Did Cade Otton Cure Himself Of The Dropsies?
March 8th, 2026
Not special but solid in many areas.
Joe has been clear about being torn when it comes to Bucs tight end Cade Otton.
Joe wants a more explosive tight end like Michael Trigg. But the more Joe reads about Otton, the more Joe might be a little off base.
Zachary Pereles of CBS believes Otton is Steady Eddie. Despite bouts of dropsies and garish turnovers (hold onto the ball!), Otton is normally a reliable, diverse tight end. Not special in anything, but solid in many things.
You know what you’re getting with Cade Otton. Each of the last three seasons, he averaged between 9.7 and 10.2 yards per catch, and caught between 68% and 73% of his targets, and each of the last two seasons, he caught exactly 59 passes. He is a complementary piece in the passing game, more steady than explosive but still with hints of downfield and after-catch production. He had a career-low two drops last season.
Otton’s drop in drops is a good sign. Joe is curious to see how new Bucs offensive coordinator Zac Robinson might use Otton. Joe really believes he can stretch the field a whole lot more than he has.
If the Bucs keep Otton, it should not prevent Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht from selecting Trigg on the second day of the draft.
Or — gasp! — Kenyon Sadiq at No. 15?
March 8th, 2026 at 11:14 am
If you’ll notice, in lieu of the gloves he wore as a rookie, he carefully puts tape in between his knuckles on all his fingers. I’d say it works for him
March 8th, 2026 at 11:14 am
He cant block. He needs Godwin or Payne Durham to help him set the edge. I dont get the hype. Cades a decent tight end, but the money they’re projecting is absurd. Let someone else spend that
March 8th, 2026 at 11:22 am
He’s an OK blocker. He’s not Jimmie Giles, who was basically a fast guard playing tight end, but Otton isn’t Tim Wright.
March 8th, 2026 at 11:39 am
‘You know what you got’ vs the next OJ Howard. Bird in hand more valuable than 2 in the bush.
March 8th, 2026 at 11:44 am
Keep Otton!
Let Dean go!
March 8th, 2026 at 11:45 am
Ditto to what Co Z Coolman said.
He doesn’t have any nasty to him. He’s a mere obstacle to the opposing Defense. I don’t think that you can teach nasty. All the good ones had / have it. They like to mix it up at the line, their jersey isn’t clean going into the 4th quarter.
March 8th, 2026 at 11:48 am
I wouldn’t put much stock in Pitts’ contract yr under Zach, on a run team with few target options, to conclude that Zach is some sort of TE whisperer. Stick with the known commodity that clearly been a team first guy his entire career
March 8th, 2026 at 11:53 am
“NASTY?” Are you claiming Isaiah Likely, Trigg, or Sadiq have “nasty?” Is “nasty” your litmus for TE? Sure, I agree this team needs nasty in the trenches, a nasty ILB or S, maybe even a “nasty” FB who is a crusher on ST, but TE? I doubt your TE draft dreams will provide a “nasty” TE.
March 8th, 2026 at 11:55 am
Otten is a better than average TE . The problem you don’t have anyone to replace him. Presently that is a big problem.
March 8th, 2026 at 12:03 pm
Really left a bad taste in my mouth when he had 2 balls ripped from his hands. Jus doesn’t see like a “tough” trait to me.
Maybe I’m bias, but I can’t think of may of TE where that happened multiple times to the same person
March 8th, 2026 at 12:19 pm
Paying Otton 8-10 million a year is not worth what he brings to the offense, rather get Chig Goedert or Likely if we are paying a TE that much
March 8th, 2026 at 12:25 pm
You just can’t pay 10 mill for yard short of the first down Otton. Good kid, good teammate, and steady player. Just good enough to get you beat. Try again JL.
March 8th, 2026 at 12:30 pm
Our best blocker is Kieft, hope the bring him back, he won’t cost much. as for Otton:
“In the 2025 season, Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end Cade Otton established himself as a premier blocking tight end, earning a solid 71.3 PFF blocking grade. As a durable, every-down player, he was crucial in pass protection and as a run blocker, often acting as an “enforcer” at the point of attack for a depleted Buccaneers offensive line”
March 8th, 2026 at 12:54 pm
Silly to waste draft pick on TE when you can re-sign Otton.
He’s productive and not the reason for Bucs’ Offensive collapse last year.
March 8th, 2026 at 12:59 pm
Well Mark Schelerth called him a phenomenal player – so he’s obviously HOF.
He is serviceable and I hope we keep him at a modest contract.
March 8th, 2026 at 1:01 pm
All I know is Licht better double up his coffee and blast the phones tomorrow at noon. His job is on the line.
March 8th, 2026 at 1:03 pm
With the wideouts we have we don’t need Otten to be spectacular, just what he has been. I do think he has been under utilized for the last 2 years, he can play, get open and catch so what else do we need? Kelce is on a team that has no reliable receivers so he is it, Gronk was an outlier but still the best receiver on those NE teams, not so much here but don’t think Evans and Godwin didn’t help in that dept.
March 8th, 2026 at 1:11 pm
Likely is a match up nightmare. Defense is going to suck so stack the offense.
March 8th, 2026 at 1:23 pm
TE is the least important offensive position. the dumbest move in recent sports history was resigning bowles. the 2nd dumbest move is taking sadiq with the 15th pick. if that happens the glaziers & JL should be banned from the NFL and committed to a mental facility.
March 8th, 2026 at 1:29 pm
If we keep Otton, why would we use our first pick on a tight end, especially if we’re able to keep Evans. We obviously have too many needs on defense and we definitely have enough receiving weapons.
