The Progress Of Devin Culp
July 25th, 2025
Feeding time for tight ends?
While the Bucs don’t have a star tight end, they seem to have a solid corps of tight ends.
Of course, there is Cade Otton. In a contract year this year, Otton is, well, reliable. He may be better than he shows. Otton sort of put the passing offense on his back when Chris Godwin and Mike Evans were out last season.
Otton was known for stretching the field a bit in college at Washington, specifically on seam routs. Otton has done little of that with the Bucs.
Payne Durham is a solid blocker and at times surprises with his catching ability. Ko Kieft is sort of like that, too, but Durham is bigger than Kieft, who is more a blocker than a receiver.
Then there is Devin Culp, Otton’s former Washington teammate. Joe thinks Culp has the biggest upside of all the Bucs tight ends. Last year’s seventh-round pick may not be a strong blocker but he possesses a big-play ability.
When he’s used, it’s usually on deep balls. Last year when rookie Culp finally got on the field, he made an impact.
As a rookie, third-day pick of a tight end, Culp nearly averaged 18 yards a catch. So far in the first two practices of training camp this summer, Culp has been largely targeted on medium- or deep-throws.
And it seems Bucs coach Todd Bowles has taken a liking to the second-year pro.
“Culp has had a heck of a spring,” Bowles said. “He worked his tail off. Obviously, he’s lighter than the other ones but he’s a feisty blocker. [It’s about] just continuing to get the system down, for him.”
Bowles added he expects Bucs tight ends to see a lot of single coverage this year, especially when Chris Godwin comes back.
Pardon Joe for dreaming here, but go four-wide (Mike Evans, Emeka Egbuka, Jalen McMillan and Godwin) and empty backfield with a tight end, what crazy mofo of a defensive coordinator is going to double-up a tight end? None, since lousy Lovie Smith is out of the league.
So if Bowles is right — and he should be — Bucs tight ends, including Culp, should feast.
July 25th, 2025 at 12:09 am
But he still has to beat that guy and I’d probably be throwing to one of those WRs.
July 25th, 2025 at 12:17 am
Lol what crazy mofo of a defensive coordinator will double a tight end, sounds great! also Todd Bowles saying Culp is a feisty blocker–lol trying to picture what a feisty blocker is. I don’t know maybe just willing and eager.
July 25th, 2025 at 1:48 am
I had a good feeling about that guy when we drafted him. I had a good feeling about Jaylon Dardung too. I’ll go lay down now.
July 25th, 2025 at 6:51 am
Too many good TEs?….Nah
Go Bucs!
July 25th, 2025 at 7:18 am
This offense has so many weapons in both the passing and running game. At least one of the WRs or TEs is going to get single coverage on nearly every play. I think the performance of the offense this year will depend largely on Grizzard’s creativity and Baker’s continued high percentage completion rate. If there’s a downturn in offensive production, it won’t be because of our roster.
July 25th, 2025 at 7:35 am
He is gonna bust up defenses!
Too much talent for a defense to cover.
July 25th, 2025 at 7:48 am
Been banging the drum for Culp all off season.
July 25th, 2025 at 8:16 am
Most teams have 1 or 2 strong secondary players. Some are lucky and have 3 with 1 playing behind. But with 4 star receivers and 1 solid TE, ccccccc
July 25th, 2025 at 8:18 am
The tight ends are really doing well since Bowles brought in Justin Peele to coach them. Dev needed to improve his blocking to get on the field and Bowles has taken notice. Dev might be able to line up next to Heck to help him until Grizz feels comfortable with Heck’s pass pro. Dev can chip and release – beating most ILB’s easily. Yesterday, Dev was mostly lined up way outside right, so maybe we can look for some more deep balls to Dev – @DeepDev.
July 25th, 2025 at 8:32 am
Joe says, “Pardon Joe for dreaming here, but go four-wide (Mike Evans, Emeka Egbuka, Jalen McMillan and Godwin) and empty backfield with a tight end….”
Why keep an empty backfield with a 4 WR set? Both White and Bucky are above average pass catching RBs.
July 25th, 2025 at 9:18 am
glad joe isnt the OC!!!!!!
GO BUCS!!!!
July 25th, 2025 at 9:57 am
When you have 4 TEs….you have none…..
Sure, our guys are serviceable, but I’d trade them all for one top tier TE.
July 25th, 2025 at 10:07 am
@TampaBayBucFan …… and that star TE gets hurt, then what?
July 25th, 2025 at 10:56 am
If Culp is running WR routes in practice then he’s already in the “depth chart,” If Bowles wants to keep it as a surprise he’ll only run WR plays in closed practices but he’ll spend some time in the WR room learning. Just remember how effectively Aaron Hernandez was utilized on NE, especially when Gronk was in the line=up as well.
July 25th, 2025 at 10:59 am
Devin Culp is more of an H-Back
He’s fast, and about the size of ME
July 25th, 2025 at 11:06 am
But then again, Culp is more of an WR than TE or H-Back
But he has the speed and size to be a combination of the three
He’s more of a hybrid, with his size and speed
There’s a lot they can do with him
July 25th, 2025 at 11:42 am
I agree. My modern day comparison is actually Cordarrell Patterson who carried the ball and ran back kickoffs (for several TD’s). When he was on NE he was the self proclaimed “fastest guy on the team” and he might have been there the same time as Antonio Brown! lol.
July 25th, 2025 at 12:30 pm
Four or five wides with nobody in the backfield is great in concept but when you have guys like White, Irving, and Tucker, who are absolute Terrors with the ball in their hands in the open field, you lose an important weapon.
July 25th, 2025 at 1:01 pm
Empty backfield does have downside like QB will have to get ball out quickly which other team can defend if they load Defensive backfield. I also like the thought of those Running Backs as receivers. All of them can catch and create a mismatch with a linebacker.
July 25th, 2025 at 2:14 pm
Culp is my breakout candidate for 2025.
If the team didn’t have a wierd and undeserved love affair with White, Sean Tucker would be another breakout candidate.
July 25th, 2025 at 11:05 pm
I’m a big Culp fan. He has the potential to be a multi-tool type of guy in Grizzard’s offense. Goal line weapon? Trick plays? He’s fast, athletic, and has good hands. I see yet another weapon in this top notch offense. It’s fun to be a Buc fan.
GO BUCS!!
July 26th, 2025 at 1:13 am
Gotta love how Todd would rather keep a dude off the field until he learns how to cook an omelette, create a spreadsheet to simulate pork belly futures trading, and drive a forklift. Even though what he does well is get open and catch everything thrown his way.
July 26th, 2025 at 5:35 am
Feisty is good! Looking forward to Devin’s breakout year this season.
July 26th, 2025 at 5:47 am
Devin absolutely made the most of his very limited playing time last year.
We need to get him on the field a little more this year, to see whether he really can be a rising star.
Nothing against the rest of our TE room, but Cade needs a bit more of a break. He played an incredibly high percentage of our offensive snaps last year.
Let Cade sit out a few more plays and let’s see what Devin, Payne and Ko can do.
We’ll be less likely to lose Cade to an injury. He’ll be more fresh for December and January.
And, we’ll have a better handle on just how good our already solid TE room is.
July 26th, 2025 at 10:12 am
Speed kills.
Culp and Sean Tucker.
Get them on the field some. And watch magic happen.