Cade Otton Emerging
October 31st, 2024
Cade Otton begins to dominate.
Here’s something Joe guesses readers here never dreamed Joe would type when the season kicked off two months ago.
Cade Otton is one of the premier tight ends in the league.
Joe will give readers a brief moment to collect themselves. … OK, Joe has to qualify that. Otton the past two games, has put up numbers that even former Bucs tight end foot-rubbing Rob Gronkowski would smile about.
Per the PFF tribe, Otton has really raised his game starting with the loss to the Crows and continuing with the Dixie Chicks loss. Otton leads all tight ends in receptions the past two weeks (17) and is tied with the most missed tackles forced (4).
Also, Otton has the second-most receiving yards in the past two games (181) and is tied for second in touchdown catches (2).
Lastly, Otton is tied for third-most first downs acquired by tight ends (9). His 75 yards of YAC (yards-after-catch) in his last two games is good for fourth-best.
There are two other things the PFF tribe does not and cannot measure. One is Otton has shown lately he’s a capable if not good blocker. Before this year, that was a weakness.
The other element not mentioned by the PFF tribe is that, specifically in the Baltimore game, Otton got the absolute snot knocked out of him. He bounced back each time and didn’t miss any snaps.
So it appears not only is Otton developing into a tough guy, he’s starting to separate himself in the land of the tight ends.
A lot of folks are wanting the Bucs to go out and get a receiver to take Chris Godwin’s place and bridge the gap until Mike Evans returns. Joe’s not against that.
But if Otton keeps playing like this, there’s no need to get an outside replacement for Godwin.
October 31st, 2024 at 7:23 am
Eye opening stats. Hopefully it’s sustainable.
October 31st, 2024 at 8:00 am
If Bowles gets his defensive sh*t together, we might just weather this Atlanta-induced storm.
October 31st, 2024 at 8:23 am
I consider the tight end a part of the offensive line. Nowadays the TE must be a productive receiver too. I bet Otten spends more time with the O-line than the receivers after practice. Just the type guy anybody would want on their roster. I would take him over Pitts any day. He and the entire offensive line are our MVPs this season and it’s not a close race. 52 drop backs last week and Mayfield was never knocked down? That is one OL and it has quality depth. Now let’s figure out how we can stop throwing the ball 50 times a game. We won’t win anything if we keep that up.
October 31st, 2024 at 9:11 am
Great stats over the past two weeks. Otton is definitely a keeper.
October 31st, 2024 at 10:01 am
So we now have a coach that played the position and he is developing our players… Great!
Go Bucs!
October 31st, 2024 at 10:09 am
I love it! However, two games is not the way to compile stats. That’s like predicting stock market trends after watching the Dow for a few days. I hope he’s able to keep it going. I would love to see him challenge some of Jimmie Giles’ records.
October 31st, 2024 at 10:18 am
Without Godwin or Evans, Otton is getting many more targets because Baker trusts him to run the correct route. I don’t think Otton is any better in the passing game, he’s simply getting more targets. However, I have noticed his run blocking is much better this year under new TE coach Justin Peelle.
October 31st, 2024 at 10:38 am
It’s really nice to have a solid TE. Something we’ve been missing as a club (Gronk years don’t count)
October 31st, 2024 at 11:11 am
No need to go out and get a WR. Sorry JOE I have to disagree. ME13 will be back. With Bucky white Otton we can do just fine as shown vs ATL. Defense and turnovers lost that game. Getting a WR takes snaps away from the receivers we have and we need to find out if they are capable of replacing to an extent Godwin and Evans one day. I know no one replaces Evans and prob Godwin too but we need to see what these guys can do with half a season left and a bunch of opportunities. OTTON has bin a stud since his rookie season. I keep saying it but if TB12 trusted him his rookie year then I trust him and I don’t get why fans have bin hating on him. So glad he’s taken full advantage of the opportunities because if injuries. He’s a stud and like you said Joe his blocking is getting a lot better.
October 31st, 2024 at 11:37 am
Otton is making the most of his opportunities with Evans and Godwin out. I would hope that if his production keeps up, Mayfield will continue to target him. Otton is a good receiver and willing blocker.
October 31st, 2024 at 12:56 pm
Necessity has allowed him to shine. He has learned in the past couple of years since he was drafted in the 4th round. Some gifted athletes take longer to develop. From now on he should have a bigger role. We are not going to replace Godwin but it is great we have a guy who can partially fill the hole.
Go Bucs!
October 31st, 2024 at 2:02 pm
cade was emerging as a damn good tight end towards the end of last season…he’s simply rounding out now…
he’s still young, but if he can develop a bit of a tude, get chippy and frothy, and develop the dgaf attitude he might become one bad man…
also i’d like to see him add the stiff arm into his repertoire at some point…
if you can rock a stashe, you can roll with a stiff arm
October 31st, 2024 at 3:15 pm
“But if Otton keeps playing like this, there’s no need to get an outside replacement for Godwin.”
————-
When the Bucs won the Super Bowl, they had… Evans, Godwin, Gronk AND Antonio Brown, not to mention Brate, OJ Howard, Scotty Miller, etc.
Having one NFL caliber starting WR in Evans, assuming he’s back, and one NFL TE isn’t going to win jack squat. Doing nothing at WR is unacceptable if you’re actually trying to win anything.
October 31st, 2024 at 8:27 pm
So, Otton takes over for Godwin…all we need now is for JMac to step up a wee bit & play like Mike for a few weeks!