Ben Bredeson: 2025 Was A Nightmare For Offensive Line
September 10th, 2026
Remembering the injury-plagued 2025 season of the Bucs’ offensive line made left guard Ben Bredeson grimace.
Emotions were all positive, if not giddy, yesterday at One Buc Palace.
Sure, Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht, KitKat-eating Bucs coach Todd Bowles and Baker Mayfield were stoked about Mayfield’s new contract extension — no one as much as Mayfield, obviously.
But in the locker room, smiles were found all over the place. Players were very relaxed, willing to chat. Why? A new season is upon us.
The 2026 Bucs campaign kicks off Cincinnati in three days.
For the offensive line, it’s an opportunity to wash away memories of a nightmarish 2025, when the line was banged up before the season even began.
Week 1 had the Bucs starting second-year center Graham Barton at left tackle for knee-surgery-recovering Tristan Wirfs. Ben Bredeson started at center not-that Michael Jordan played left guard for Bredeson.
It quickly went downhill from there with more injuries.
“Last year, [wasn’t] how we drew it up,” Bucs left guard Ben Bredeson said. “I don’t think we played one game with everybody healthy.”
Bredeson is correct. The Bucs didn’t have one game with the starting offensive line on the field together.. Before you knew it, Cody Mauch was gone for the season against Houston in Week 2 with a knee injury. Luke Goedeke left the same game with a bum foot that had him on the shelf for the next six games.
“We lost Cody early, and then guys are in and out,” Bredeson said. “We’re just really excited [for the new season].
“It’s been a great fall camp so far. Going into Week 1 with everybody healthy, everybody clicking and ready to go.”
For Bredeson, there is an itch to prove that once healthy again, the line can be one of the best in the league.
“It’s good to have everybody back out there,” Bredeson said. “Obviously, very excited that we’re all back.”
Joe is confident; so too is Mayfield.
September 10th, 2026 at 5:38 am
If Wirfs, Bredeson, Barton, Mauch and Goedeke stay healthy, Baker might experience something unfamiliar this season: finishing a progression before meeting a defensive tackle.
September 10th, 2026 at 7:06 am
Our starting 5 are as good as any in the NFL – top 10 maybe top 5.
The depth is not so great…
Injuries are bound to happen hopefully it won’t be as horrid as last season.
September 10th, 2026 at 7:13 am
Agree that the depth isn’t fantastic, but that is pretty common out there. Not sure if there’s any team out there that is ever happy with their OL past the starters.
September 10th, 2026 at 7:15 am
We have good depth at tackle, less so elsewhere
September 10th, 2026 at 7:32 am
Just a few more days of dreaming
September 10th, 2026 at 7:45 am
Tired of hearing we have one of the best O lines in the NFL. Not last year. Time to stop talking about how good they are, and go out and prove it.
September 10th, 2026 at 7:57 am
Watching last night’s 13-10 Seahawks’ win over the Patriots, it seemed obvious that very good defenses definitely have an advantage over even good offenses early in the season. Both teams have good offenses, but last night the defenses took center stage.
If the Bucs are gonna compete with the big dogs, our defense will have to be on a level similar to what the Seahawks & Pats showed last night early in the season. Patriots lost because their QB Maye threw 3 INTs in the 4th qtr (and ALL 3 were deep passes). He actually played a pretty solid game … up until then.
Patriots had 4 new starters on offense & 5 new starters on defense from what they started in last year’s Super Bowl. Seahawks only had 2 new starters on offense & 3 new starters on defense from what they started in last year’s Super Bowl. Bucs have a similar situation going on it looks like, where we’ll have probably only 1 new starter on offense and 4 or 5 new starters on defense over what who we started last season with. HOPEFULLY both our offense AND defense can gel quickly so that we can get off to a hot start this season like we did last season.
September 10th, 2026 at 8:03 am
All things considered, mayfield held up remarkably well last year with that pounding he took for all those games. It will be nice to see what a healthy Bucs offense brings.
September 10th, 2026 at 8:09 am
Burrow does not like being hit.
September 10th, 2026 at 8:39 am
Ryan Jensen needs to be brought in to talk about being a nasty OL, because the OL underperforms too often and don’t enforce their will.
The Bengals spent a lot of money on their defense this offseason, bringing in Dexter Lawrence at NT. among others. Z-Rob shouldn’t run at Lawrence early until he sees that our OL can handle him.
September 10th, 2026 at 9:58 am
We will see, I am not sold so much as the majority are. Would love to see them dominate.
September 10th, 2026 at 9:59 am
“ If the Bucs are gonna compete with the big dogs, our defense will have to be on a level similar to what the Seahawks & Pats showed last night ”
Hmm..
September 10th, 2026 at 10:27 am
Bucs have a top 5 starting offensive line but the backups may be bottom 5 in the NFL. Hopefully Bucs stay healthy on their line and address the depth on the offensive line next offseason.
September 10th, 2026 at 10:29 am
Jmarkbuc … All it takes is a little faith. We’ve got the makings of a very solid defense, that’ll HOPEFULLY find its’ way back into the Top-10 this year.
We’re potentially starting THREE rookies (Bain, Trotter & Scott) plus several other new starters (Robinson, Anzalone & I guess Parrish at outside CB). So roughly half our defensive starters weren’t even on the team last year. That’s a pretty hefty turnover in starters, and it may take several games for guys to get it all working smoothly. Just gotta stay healthy.