Zac Robinson: Bucs Offensive Line Can Be Top Shelf
February 6th, 2026
New Bucs offensive coordinator Zac Robinson didn’t have to have his arm twisted to take the gig when he interviewed last month.
Joe asked Robinson about what sort of “sell” Todd Bowles did to lure him to Tampa Bay. Robinson explained it wasn’t a “sell” at all. There was no need for Bowles to sell Robinson on the opening.
Later, Robinson was asked what he liked about the Tampa Bay offense. The following won’t comfort the folks who always seem to think the offensive line is the root of all evil and the source of unrest in the Middle East.
(Last season with all the injuries, folks were absolutely correct to stomp their feet about the Bucs’ offensive line.)
“You [have] to start with the offensive line,” Robinson said. “The offensive line is built the right way. When that group is going, there’s no offensive line that you’d rather have around the league, so it starts with those guys up front.”
When healthy, the Bucs are easily a top-five offensive line in the league. Two years ago when then-Bucs offensive coordinator Liam Coen had the offense humming, Joe isn’t so sure you could find two teams with a better offensive line.
Is that line perfect? No. Cody Mauch went down for the season. And it got worse when Ben Bredeson blew up his knee.
Hopefully, the Bucs find find more capable backups at guard so the line doesn’t cave in if Bredeson and/or Mauch go down again.
February 6th, 2026 at 5:18 am
We DO have one of the Very Best in the business when all the starters are on the field. No “And’s, it’s, or but’s” about it. Our backups are for the most part, unqualified.
February 6th, 2026 at 5:19 am
š “it’s”…. Ok, “if’s” (spell goofer strikes again)
February 6th, 2026 at 5:40 am
Who is responsible for the lack of backups? Who is responsible for a Defense bereft of Edge and ILBs?
Combine that with a coach with a pattern of 3-4 game losing streaks.
Anyone think good FAs want to jump onto the burning ship?
Anyone think a group of new assistants are going to fix the situation?
Donāt buy tickets. Donāt drink stadium beer or eat stadium hot dogs.
Youāre wasting your money and feeding the disrespect.
Jay Glazer is right.
5-12 or 6-11.
February 6th, 2026 at 5:50 am
Better draft Loane for that.
February 6th, 2026 at 6:28 am
I’m with Ken. This team is an absolute dumpster fire. Todd is going to be using a lot of his go to’s next season…..”We got to coach it better and we have to play it better. If I never heard that phrase again it would be much too soon.
February 6th, 2026 at 6:31 am
ā¦.and if my uncle had gender reassignment surgery he would be my aunt
February 6th, 2026 at 7:02 am
….top shelf until two or three are injured……sound familiar?
February 6th, 2026 at 7:24 am
It should be when you have 2 of the 5 tackles in pay on your team and a 1st rd C & LT. Hopefully our highly compensated glass eater, err Lord Dark Helmet, of a RT can actually play a full season for a change
February 6th, 2026 at 7:35 am
Next year is going to be a better year. Itās all gunna come down to the OC and health. Bowels is gunna bowels and we know what that is, average defenseā¦.
February 6th, 2026 at 7:37 am
draft a OG with our first pick and plug him in at RG…
Mauch wont be 100% this season…OL usually take 2 seasons to get back right after an ACL injury…
STARTERS-Wirfs-LT, Barton-LG, Bredenson-C, 1ST rounder-RG, Luke-RT
Back-ups- Chews-LT/RT, Michael Jordan-LG, Barton-C, Mauch-RG
GO BUCS!!!!
February 6th, 2026 at 7:46 am
Connor Lew -or- Chase Bisontis, day 2
February 6th, 2026 at 7:48 am
“Hopefully” the Bucs don’t blow their cap money on inadequate cheap roster fillers.
Banking on 2 starters coming off season ending knee injuries is begging for disappointment
February 6th, 2026 at 7:51 am
Shoot, average defense? I would take average defense in a NY minute. Average defense and average ST? Yes ,please.
February 6th, 2026 at 7:54 am
Hey men. Beat your bodies up all season like they do then get back to us about playing a full season.
February 6th, 2026 at 8:31 am
Need a CENTER!
February 6th, 2026 at 8:33 am
The roster is not strong enough, itās a tough thing to give up the 15th pick
But trading down might be the best rebuilding option
February 6th, 2026 at 8:54 am
ModHairKen … ‘Jay Glazer is right. 5-12 or 6-11.’
Sorry Ken, but Jay Glazer making predictions in Feb about our 2026 W-L record is pretty much worthless. No one (including Licht & Bowles) has any idea at THIS point in time which free agents we’ll be signing or who we’ll be drafting to improve our roster. And we certainly don’t know what our 2026 opponents will be doing yet. Glazer MIGHT be right at 5-12 or he might be way off-base & we MIGHT end up 12-5. Wouldn’t put down any money at this point.
