Todd Bowles Has Graham Barton’s Back
January 30th, 2025
Promising rookie season.
Joe likes to say rookies play like rookies because they are rookies. But there is one Bucs rookie that Bucs coach Todd Bowles is confident will raise his game in 2025.
Center Graham Barton sure showed promise that he could be one of the league’s better centers. But man, he has to work on snaps.
Sadly for the Bucs, that nasty issue crept up at the worst time, when the Bucs appeared on the doorstep of taking a lead in the wild card loss.
Yes, Joe knows Barton was trying to catch the Commandos offsides. But that earlier-than-expected snap screwed up the play, badly, and spooked Bowles to the point he instead chose to kick a game-tying field goal, angering many Bucs fans.
In his final media availability for the 2024 season, Bowles heaped a lot of praise on Barton.
“I liked the steadiness that Graham Barton showed as a rookie,” Bowles said. “Playing one of the toughest spots on the field, going against a Pro Bowler almost every week and just doing his job and coming to work every day with a lunch pail attitude.
“Making blitz adjustments and stunt adjustments aren’t easy for a first-year center.”
Barton’s inexperience as a center showed. To be fair, it wasn’t really that much worse than when Ali Marpet played center and even Ryan Jensen in his first Bucs season (2018).
Those two guys could just about be counted on for one shaky snap a game. That’s about what Barton was doing. And he was only a rookie.
Joe’s eager to see how Barton plays now that he has a full NFL season under his belt and what an offseason in an NFL weight room will do for the guy.
January 30th, 2025 at 7:10 am
Barton was a tremendous upgrade. He fortified the middle and the running game and pass protection was better from that position. Having Bredeson next to him helped.
I bet he gets stronger and cuts down on correctable mistakes next year.
He’s a big add. Need a few more this year.
This team is on the rise and actually now that we’ve seen Duuuvalll do his Howard Dean, I can’t wait to see what a man does as OC.
January 30th, 2025 at 7:17 am
Losing Jensen ruined our season with Brady, Glad we can fill that spot with a stud again
January 30th, 2025 at 7:31 am
It’s easy to look back at Bucky Irving and Jalen McMillian and say they were our best rookies, but Graham Barton was the rock that brought our offense together!
Well Done, young man!!!
January 30th, 2025 at 7:51 am
I grew up watching Paul Brown’s Cleveland Browns even though I lived in Cincinnati (just across the river) Just like Tampa folks were fed Dolphin games until the Bucs…Cincy folks were fed Cleveland games until the Bengals.
Brown was a true pioneer. Face masks for players, calling the plays in from the sidelines before radio’s in helmets were even imagined. He always kept 3 starting OG’s rotating two of them as the “messenger” guards.
But the thing he did that impressed me most was recoganize the importance of “smarts”. Now I guess it’s still the Wundelich? Brown started with simply IQ tests.
No a MENSA intellect cannot cover up a 5.0 40 or a 200lb bench. Gotta have the physical tools. But by the time the draft rolls around these guys will ALL have decent to great “measureables.” But are they cement heads like JW?
Barton comes from Duke and he’s obviously a bright guy at a position that may require the most intelligence second only to the QB. He’ll continue to get better and better!
January 30th, 2025 at 8:03 am
I hope the world again underestimates the Bucs during the offseason. Last year I decided to make a bet on Hard Rick for the first time in my life. I’m not a gambler. I bet we’d win the division when all the talking heads were tonguing the Falcons.
The Bucs won.
I’ll bet another whopping $100 this coming year … just waiting for all
The other teams to first win the offseason to place it.
January 30th, 2025 at 8:12 am
“…when the Bucs appeared on the doorstep of taking a lead in the wild card loss.” True – but, lets say the Bucs beat Washington. Does anyone seriously believe that this version of the Bucs defense travels to Philadelphia and wins?
The only thing beating Washington would have accomplished is moving further away from a decent draft pick and maybe an extension for Bowles.
January 30th, 2025 at 8:13 am
Barton was another good pick. He has made mistakes and is learning from them as a rookie. Bowles is completely right about Graham’s talents and traits.
January 30th, 2025 at 8:23 am
Solid pick…..immediate starter as a rookie, barring injuries he’s going to be a solid center for next 10 yrs.
January 30th, 2025 at 8:24 am
Guys , Barton stepped up , jmac stepped up his game & bucky was a beast ! Throw T.smith in there on defense as a solid rookie & that all got plenty of NFL game experience & I’m gonna say go crazy on defense in this draft along with a solid pickup in FA for a DE who bowles will actually let rush the passer & we may just have something for the next few years . The bucs world is NOT crashing down even tho lot of people on here will tell you otherwise…GO BUCS !