March 8th, 2026 at 1:48 pm
If Sadiq is there at 15 it might be too much of a temptation for the Bucs to draft him. Licht loves explosive offensive guys and this guy is a freak of nature. We need immediate help on defense but I could not argue with drafting Sadiq
March 8th, 2026 at 1:48 pm
Was the one he batted up in the air for an interception not considered a drop? That’s the play I remember.
March 8th, 2026 at 1:49 pm
Beeej … ‘Our best blocker is Kieft, hope the bring him back, he won’t cost much’.
Kieft has excellent size (6’5″ & 265 lbs) but he was barely used in his first 4 yrs here (265-207-104-29 offensive snaps 2022-2025 plus played a LOT on Special Teams). That only averages out to 11-12 snaps per game on offense for the 53 games he played. And my guess would be that half of those were as a fullback, not TE.
Sorry Beeej, but when a TE is targeted only 15 times in 4 years (and 10 of those occurred in 2022 with the other 5 in 2023), then he’s not really a TE. Maybe a small OLineman? In any event, if Bucs aren’t gonna use him more than that, can’t see using a roster spot for such limited usage.
March 8th, 2026 at 1:50 pm
I’ll have zero cares if Otton leaves, but then again, my Bucs soul was crushed when they kept Lovie Bowles for another year.
March 8th, 2026 at 1:53 pm
What an incredible early spring weekend. Far from football season. My favorite team since Baker got here so my objectivity may be suspect. I like Jamal Dean. Same goes for Racchad White. And Mike Evans. When I watch Otten play, and that’s every game he’s played for 3 seasons, he’s a savage blocker and pass catcher deluxe and the backbone of my favorite team and the reasons, along with the other teammates I’ve named, that makes me know we’ve got a great nucleus. I know, everybody is replaceable. But I don’t think it’s these guys. Not yet. I think we might lose White and I hate that. I would cheer him on wherever he plays. But I am for keeping all of our great talent. Even if my objectivity might be challenged. Draft Rodriguez. We could bust the rest of our picks and it would still go down as a great draft. He’d fit right in with all those great players we oughta be re signing.
March 8th, 2026 at 1:53 pm
Joe … ‘Or — gasp! — Kenyon Sadiq at No. 15?’
And when the defense totally sucks next year & we miss the playoffs again, you’d be one of the first in line Joe to say ‘Bucs should’ve gone defense with at least all of their Top-4 Rnd picks’.
March 8th, 2026 at 1:56 pm
No disagreement with that point DR, I don’t consider him a TE either, more a great fullback/extra blocker and he’s a yuge asset to special teams
March 8th, 2026 at 2:40 pm
I hope we keep him. Go Bucs
March 8th, 2026 at 2:50 pm
“He had a career-low two drops last season.”
How can this be true? According to the expert commenters here, he needed to go because of his drops!
March 8th, 2026 at 2:59 pm
I would hate to see Cade Otton leave.
March 8th, 2026 at 3:35 pm
Speaking of dropped passes, did you know Larry Fitzgerald had more tackles than dropped passes in his career? Whoa.
Otton had 8 drops in 2024 and only 2 in 2025. That’s great progress, but he gave up critical turnovers letting smaller guys rip the ball out of his hands. Needs to stop doing *that* and also deflecting the ball into the air which leads to int’s.
He might be capable of even more than he has produced so far, so I could see the Bucs maybe pursuing re-signing him.
March 8th, 2026 at 3:38 pm
Likely…Do those drops account for Bakers completion percentage 🤔
March 8th, 2026 at 3:47 pm
Or even better, I’d love to see them sign Isiah Likely, who is awesome. He’s really fast, and gets open and wouldn’t cost a first round draft pick. Also a good blocker.
March 8th, 2026 at 3:49 pm
Damn I missed it. Props to @Joe. Last week I called that you would post your “ 2 drops from Cade that cost us the Superbowl” article by Friday ( which was a few days after you posted the last one) . I assumed you would follow the pattern of 3 a week. You won my friend, you waited til Sunday. Props.
Content… the struggle is real..
March 8th, 2026 at 4:03 pm
Good riddance every time otton was targeted I felt
Something bad was going to happen or he wouldn’t get any yac lol
March 8th, 2026 at 4:53 pm
Kenyon Sadiq ran a 4.39 40! That’s really fast for a wide receiver yet he’s a 240 lb. Tight End. Fastest TE in NFL history. Crazy! Can you imagine trying to scheme against him as a DC? Who do you cover him with? He’s too fast for any linebacker and almost any safety. A corner is too small and runs the risk of a broken tackle. He’s faster than some starting corners! That is just unbelievable. He could literally break the game if selected. Put him on our offense and a team playing against us would have to play dime defense on every down or get slaughtered. Which of course opens up the run. I was thinking we absolutely need to draft defense number 1 until I really thought about this guy. Wow!
March 8th, 2026 at 5:07 pm
Stpetematt. We need football players. Fastest “combine” time for a tight end in history. Look at fastest combine time in history for every position and find out it’s a bunch of players you’ve never heard of. Do tell us more than 40 time to convince us he’s worth a first pick.
March 8th, 2026 at 5:23 pm
“His hips are tight and he is slow to gain speed when accelerating”. Doesn’t have even average strength for the position. Sadie should make a good NFL tight end. But it’s no guarantee. We’ve already got a good tight end.
March 8th, 2026 at 6:38 pm
Ready for him to leave. Tired of the inability to catch. Don’t tell me about his “only” 2 drops lat year. He’s not a weapon and there is nothing special about him.
March 8th, 2026 at 7:14 pm
Did Cade Otton Cure Himself Of The Dropsies? – Joe
Answer: No
If you enjoy 8-9 and no playoffs then just keep everyone and run it back in 2026.
This is not a SB contending team by any stretch.
When you fight for your limitations that is all you’ll be left with.
Fire Bowles now!