There’s A Reason For That
November 3rd, 2026
Bucs TE Bauer Sharp hollers in delight after blasting Atlanta defenders.
The answer was for all to see on Sunday from The Licht House.
Last spring the Bucs traded up 10 spots in the draft from the seventh round into the sixth round to draft an obscure tight end who had bounced around college football, last landing at LSU.
His name was Bauer Sharp.
Joe remembers a draftnik texting Joe. He was borderline upset. “What the hell is Jason Licht trading up in the draft to get a tight end for? Like we don’t have enough tight ends already!”
Then, when cutdown day came and the Bucs let go popular backup tight end Devin Culp, Bucs fans were upset. Culp had shown an ability to stretch the field and make catches in the few snaps he played on Sundays.
Sharp? Not so much.
Well, a general manager told Joe many moons ago that if a guy isn’t starting, he better play special teams or he is an endangered species. Culp wasn’t much of a special teams guy. Sharp was. And is.
But on Sunday when the Bucs decided to bludgeon the Dixie Chicks and play some good ol’ fashioned F*** You Football, the Bucs often used a three-tight end set. That third tight end was Sharp.
And for folks who watched closely, they noticed that Sharp was kicking people’s asses wearing red jerseys all game long.
This did not go unnoticed by former NFL offensive lineman and current NFL Network analyst Brian Baldinger, who put out a video on Twitter which was a cutup of some of Sharp’s beautiful blocks to spring Bucky Irving or Kenny Gainwell.
Baldinger just raved about Sharp and gave a hat tip to Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht for finding him and having the stones to go get him.
The trade up is paying off already — and Sharp is a pretty good special teams player, too.
Even KitKat-eating Bucs coach Todd Bowles gave Sharp a shoutout yesterday about.
“Obviously, he can catch the ball and run routes, but he’s really getting the run game down,” Bowles said. “He’s really a willing, physical blocker, putting his face in there.
“He’s getting the scheme down, so he’s seeing more time.”
There was just so much to like about the physicality of Sunday’s win. Offense, defense, special teams, and backup tight end coming into the game and jacking up Atlanta defenders.
Now Bucs fans have the answer to the two aforementioned questions about Sharp.
.@AtlantaFalcons @Buccaneers @BauerSharp15 had a significant role in the 3 TE sets that the Bucs favored in the Monsoon…Constantly at the POA which was a great contribution to the 324 yard rushing effort. #BaldysBreakdowns pic.twitter.com/sMvLsBKE0u
— Brian Baldinger (@BaldyNFL) November 3, 2026
November 3rd, 2026 at 4:16 am
He missed the best one where he put the DE on his ass!
November 3rd, 2026 at 4:45 am
Good Stuff.
Sharp can get downfield and catch the ball too. We should be seeing that this year at some point when Robinson gets him in there as the 2nd TE in 12 personnel.
Licht has said he intended to draft Jalon Daniels in Rd 7 – so the Bucs basically got the trade up to nab Bauer Sharp for free since Daniels signed with Tampa Bay as a UDFA.
It drives me nuts seeing so many people say “Licht sucks and needs to be fired”….. Our GM is one of the best in the league you idiots! He’s probably the best overall drafter in the NFL. Top 5 at worst… Finding Gems like Bucky and McCollum and Keionte Scott and David Walker on day 3 of the draft… Getting studs like Parrish and Tykee Smith and Jamel Dean and Godwin in the 3rd round…..
November 3rd, 2026 at 4:55 am
Yeah, agreed JV, that play on the right side when he pancaked the DE was a thing of beauty. The kid wants to play.
November 3rd, 2026 at 5:34 am
@Oblivious One
@toopanca – I’m curious if you can put together our pass vs drop win/loss rate.
There is a significant degree of subjectivity involved. Sites do not agree on every play as to whether it is a drop, a pass defended, or an uncatchable incompletion. And, the player involved is not always identified.
According to Pro Football Reference, in 2025, the Eagles had the fewest dropped passes at 13, and the Jaguars had the most at 45. The average was 22 drops per team with a median of 20.5, and a mode of 19. That is about 1.3 drops per team per game. For 2026, the Bucs are at 1 to 1.1 dropped passes per game.