January 30th, 2025 at 8:33 am
Barton makes for at least three out of five rock solid linemen. I’m inclined to add Mauch to that and say that there are four young men that make up a line that the Bucs will be happy with for several years.
January 30th, 2025 at 9:20 am
Im not sure all credit should go 2 Liam 4 the success of our offense. Even our run game. Bucky made a huge difference. As a rb that isn’t afraid 2 go back across the field and have the elite agility and speed 2 be able 2 actually do it, I believe that made a huge difference. So many times have I seen the backside of run plays be opened up while our rbs ran straight into the @55 of our oline for little to no gain. Some rbs have patience where they float inside or draw defenses 2 1 side in order 2 set up blocks 4 a cut n dash type run. He had the 3rd highest ypc average 4 a rookie ALL TIME, so having a talent like his is new. Only problem is his size. The ‘risky’ pitches n tosses that we’ve ran B4 never really fit the rbs we had. Not Doug Martin Charles sims Leonard fournette maybe Blount only bcuz he was a beast… Also having a ‘new’ oline helped out a lot. New as in experience n a stud C. Liam is gone but our talent is still here. If we do hire from inside the coaching staff 4 OC I can only see great things 4 Bucky cuz not only will his running style be understood as a success but also be setup 2 excel. I was watching him interview after the panthers or saints game where he said that he was trying 2 direct guys 2 block 4 him but they didn’t really kno his running style. Something that we needed 2 get used 2 n I believe him. I think we need 2 get tucker more involved too. Imagine if we developed both tucker n Bucky last season rather than put white in. There are always the faithful who want 2 utilize white. I get that but this past season I wanted more of the rookies. Whites experience is key 4 them. We would have 2 rbs right now that we cud rely on. After Bucky it’s a mystery. White isn’t consistent. Tucker cud be against any defense but that’s something that we don’t kno.
January 30th, 2025 at 9:27 am
He played exceptionally well for a rookie, especially switching positions. The sky’s the limit for this dude. I cannot wait to see his development next year. This rookie class was fantastic. Home runs by Jason Licht and his staff all the way down.
January 30th, 2025 at 9:35 am
He’s just gotta work on those snaps, and he will, but he’s clearly a stud.
January 30th, 2025 at 10:05 am
All Pro Soon
January 30th, 2025 at 10:20 am
I liked drafting Barton but recognized switching from LT to an NFL center would be very, very tough for him. I think he will improve the way Mauch has, getting much stronger and working on his run blocking. The game will slow down for him next year and his penalties will drop way down.
Who will be playing next to Barton at LG? Bredeson and Newman have the experience but they’re FA’s. Will Licht bring one back cheap so we can spend money on defensive FA’s?
January 30th, 2025 at 12:03 pm
Goedeke, Mauch … Both guys excelled in year 2. Barton will do the same.
January 30th, 2025 at 12:25 pm
Barton is a stud and will definitely raise his game in 2025. Just keep Logan Hall away from him in training camp.
January 30th, 2025 at 2:28 pm
By year 3 Barton will likely be vying for All Pro honors.
We’ll see – but I expect big things from this player.
His talents even as a rookie were more than obvious.
January 30th, 2025 at 3:27 pm
Agreed Pickgrin.
January 30th, 2025 at 3:44 pm
Promising.. sure. However, the other rookie centers that started all played better. Frazier was one of the best in the league. Barton has the most potential though hoping for a major leap next year. I’m sure he was shaking some of the rust off after playing tackle for a while.
January 30th, 2025 at 6:44 pm
Come on Scott. You did not watch bunches of snaps of other centers
January 30th, 2025 at 6:57 pm
stpete, I saw every Dolphin home game in the 1969 season. I graduated from HS in So. FL, and lived with my grandparents. My grandfather worked for PanAm Airlines, and they were one of the first huge corp backers of the fledging team. He knew I loved the game and we went to the old Orange Bowl to see the games. George Wilson was the HC. This was right before Miami was brought into the NFL, and Don Shula became HC. Wilson and the team were fun to watch, and they won a lot of games. Barton will be an all-Pro. Licht has hit pay dirt yet again. I bring up my fish history cos I know this game and the FL teams. The new Miami owners are BS; they wrecked an iconic logo.
January 30th, 2025 at 7:22 pm
Snapping consistently actually strikes me as really hard, but it’s great to have any one thing to focus on improving. The guy is obviously smart and motivated, and if he knows this is the one thing he’s gotta fix by next season, I bet he gets it done.