anybody else see a pattern here?
January 13th, 2026 at 12:41 pm
Of course he’ll bring Otton back. Licht will gladly over pay for him. Not like we have a choice, Licht hasn’t taken the position seriously the last few drafts. Either way, Grizz rarely used them as threats.
January 13th, 2026 at 1:39 pm
Almost every offense in the NFL finds ways to use multiple TE’s in the passing game…not the Bucs. Otton was the only TE to get any targets in the passing game. Unacceptable, especially given our WR depth issues this season.
Bowles said it right there, Devin can’t play unless he can block in the run game. What does blocking in the run game have to do with splitting out and running routes against outsized Safeties? Coen found a way to use everyone last year. I want to know if Grizzard was handcuffed by Bowles or if Grizzard was really just that foolish? Not using Devin Culp on offense because he isnt great at blocking absolutely screams of a Todd Bowles decision, kind of like how he wont let pass rushers in the game because they arent great in the run game.
Payne Durham is massive, and they couldn’t find a way to use him in the play action pass game? Inexcusable.
Dont cry about the players the GM picks when the coaching staff doesnt have the imagination to figure out how to use them on the field. So frustrating.
January 13th, 2026 at 1:50 pm
Otton is the man. Yea he had a little bit of a down year. Shoot everyone on the Bucs did. Last year he put the team on his back when Godwin n Mike went down. Grizz finally used him right in the last game of the season and look what happened. Y’all crazy if you want to dump him even you Joe