Helps shore up guard depth?

Toward the end of the season last year, it was clear to one NFL.com reporter that the Bucs just had to improve their backup guards for the Bucs to return to the playoffs.

Eric Edholm was horrified watching the matador blocking of [not that] Mike Jordan and former Buffalo practice squad lineman Dan Feeney.

When Cody Mauch went down for the season in Week 2 and Ben Bredeson later in the season, the Bucs offensive line went from banged up to a shambles.

And Baker Mayfield subsequently got beat to hell. And we know what happened after that.

Pass protection let the Bucs down. Baker Mayfield has to take responsibility for his un-pressured interception in the fourth quarter [at home against Atlanta], but he was under fire for most of the night. Mayfield was sacked five times, and that number would have been higher had it not been for Atlanta penalties wiping out other sacks. The Bucs’ interior OL trio of Mike Jordan, Dan Feeney and Graham Barton really struggled to handle the Falcons’ rush inside all night, creating some muddy pockets on a field that looked pretty chewed up to begin with.

And those two rotten guards dragged Graham Barton down. And Joe’s not killing Barton here. Late in the season Joe honestly saw Barton block two guys by himself, one with each arm, like a 1970s blocking scheme where dudes used their forearms and not their hands, because the turnstiles on either side of him were nowhere to be found.

As you can see from the graphic at this link, (not that) Mike Jordan and Dan Feeney were horrific.

No wonder Mayfield was so banged up.

But yeah, Joe believes the drafting of Notre Dame guard Billy Schrauth will be a big help. Hopefully, one of the beer truck drivers or maybe even Feeney himself can take a step up this summer and prove to be a little bit better than a traffic cone.