Draft Winner Payne Durham
April 26th, 2026
Joe lost count of how many times Buccaneers Ring of Honor general manager Jason Licht and Todd Bowles have said Bucs No. 2 tight end Payne Durham is a dangerous target with a great catch radius and capable of special plays.
He made a couple of those plays for Tampa Bay in 2023 and 2024.
Then Durham virtually disappeared. The 2025 offensive coordinator, Josh Grizzard, seemed overmatched when it came to maximizing his tight ends. Durham had 1 catch on 4 targets last season while playing 354 snaps through all 17 games.
If he was a weapon, Grizzard kept him locked in a safe.
Then came the 2026 NFL Draft, which wrapped up yesterday. A sect of Bucs fans thought the Bucs should pounce on stud tight end prospect Keynon Sadiq in Round 1. He was there when the Bucs picked at No. 15, but Tampa Bay wasn’t tempted and instead sought to end their roster’s greatest shame. They picked mauling edge rusher Rueben Bain.
The rounds went by and Tampa Bay didn’t draft a tight end until trading up in the sixth round to nab TE Bauer Sharp out of LSU. The former wildcat quarterback is a bit of a versatile project and a likely special teams warrior.
Joe saw the draft results as an endorsement of Durham and his potential, as well as another example of the team believing Grizzard was over his head.
If you forgot the Bucs’ 2023 fifth-round pick can do, watch the Durham video below.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! 🤯
📺: #TBvsIND on CBS pic.twitter.com/2YMZrZ6gwl
— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) November 26, 2023
April 26th, 2026 at 9:39 am
Poor Kiper thought TE was the Bucs biggest need. At least he was kind enough to excuse them for not passing on Bain. Goofball!
April 26th, 2026 at 9:57 am
So, Culp to the garbage bin? Surely, they will only keep 4 TE on the game day roster. He’ll get sniped from the practice squad.
April 26th, 2026 at 10:07 am
I’ll give you the glass half full on this summation
April 26th, 2026 at 10:14 am
Yeah I had a feeling Bain might slide to us and shake things up a bit. Those stories came out at just the right time. I didn’t think they would grab WR Ted Hurst in the 3rd, was thinking another defensive player there. I’m excited to have him though and it will be fun to see him compete against NFL caliber defenders coming from a smaller school. Perhaps Trotter was ideal for them to acquire that extra pick in the 5th for Big Billy. May have been looking at a player that was already off the board at the time of trade back.
April 26th, 2026 at 10:40 am
This was a Bowzo Draft. Awful.
April 26th, 2026 at 10:49 am
HC Grover = moron
April 26th, 2026 at 10:50 am
Joe you nailed it yet again sir!
Why on earth would any OC not take advantage of Duhams wing span in the red zone? I played enough ball to know that sometimes good teammates sat the bench or were left out of game plans because of the blindness of a coach. It does happen.
Go Bucs!
April 26th, 2026 at 11:04 am
That highlight was not unlike a Mike Evans highlight.
April 26th, 2026 at 11:04 am
Is Sharp gonna be the bucs’ Taysom Hill?? That pick has me confused. Other than that, I can definitely see JL/TB’s draft board vision
April 26th, 2026 at 11:07 am
Yeah, I agree that Grizz seemed to have a hard time scheming TEs and RBs in the passing game, which clearly points to Robinson’s strength and ultimate hiring
April 26th, 2026 at 11:10 am
The trade up to get that practice squad stiff when he would still be unsigned today is just another example of the post-Arians collapse.
April 26th, 2026 at 11:19 am
@HC Grover….
We’ve seen too many of your bs posts.
Crawl back into your dark hole in New Orleans where you came from.
April 26th, 2026 at 11:37 am
Thank you, Joe.
Payne and Devin Culp have both been criminally under-utilized.
Both have made the most of their limited appearances, in my book.
Ko is a blocker and his absence last year, along with the o-line injuries, was a big contributing factor to our offensive woes.
Cade may never achieve Gronk-level, but he’s solid and has stepped up when we’ve needed him to.
I’m glad we didn’t draft Sadiq in the first round, although he could be a generational tight end. I simply felt and still feel defense is a much more important need right now.
I’m not sure where Bauer will fit in, except maybe special teams for the moment. Nothing against him, but I’d have preferred to see us use the pick on defense.
April 26th, 2026 at 11:45 am
Or sign a real weapon and go get Njoku
April 26th, 2026 at 12:08 pm
I wanted more defense so the Bauer pick upset me. After finding out more about him, I like his huge upside but he’s a project. If I’m the Bucs, I’d keep Culp as his skill set and speed are unlike the other TE’s. The odd man out, for me, is Durham.
April 26th, 2026 at 12:45 pm
He’s also one of the best run blockers in the league. This dude Bauer may challenge Culp and Kieft because he is kinda a combination of both but needs to work on something’s and keep developing.
April 26th, 2026 at 1:12 pm
They should just relabel Ko a fullback
April 26th, 2026 at 1:16 pm
I think Bauer Sharp will end up on the practice squad, if he makes the team at all.