Luke Goedeke Talks Improvement Obsession, Contract Status
August 2nd, 2025
Right tackle Luke Goedeke.
Luke Goedeke is the classic success story of the post-Lost-Decade era of Buccaneers football.
Bucs Ring of Honor general manager Jason Licht drafted Goedeke in Round 2 of the 2022 NFL Draft. On draft night, Goedeke declared himself a “glass eater.” The pride of the University of Central Michigan (via University of Wisconsin — Stevens Point) set a high bar for a little known player from a midwest town of 700.
Bucs fans know the story. Goedeke struggled as a rookie at left guard and Tom Brady had zero patience for that, plus Ryan Jensen wasn’t on the field to help cover for Goedeke and bring him along.
So the Bucs benched Goedeke and went with the immortal Nick Leverett.
In Week 18 of that 2022 season, Goedeke started at right tackle because Tristan Wirfs was banged up and the Bucs already clinched the NFC South crown. Basically, the Bucs were tanking the game but their opponent, the Falcons, were not tanking and Goedeke played damn well.
The rest is history. Goedeke has been a progressively improving monster at right tackle ever since.
Speaking to The Pat And Aaron Show on WDAE radio this week, Goedeke talked about his obsession with improvement — every darn day, even on vacation.
“Just always priding myself on, like everything revovles my job, even in the offseason,” Goedeke said. “I take into account what I eat, what I’m doing. I don’t want to take any unnecessary risks that could hurt the team whatsoever. I want my body always in best physical form. In the offseason, I usually take a week-and-a-half break, and I’ll ususally get body work in that time.
“If a day goes by where I’m not doing something, I feel like I’m gettng worse. So I always have the adage, ‘either I’m getting better or I’m getting worse.’ If I’m not doing something, in my mind I’m getting worse. Over the years I’ve kind of found a happy medium with that — just in the fact of not overtraining. Because there was a point in my life when I was younger where I’d be grinding four hours a day.”
That was a damn impressive rant by Goedeke, and heartfelt. Joe would almost order Licht to extend Goedeke’s contract now (he’s in a contract year), but Joe would rather see Goedeke get through this season without more concussion issues. He missed four games last season with a bad melon.
Goedeke acknowledged he knows a massive contract is near.
If he keeps playing well, Joe suspects it might cost the Bucs at least $16 million per year to keep their right tackle.
“I mean, it’s definitely on the back of my mind,” Goedeke said of a likely big-money deal. “[Life-changing] it is. Yeah, me and my agent, we’re ready to work through a deal. The ball’s kind of in the team’s court at this point.”
August 2nd, 2025 at 7:30 pm
Green Bay extended RT Zach Toms
4 years, $88 million
Las Vegas extended RT Kolton Miller
3 years, $66 million
They need to extend Godeke before the season
He will be a lot more expensive after the season
August 2nd, 2025 at 7:31 pm
And what’s he Benching Joe. Inquiring Bucs fans wanna know. Thx Joe.
August 2nd, 2025 at 7:41 pm
I’ll bet he’d take 4 years @ 64 million. Everybody wins.
August 2nd, 2025 at 7:54 pm
Somehow I feel we’ve been conditioned to think of Goedecke as not maybe being the sharpest knife in the drawer. Well, really I only get info on Luke here on JBF. But this nice essay shows us a balance of intelligence teamed with the “glass eater” mentality to describe our very good right tackle. Thanks for helping flip the narrative, Joes!
August 2nd, 2025 at 8:50 pm
As a reminder, 95% of the people posting in the comments here called Goedeke a bum and wanted him cut his rookie season. Just remember that for future reference when it comes to Licht’s draft picks.
Now his non-draft picks, like Sucke, those make me a lot more nervous. But at least Licht didn’t double down on it and bring him back, so he gets a ton of credit from me for that.
August 2nd, 2025 at 9:23 pm
Wirfs says he’s the strongest guy in the room (i remember that quote from somewhere a while back.
Look, we have our RT, and he’s strong and mean….I love it. He’ll get paid….
August 2nd, 2025 at 10:30 pm
Yea – tough call…
Goedeke has earned an early extension in every way….
…but that obviously very serious concussion that forced Luke to miss a MONTH of games is a real concern!
When is the last time you heard of an NFL player missing FOUR games in a row with a concussion? Its almost unheard of….
Ali Marpet missed 3 games in a row with a serious concussion and retired not much more than a year later…. just sayin….
The Bucs need to protect themselves against this possibility.
Goedeke deserves a big fat 4 year extension – but Greenberg needs to figure out how to keep the guarantees low and include clauses that keep the team protected against big payouts if Goedeke misses substantial time and/or has to retire before the “guarantees” are completed.
Having to pay $40+M to Marpet, Jensen and Shaq when none of them were still playing for the team the last 3 years was a hard pill to swallow….
August 2nd, 2025 at 10:36 pm
Extending his contract now makes sense my only hesitation is the concussions. Some people are more susceptible to them. 4 weeks was a bad one. Hopefully he will be fine.
August 3rd, 2025 at 7:58 am
Rooting for Luke. Agree with others too. Worried about Luke and concussions. Remember reading a previous post that he had many problems with the concussion. Dizziness, headaches, and other symptoms. He needs to heed those warning signs now. Luke has to think of his health first.
August 3rd, 2025 at 10:36 am
What Stpetematt said. Love our glass eating donkey!