Free Cade Otton
April 4th, 2026
Turn him loose!
Back when the Bucs drafted Cade Otton out of Washington, there were plenty of highlights of Otton stretching defenses.
Those have been rare since the Bucs made him their fourth-round pick in 2022. And there were so few explosive plays from Otton last year, the Joe typing this here post was ready for the Bucs to find another starter at tight end.
But that wasn’t completely fair. Otton ran the fourth-most routes among NFL tight ends last season, but he ranked 20th in target percentage for routes run. Former Bucs offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard didn’t priortize Otton in the passing game.
When Otton caught a 19-yard touchdown pass in the final week of the season against Carolina, Joe thought, “Where has that been?”
After the season, Joe remembered Otton making a sweet 27-yard catch at Seattle when Baker Mayfield rolled to his left. Otton has shown he can stretch the defense. Why not use that?
Even former NFL safety and current Chicagoland high school coach Matt Bowen, typing for BSPN, can see the big-play ability in Otton.
He can also be targeted at the third level on seams and corners. Otton caught 59 passes in each of the past two seasons, combining for five touchdowns.
Hopefully, new Bucs offensive coordinator Zac Robinson takes advantage of Otton’s downfield ability.
There are only so many defensive backs available to guard receivers downfield.
Free Cade Otton!
April 4th, 2026 at 8:11 am
Otton is a better overall TE than ever given credit for. He’s never been a focal point of our offense but when called on due to injuries he has always stepped up. He’s more consistent than Kyle Pitts and he plays hard in EVERY game. I’m hoping he gets used a bit more in the deep passing game also. There is only maybe 5 or 6 TEs id take over him and this guy is a great teammate. Funny how much grief he gets on this site over 2 non catches when ME13 dropped MANY long TD passes
and that’s ok . Can’t figure out the hate for this guy we are lucky to have him.
April 4th, 2026 at 8:15 am
Otton and Durham have the same exact speed – at least they were the same speed as rookies, which is exactly 1/10 of a second slower than Gronk was in the 40.
April 4th, 2026 at 8:27 am
“…Otton ran the fourth-most routes among NFL tight ends” That’s “cardio king” kinda stuff.
April 4th, 2026 at 8:30 am
Otton is average at best, but he’s durable so far, he goes down and we don’t add a quality backup, we are in for a world of hurt cause the other guys wouldn’t be on most other teams
April 4th, 2026 at 8:33 am
Two things really hurt fan confidence in Otton this past season, and for the record I think he bounces back this year with the new OC.
(1) The o line had a ton of trouble and he was kept back to block way more than most OCs would have wanted him to.
(2) He had two definite catches just pulled out of his hands by the defender covering him making him look Downy soft.
I think he uses those two moments as motivation and has a great year.
April 4th, 2026 at 9:25 am
Well, fine. Cut him loose. Throw it to him. Let’s see what he’s got.
As appealing as the Sadiq kid is, they have many more holes in this dike of a Defense to plug.
April 4th, 2026 at 9:34 am
KABucs,
You’re correct brother, he allowed defenders from two different teams to Debo him n take the ball away with ease. Otton’s gotten get Rambo n toughen up in 2026. I’ve watched instances of his play when he becomes passive n not hungry to stretch out for critical first downs. Bring in the Magnificent 3G brothers to coach him up to get tough…Gonzalez, Gates, n Gronk. I thought after we released passive n soft as tissue OJ Howard, Otton was gone be a stud. If Devin Culp can’t get more playing time at tightend let’s get creative n try him out at Evans old position.
April 4th, 2026 at 10:01 am
It seems like Otton was the only TE getting reps last season
I never could figure out the reason behind carrying 4 TEs
And only one of them was actually playing
April 4th, 2026 at 10:10 am
Yeah, I had kinda thought Culp might do ok as a wife out too. He’s faster than Evans. There’s more to it than that, though.
Otton is ok. Not anywhere near elite nor terrible. I’m imagining Robinson will use him at least a little more than Griz did. We will probably pick up a TE some where in the draft, but I doubt we take Sadiq.
April 4th, 2026 at 10:12 am
I still remember him stepping up when all the WR’s were injured. I really believe he’s top 10 in the league. If the O-line is healthy, he won’t be required as an additional blocker as much. He has a little making up to do for the strip interception, but besides that he’s a very good player.
April 4th, 2026 at 10:30 am
Bucnjim. I remember when Baker got here in 2023. Otten played like 98 percent of our offensive snaps that season. A total warrior from beginning to end. He’s easily been one of our 5 best players these last 5 years. Top ten in the league? Absolutely. Top 10 tight end and top 10 most underrated players in the league.
