Draft Winner Payne Durham
April 26th, 2026
Joe lost count of how many times Buccaneers Ring of Honor general manager Jason Licht and Todd Bowles have said Bucs No. 2 tight end Payne Durham is a dangerous target with a great catch radius and capable of special plays.
He made a couple of those plays for Tampa Bay in 2023 and 2024.
Then Durham virtually disappeared. The 2025 offensive coordinator, Josh Grizzard, seemed overmatched when it came to maximizing his tight ends. Durham had 1 catch on 4 targets last season while playing 354 snaps through all 17 games.
If he was a weapon, Grizzard kept him locked in a safe.
Then came the 2026 NFL Draft, which wrapped up yesterday. A sect of Bucs fans thought the Bucs should pounce on stud tight end prospect Keynon Sadiq in Round 1. He was there when the Bucs picked at No. 15, but Tampa Bay wasn’t tempted and instead sought to end their roster’s greatest shame. They picked mauling edge rusher Rueben Bain.
The rounds went by and Tampa Bay didn’t draft a tight end until trading up in the sixth round to nab TE Bauer Sharp out of LSU. The former wildcat quarterback is a bit of a versatile project and a likely special teams warrior.
Joe saw the draft results as an endorsement of Durham and his potential, as well as another example of the team believing Grizzard was over his head.
If you forgot the Bucs’ 2023 fifth-round pick can do, watch the Durham video below.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! 🤯
📺: #TBvsIND on CBS pic.twitter.com/2YMZrZ6gwl
— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) November 26, 2023
April 26th, 2026 at 9:39 am
Poor Kiper thought TE was the Bucs biggest need. At least he was kind enough to excuse them for not passing on Bain. Goofball!
April 26th, 2026 at 9:57 am
So, Culp to the garbage bin? Surely, they will only keep 4 TE on the game day roster. He’ll get sniped from the practice squad.
April 26th, 2026 at 10:07 am
I’ll give you the glass half full on this summation
April 26th, 2026 at 10:14 am
Yeah I had a feeling Bain might slide to us and shake things up a bit. Those stories came out at just the right time. I didn’t think they would grab WR Ted Hurst in the 3rd, was thinking another defensive player there. I’m excited to have him though and it will be fun to see him compete against NFL caliber defenders coming from a smaller school. Perhaps Trotter was ideal for them to acquire that extra pick in the 5th for Big Billy. May have been looking at a player that was already off the board at the time of trade back.
April 26th, 2026 at 10:40 am
This was a Bowzo Draft. Awful.
April 26th, 2026 at 10:49 am
HC Grover = moron
April 26th, 2026 at 10:50 am
Joe you nailed it yet again sir!
Why on earth would any OC not take advantage of Duhams wing span in the red zone? I played enough ball to know that sometimes good teammates sat the bench or were left out of game plans because of the blindness of a coach. It does happen.
Go Bucs!
April 26th, 2026 at 11:04 am
That highlight was not unlike a Mike Evans highlight.
April 26th, 2026 at 11:04 am
Is Sharp gonna be the bucs’ Taysom Hill?? That pick has me confused. Other than that, I can definitely see JL/TB’s draft board vision
April 26th, 2026 at 11:07 am
Yeah, I agree that Grizz seemed to have a hard time scheming TEs and RBs in the passing game, which clearly points to Robinson’s strength and ultimate hiring
April 26th, 2026 at 11:10 am
The trade up to get that practice squad stiff when he would still be unsigned today is just another example of the post-Arians collapse.
April 26th, 2026 at 11:19 am
@HC Grover….
We’ve seen too many of your bs posts.
Crawl back into your dark hole in New Orleans where you came from.
April 26th, 2026 at 11:37 am
Thank you, Joe.
Payne and Devin Culp have both been criminally under-utilized.
Both have made the most of their limited appearances, in my book.
Ko is a blocker and his absence last year, along with the o-line injuries, was a big contributing factor to our offensive woes.
Cade may never achieve Gronk-level, but he’s solid and has stepped up when we’ve needed him to.
I’m glad we didn’t draft Sadiq in the first round, although he could be a generational tight end. I simply felt and still feel defense is a much more important need right now.
I’m not sure where Bauer will fit in, except maybe special teams for the moment. Nothing against him, but I’d have preferred to see us use the pick on defense.
April 26th, 2026 at 11:45 am
Or sign a real weapon and go get Njoku
April 26th, 2026 at 12:08 pm
I wanted more defense so the Bauer pick upset me. After finding out more about him, I like his huge upside but he’s a project. If I’m the Bucs, I’d keep Culp as his skill set and speed are unlike the other TE’s. The odd man out, for me, is Durham.
April 26th, 2026 at 12:45 pm
He’s also one of the best run blockers in the league. This dude Bauer may challenge Culp and Kieft because he is kinda a combination of both but needs to work on something’s and keep developing.
April 26th, 2026 at 1:12 pm
They should just relabel Ko a fullback
April 26th, 2026 at 1:16 pm
I think Bauer Sharp will end up on the practice squad, if he makes the team at all.
April 26th, 2026 at 1:44 pm
Good point on the implied endorsement Joe.
I think what we observed with this pick is the influence of our new OC. I’m excited to see what he’s going to put in place for our offense this year. The sum total of our offensive resources arguably positions the Bucs as a top-tier offensive unit in the NFL.
