Each week I’ll take a closer look at the snap count distribution for the Bucs offense and defense, assessing what we can learn from who played the most and who played the least on game day.

Here’s a look at which Bucs played the most – and the least – in the team’s 36-27 loss to the New Orleans Saints in Week 8.

Bucs Offensive Snap Counts

It was just for a snap, but Donovan Smith’s one-play absence was the first missed rep due to injury for a Bucs offensive line starter in 2021. Josh Wells stepped in for a solitary play while Smith was off the field, and had one other rep in jumbo personnel. The Bucs wisely mostly avoided the heavy 12 personnel look, with Aaron Stinnie playing just one snap as an extra blocker.

Rob Gronkowski lasted just six first half snaps before bowing out with back pain. After the game, head coach Bruce Arians admitted Gronkowski probably should not have played. That’s troubling. In his place, Cam Brate leap-frogged O.J. Howard for the most snaps, despite the fact that Howard had been trending over him lately. The Bucs will try to get Gronkowski back healthy after the Week 9 bye.

In a game in which the Bucs trailed often, Tyler Johnson played…less than he did a week ago? Just 39 snaps for Johnson after 49 snaps in a blowout win last week. The Bucs fascination with 12 personnel despite Gronkowski’s absence is confounding to me. This team is extremely deep at wide receiver. They should be living out of 11 personnel. Jaelon Darden did receive nine reps, although I’m not sure he’s fully ready. Cyril Grayson made the most of his eight snaps, catching a 50-yard touchdown for his first grab of the season.

No major change at running back. With nine snaps, it’s clear that Ronald Jones is RB3 now, as he should be. Leonard Fournette is playing well, and Giovani Bernard proves each week that the team needs to use him more. Don’t expect an uptick for Jones anytime soon.

Defensive Snap Counts

Five players essentially went the distance for the Bucs defense on Sunday. Lavonte David returned to play every snap along with Devin White. Down to basically just three real cornerbacks, Pierre Desire played all but one snap on Sunday. He struggled mightily, as did Ross Cockrell, who gave up a touchdown in his 40 nickel reps. The Bucs hope to get Carlton Davis and Sean Murphy-Bunting back after the bye, per Ian Rapoport.

Mike Edwards cut into Jordan Whitehead’s reps just a little bit, keeping in theme with last season. The Bucs never used dime personnel and Richard Sherman never saw the field despite being active. Kevin Minter had one goal line rep in which he failed to locate the football on a Saints touchdown.

At defensive tackle, Vita Vea saw by far his biggest workload of the season. In his four-year career, Vea had played more than 61 snaps just one time. The hulking nose tackle barely passed Ndamukong Suh for the team lead in defensive tackle snap counts. Surprisingly, Will Gholston played 17 snaps less than Suh despite the Saints pass-heavy approach. With Steve McLendon inactive, Rakeem Nunez-Roches played 22 snaps and Pat O’Connor six. The Bucs are shortening their defensive tackle rotation a little bit to find some more pass rush juice.

At edge rusher, the most egregious personnel deployment occurred. Anthony Nelson saw ten snaps on Sunday, two more than Bucs rookie Joe Tryon-Shoyinka. In Tryon-Shoyinka’s eight snaps, he was in coverage on several. Just an absurd misuse of a first round pass rusher so far. Tyron-Shoyinka could be an impact player if defensive coordinator Todd Bowles allowed him to be one. Right now he’s a zone coverage off-ball linebacker as much as he is a pass rusher. Really disappointing.