April 4th, 2026 at 10:32 am
Our TE room is fine. Otton and Durham just need to be used. Grizz was not a TE OC. Durham can catch the ball. He’s the better blocker of the two. Culp – who knows what’s up there. He’s got “talent” but never sees the field. Ko is a grinder and special teams guy. And with our WR room, how many targets can to allocate to the TE.
We need defensive starters and core dept. wasting talk on TE’s and drafting Sadic at #15 when we just committed $10m to Otton is pretty stupid.
April 4th, 2026 at 10:39 am
@Guzzie55⬆️ , the last 2 seasons when Otton was out injured( 4 games) we were 2-2 with our other TEs . Our 2 losses were the Atlanta defensive game meltdown last year and the year before when we had Dallas beat with 5 minutes left and Bucky fumbled the game away to them.
April 4th, 2026 at 10:41 am
Otton’s ceiling is average. I think we’ve seen everything he is capable of. Average is mediocre, and mediocre is exactly what Bowles and company strive for. So I think we’ve got our guy.
April 4th, 2026 at 10:51 am
Then why are there articles wanting us to use draft capital on a te?
April 4th, 2026 at 11:01 am
Joe I want to say something here, I’ve always had some crazy thing about the Bucs having some playbook from the beginning of time. There have been numerous times that the defense knew the play before the huddle broke.
April 4th, 2026 at 11:05 am
Otton is better than “average”
In a year where he was under utilized in Grizz offense, he had more catches than Andrews, Kittel, Hockensen, LaPorta..all TEs folks would call above average or even great TEs.
April 4th, 2026 at 11:56 am
Guys don’t realize Cade really hasn’t been intentionally used until Mike/Chris/Both have gone out. Some of it is due to the musical chairs at OC since we’ve drafted him and part of it is because we’ve fed the backfield in the pass game second to our WRs.
I’ll take being solid at all the things we’d ask of our TEs over the Tanner Hudson type who couldn’t block to save his career here, but man could he catch all of 2 preseason targets.
April 4th, 2026 at 11:59 am
Todd asks his players to do lots of other things than what they’re actually good at.
Cade will play some center in 2026.
April 4th, 2026 at 2:44 pm
It’s about time Otton gets his due. Robinson will make his football play meaningful unlike GRIZZARD
April 4th, 2026 at 3:23 pm
I’m just trying to work out giving this cat 10,000,000 per season????
Licht loves to get guys in their 2nd deals win lose or draw because he feels like he shows that he made a good pick.
It’s called compounding a mistake
April 4th, 2026 at 3:31 pm
Cotton or Sadiq @ 15? Or both? Go Bucs!!!!!
April 4th, 2026 at 5:50 pm
When Otton caught a 19-yard touchdown pass in the final week of the season against Carolina, Joe thought, “Where has that been?”
——–
When Baker is throwing for 122 yards and 144 yards a game with the season on the line, there isn’t a lot of yards to go around.
April 4th, 2026 at 6:12 pm
The Bucs used Orrin quite a bit at times when Evans and Godwin were hurt. He was okay. I am wondering if Zac Robinson can use Culp like he used Pitts last year.
April 4th, 2026 at 8:23 pm
Fanofdabucs Says:
April 4th, 2026 at 11:05 am
Otton is better than “average”
In a year where he was under utilized in Grizz offense, he had more catches than Andrews, Kittel, Hockensen, LaPorta.
————
I think Otton is average, which isn’t a bad thing, but I wouldn’t call him a top 12 TE, but he’s not bad by any means, he’s somewhere in that 13-20 range, and could still put up some good stats if the gets better QB play.
But comparing him to those guys is as dumb as it gets.
Andrews was used primarily as a blocker this past year as they used Likely as their main receiver. Later in the year, Andrews was moved back more into the passing game, and they gave him a big extension. An invalid comparison.
Kittle was injured all year, and Otton isn’t even remotely in the same category as Kittle, who is the best overall TE in football.
Hockenson started the year injured, and hasn’t been considered a good TE in at least a couple of years, injuries have completely zapped him of his ability to get open, plus he was in a horrifically bad offense with some awful QB play.
Meanwhile LaPorta literal missed half the year, his per-game numbers blow Otton away.
If you’re going to make comparison, make valid ones.
The comparison that you’d point to Otton with is McBride, who was in the same draft class and Otton, at times, has produced like McBride. The big difference is the Bucs have had a ton of weapons and haven’t needed Otton to play that role – but the one time he was needed, during the 2024 season (not last year), he produced at a high level. I think he could do that still, but again, he just isn’t needed for that role. Plus, as stated above, Baker was awful last year from week 7 on, and tanked everyone’s stats with his awful play. If Baker plays better, everyone else – from e2 to Bucky to Otton – will suddenly ‘bounce back’.
April 5th, 2026 at 9:19 pm
free him up to go to the gloves store to buy some gloves so defenders aren’t just pulling the ball out of his glovesless hands