Not much has happened yet obviously, but I do like 3 hires that we’ve made. Zac Robinson should be a significant improvement at OC. Same with Danny Smith as S/Ts coordinator. Also very impressed with our new QB coach Chandler Whitmer’s resume; hopefully he can play a big role in getting Baker back to his 2024 performance level. Still wish though that Todd Bowles would hire a DC to run this defense, but I’m realistic enough to know that’s VERY unlikely.
February 6th, 2026 at 9:00 am
813bucboi … Just asking; has Barton ever played Guard? His rookie year he seemed to do fairly decent at Center with Bredeson & Mauch as Guards. Last year though he seemed to struggle at time. Wondering if that was because Bredeson missed 6 games and Mauch missed 15.
Bredeson seems to be the defacto leader of our OLine, so maybe it’d work out fine to put him at Center. If we did that though, we’d have to make sure our 2 Guards can play a lot better than what we got last season.
February 6th, 2026 at 9:01 am
I had a brief glimmer of hope that we might bring in Sean McDermott as DC when it was rumored we were talking to him.
February 6th, 2026 at 9:26 am
Bredeson, as far as I know, didnāt have knee surgery. If weād have made the playoffs, heād have been playing. Thatās what I remember. And I heard heās full go for OTAs. Mauch, on the other hand, probably wonāt be ready until opening day. Any different info Iād love to hear. We had us a great center, Jake Majors, we got him as a free agent out of Texas last year. The stinking Eagles somehow poached him, I think from our practice squad, last year. A center who started forty something games for the Longhorns. Whoever bunged that up deserves a swift kick in the a$$. The kid is going to be a great NFL player, sooner rather than later. The Eagles had an undersized center and heās fixing to be a hall of famer.
February 6th, 2026 at 9:46 am
Defense Rules Says:
February 6th, 2026 at 9:00 am
813bucboi ā¦ Just asking; has Barton ever played Guard?
************************************************************
Barton was listed as the No. 14 offensive guard in 2020,(High School) and played a little Guard and Center his freshman year at Duke
in 2025, Bartons had sluggish feet, he lacked lower power and didnt seem to know his assignment….
Im not sure if it was the offense, him switching to LT the first few games, him missing Cody and Ben or maybe he was likely injured/hurt just like folks claim Baker was….2025 he just didnt look comfortable at all playing Center
i think putting him at LG between Wirfs and Ben would do wonders for him…he would be able to play fast and aggressive like he did his rookie year…
i just think Ben is a better center…not as talented or athletic as Barton, but he’s the better center
GO BUCS!!!
February 6th, 2026 at 10:58 am
813 Buc Boi is right.
Bredeson is a natural center. He has a huge butt and lower body. Heās very heavy and hard to move. But heās also not as athletic as Barton.
Barton would be much better at LG and Big Butt Brederson should play center.
And Chukwuma needs to add 10 pounds this offseason and cross train at LG.
Chukwuma is our most athletic lineman. Period.
He needs to learn how to play LG as well.
February 6th, 2026 at 11:15 am
In the Fanman household the family motto holds true not only for DBs, but also OL:
“You can never have enough competent DB/OL!”
We had “exhibit A-Z” on both last year. Injuries WILL happen. You can only hope that they don’t.
February 6th, 2026 at 11:16 am
@Teacherman
completely agree with you regarding Chukwuma…
i’d say another 15 pounds and wirfs better look out lol…he may get kicked inside if he plays 2026 like he did in 2025
GO BUCS!!!!
February 6th, 2026 at 11:53 am
Personally, I think Barton played ok at LT at the start of last year. Wirfs clearly wasn’t his old self. Maybe he will heal up this off-season. Maybe he won’t. Also “glass eater” Goedeke is awfully concussion prone, like Ali Marpet was. Marpet was smart and not long after he hit his huge contract he made enough money to retire. I think Goedeke will do the same. He’s a smart guy too. This past year we’ve been concerned about guard. In 2027 we may be more worried about tackle.
February 6th, 2026 at 12:20 pm
Trade down in the first. Trade down twice in the second. And take 3 third round picks. It would go 1-2-3 picks in the first three rounds. We do really well in the third and fourth rounds, so this is a great plan for strengthening the team and hitting every hole we have.
February 6th, 2026 at 7:38 pm
yes but yea bowles and licht i play acdc in a bar band whatever those guys have this all under control edge rusher underrated cover tight end and rb in space that will trick em so clever everything will be ggrrreat
February 6th, 2026 at 9:40 pm
The line was already top shelf in 2024, so it’s not about they can be, it’s about returning to be. It would help to actually have all 5 starters out there at the same time.
February 7th, 2026 at 6:57 am
@st Pete Matt
I also think we should trade back and get as many 2nd and 3rd round picks as possible.
The 2nd round is perfect for getting MLBs.
Only 1 MLB, Sonny Styles, will get drafted in the 1st.
So if we have 2, 2nd round picks, we can get the 2nd and 3rd best MLBs in the draft.
We also need a 3-4 DE like Gholston.
A huge NT to rotate with Vea.
And an expensive OLB to replace Reddick.
I am open re-signing Reddick as a 3rd down specialist.
But not as a starter.