Dropped passes have come at some very bad times. But, they have not been unusually common.
Bengals – 2 – L – 1 to Otton, the other not specified
Browns – 2 – L – Gainwell and Hurst
Vikings – 0 – L
Packers – 1 – L – Otton
Cowboys – 1 – W – not specified
Steelers – 1 – L – Godwin
Panthers – 1 – W – Godwin
Falcons – 1 – W – Hurst Other sites said 2 drops but did not name players.
This is an AI summary: “Through the first eight weeks of the 2026 NFL regular season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have recorded 8 total dropped passes as a team. (If you add up the numbers below, it is 9 dropped passes – AI?) The individual receiver drop metrics indicate a highly efficient but low-volume aerial attack.
Player Position Drops Receptions Targets
Kenneth Gainwell RB 2 12 18
Chris Godwin Jr. WR 2 27 35
Emeka Egbuka WR 1 28 49
Cade Otton TE 1 19 30
Bucky Irving RB 1 18 23
Ted Hurst WR 1 11 24
Tez Johnson WR 0 9 15”
November 3rd, 2026 at 5:38 am
At some point some team will stop the run and,Bauer will be good for short to intermediate pass routes.
November 3rd, 2026 at 5:44 am
Brown’s,would be,a win if Hurst had not dropped a TD pass with less than a minute left. Baker, Haterz blame everything on him but Hurst singlehandedly lost the Browns,game.
November 3rd, 2026 at 6:00 am
hurtz stinks he drops so many passes mostly tds… bears looked amazing last night. best team in the league we have to face Sunday. they should use three te s again!
November 3rd, 2026 at 6:03 am
Great article.
Since the Bucs ran on over 60% of the plays in the win against Dallas, on over 80% of the plays in the win against Carolina, and on over 90% of the plays in the win against Atlanta, and since these have been the Bucs only wins, I hope that the Bucs continue to run on at least 60% of plays even though the NFL high last year was a run rate just under 55%.
When the Bucs do pass, the key is to do it from these same looks with the same personnel and the same movement, and to put Baker in a position to have a designed run option if no one is open by two-Mississippi – and for him to take it or throw the ball away.
I really enjoy watching Baker. And, it is not his fault that the Bucs have previously called passes on third down from vanilla passing formations letting the opposing defenses pin their ears back and come after him. But, sacks he has taken rather than throw the ball away have taken the Bucs out of field goal position and cost them games.
Baker needs to be the squad leader directing the attack, not a superhero. And, that can sometimes mean that, to execute his mission, he has to fall back and regroup – as in throw the ball away and bring on the kicking team – and let the man with the golden kicking cleat lead the next assault!
If the Bucs bring this sort of creativity to the passing game, Baker should be faced with defenders who cannot be sure that the play will be a pass or where the protection is coming from. But, when the pressure does come, he has to bite the bullet and unload the ball out of bounds.
November 3rd, 2026 at 6:21 am
He had my attention on Sunday, I noted it several times in the game chat. I was like this dude is blasting people.
Do your thing sharp !
November 3rd, 2026 at 6:45 am
>from the seventh round into the sixth round
No. We traded up within the 6th round (from 195 to 185).
November 3rd, 2026 at 7:17 am
If everything we are witnessing is real… this is going to change our passing game dramatically, that is if Robinson can figure out the balance. Coen figured out the run blocking scheme early, which lead to quicker success during his tenure. But as I continue to point out on this website, it got exposed later in the season. In 2024, Dallas had just enough talent on defense to sniff out our run and screen game, and our Oline was working out of 3rd and longs all night, and Baker was bottled up.
Don’t be fooled fans, pass blocking is, and will be a problem on 3rd and longs with this team, unless this running game is still humming, which if it is, should keep us out of most of those long passing situation.
November 3rd, 2026 at 8:20 am
How about godwins blocking huge in those runs
November 3rd, 2026 at 8:42 am
As Vince Lombardi said, Football is about blocking and tackling…
November 3rd, 2026 at 8:52 am
Sharp was fantastic blocking Sunday. He’s a keeper. Otton has also developed into a solid blocker.
The Bears are the real deal and the most complete team in the NFL right now.
I’m optimistic about the rest of the season, but not so much on Sunday. Sunday will be a tough game.