But to get there, we need the right coaching.
Let’s go Zac! Go Bucs!!
April 26th, 2026 at 1:46 pm
Could we get a few more angles on that one good play?
April 26th, 2026 at 2:18 pm
The Bucs drafted several project players.
Trotter hopefully has learned by now that, when facing a bunch formation, he is not supposed to run outside with the CB to cover a WR while leaving the TE running free across the middle of the field. And, hopefully, he will develop an awareness of the receivers lurking just behind him in zone coverage.
Hurst will be better if he can be coached to stop stepping backwards at the snap. And, if he adds five or ten pounds of leg thrust and arm jab muscle to use against press coverage, he can spend less time dancing and make it into more of a surprise move than just about his only move.
Strauth’s chances of a successful physical recovery was not too big a gamble.
Wasting a seventh round pick up to take Bauer in the sixth when most sites ranked him as an UDFA with a few saying seventh round made no sense as. TE pick. Presumably this was a “want” pick as it clearly was not a BPA value pick. Either the Bucs really want him as a special teams player. Or, the Bucs want him as some kind of gadget player – sometimes blocking downfield, sometimes actually running a route, and maybe sometimes turning a pitch or a screen formation into an RPO? Whatever it is, they gambled more what they want than his TE position value alone would justify.
April 26th, 2026 at 2:21 pm
TE Culp looked very promising in 2024 too, big, strong, good hands and YAC too. Was looking forward to him in 2025 and then he ends up with 1-reception in 13 games? Good riddance, Grizzard was definitely in over his head.
April 26th, 2026 at 2:22 pm
Looked like a TD. Don’t remember if we reviewed it. Saved Baker from a goal line interception.
April 26th, 2026 at 2:36 pm
The 26 draft looks about 50% right 50% project. I like the Bain pick. I think the Trotter pick is a 2 down player that has to be developed into a cover guy on 3rd but i really think there were better more talented choices but who cares what i think, Again I think the Bucs picked several project players or maybe just ST players but the STs were so bad We need a talent upgrade there also. I do wish they had hired a Defensive Cordinator to work full time developing the players & calling the plays so Bowles can concentrate on being a HC & time management, ccalling time outs ,when to go for a win opposed to a overtime loss ect.
April 26th, 2026 at 3:35 pm
More stories of malpractice by our former OC known as “The Grizz”. The Iggles deserve him!
April 26th, 2026 at 4:51 pm
Payne Durham> Sadiq… Let’s see what he can do with an OC that can scheme 2 TE sets. Culp has been underutilized also, so I believe with Zac coming on board and ME13 leaving you will see a LOT more use/production from our current TEs.
Anyone who thought we were drafting Sadiq should check themselves. Nothing better than 2 TEs that are similar that can block and catch so not tipping your hand in play calling. Rams use 3 TE sets last year so look for copycat offense.
April 26th, 2026 at 5:21 pm
Durham was a receiving and TD machine at Purdue. If you want him to catch the ball, throw it to him. Big guy with great hands. Hmmmm…. Jeff Brohm at Purdue figured it out. Let’s see if the Bucs can.
PS – Mel Kiper is an idiot.
April 26th, 2026 at 6:12 pm
Ko is the one who’s packing today. He was our blocking specialist.
Bauer Sharpe can block a truck.
My guess is they keep 4 TEs.
Cade,Payne,Culp,Sharpe.
This is usually the time of year , when I am being attacked by the Bucs ghappy clapper fans.
I’m usually complaining about bad draft picks- and a lot of the fanboy types are telling me how great the draft class is, and how we are certain to win the Super Bowl.
I have been right an unbelievable amount of times
This year, I gotta say- other than an absolute brainless waste on Trotter,
This is the best Draft class I’ve seen- Since I watched Warren Sapp drop on draft day. Sapp dropped because of a false rumor that he had failed a drug test.
Couldn’t believe we got him. Then Brooks fell- because of size concerns.
This year is a draft- where every single player drafted, but Trotter, should be able to contribute to this team in a meaningful way.
We still need a couple LBers, but we got some absolute steals this draft.
If we had drafted CJ Allen or even Hill-ID be the one saying we are going to the SuperBowl!
April 26th, 2026 at 6:49 pm
yes too many tight ends in the room…something or someone has to give…
looks to be culp who’s in the deepest doo…
but even kieft could get wacked…
did we really need this rookie tight end…time will tell
i still want to see culp and durham used more in robinson’s offense…grizz had these guys all shelved from day one
April 26th, 2026 at 7:20 pm
Guzzie55 Says:
April 26th, 2026 at 11:45 am
Or sign a real weapon and go get Njoku
================================
Otton better than Njoku who drops to many passes. No thanks.
April 27th, 2026 at 12:26 am
Gipper Says:
Otton better than Njoku who drops to many passes. No thanks.
———–
I don’t know about that, I think all-around Njoku is the better TE, but will also be 30-years old, and probably wants a decent pay check, which is why he’s not signed yet.
We’ll see, but I don’t think he’s signing a cheap deal, although he won’t get Otton money either.
With that said, the Bucs should try to sign him. He’s very much like Otton, a decent blocker, good receiver, with good speed. Him and Otton would be a 1A and 1B, and Njoku is worlds better than lumbering Durham.