The Bucs are set to wrap up their three-game preseason slate Friday night, returning home to Raymond James Stadium to host the Miami Dolphins after the two teams met for a joint practice on Wednesday.

The majority of Tampa Bay’s starters will get their first action of the exhibition season against Miami, though head coach Todd Bowles said he doesn’t have a set number of plays or a defined amount of time that he wants the first team out there. In last year’s preseason finale, he had the starters play the first half.

With many of the starters taking the field for the first time this preseason in preparation for the Bucs’ regular season opener on Sept. 8 against the Commanders, there’s a high level of intrigue with this Friday’s contest at Ray Jay. With that in mind, here is one player to watch at each offensive position. We’ll then follow up with one defensive player to watch later on.

Bucs To Watch vs. Dolphins: Offense

QB Baker Mayfield

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield and OC Liam Coen – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Baker Mayfield gets his turn to take the reins to open Friday night’s game against Miami. The Bucs’ new $100 million man may not play a whole lot, but it’ll still be good to see him out there getting game reps with the rest of his go-to weapons from a year ago – as well as rookie receiver Jalen McMillan. Todd Bowles mentioned this week that communication is one of the biggest things he wants to see out of his starters in whatever playing time they do get against the Dolphins.

That may especially be the case on offense as Mayfield takes control of new offensive coordinator Liam Coen‘s system. Mayfield and Coen have worked together before, but it’s been a couple of years. So, the two of them getting on the same page in an exhibition setting will be hugely beneficial, as will the fact that the first-team offense is getting a chance to run Coen’s system in a game before the Sept. 8 opener against Washington.

RB Rachaad White

If there’s been one major takeaway from the offense in the Bucs’ first two preseason games, it’s that the run game has shown some encouraging signs of improvement. There have been bigger running lanes and both rookie Bucky Irving and second-year back Sean Tucker have taken advantage of them. Starting running back Rachaad White, who fell just 10 yards shy of a 1,000-yard rushing season last year, is probably itching to get out there on Friday night and benefit from the space being created by the offensive line and the overall improvement in the team’s run scheme.

If White and the running backs who follow him continue to run the ball well against Miami, it’ll be hard not to get very excited about what the rushing attack can do come time for the regular season. But it’ll also be intriguing to watch how White is incorporated into the Bucs passing game. He’s one of the better receiving running backs in the NFL and new offensive coordinator Liam Coen was very complimentary of him when he arrived. Now, it’s time to see the dual-threat back thrive in Coen’s offense.

WR Kameron Johnson

Bucs WR Kameron Johnson – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

While the starters are bound to get most of the headlines leading up to Friday night, the expected NFL debut of undrafted rookie Kameron Johnson is a fun subplot. Johnson has been one of the rising stars of training camp for Tampa Bay, but a rib injury kept him out of the first two preseason games. The speedy receiver has received a whole lot of praise from coaches and teammates alike, and when healthy, he’s been used in some creative ways within the offense. Not to mention, he has shown some of the burst and vision needed to be successful on kick returns, so we’ll see if the Bucs give him a look there on Friday night, too.

Johnson shed the no-contact jersey he was wearing last week as this week wore on, and he then had a phenomenal showing in Wednesday’s joint practice with the Dolphins. There’s no guarantee that he’s made the team yet by any means, but with Rakim Jarrett’s ill-timed injury, there may be a spot up for grabs. On Friday night, the rookie out of Barton College will get a chance to show in a game setting why he should make the final 53-man roster.

TE Cade Otton

As much fun as it’s been to see Baker Mayfield lighting up the practice fields this summer by throwing to Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Jalen McMillan and a host of other receivers, third-year tight end Cade Otton has quietly had an extremely impressive camp. He finished last season on a heater, starring in both the Wild Card win over the Eagles and the Divisional Round loss to the Lions. His chemistry with Mayfield seemed to grow more and more as last year went on, and it’s continued to develop this offseason.

Otton, like the rest of the starters, may not play much against the Dolphins. But don’t be surprised if he comes up with a chunk play or two, carrying over what he’s been doing in practice to a game setting. The 25-year-old has been finding holes in the defense and winning downfield, and if he can continue to do that when the regular season rolls around, it raises the bar for just how lethal this Bucs offense can be. The team would certainly love to see Otton truly come into his own as an all-around TE1 this season.

OT Luke Goedeke

Bucs RT Luke Goedeke – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

There’s a lot to be said about how important this 2024 season is for Luke Goedeke. Originally drafted to play guard in 2022, he bounced back from a rough rookie season by shifting back to right tackle – his college position – and putting together a fantastic season.

Goedeke was one of the more underrated stars of last year’s Bucs team that outperformed a lot of people’s expectations by three-peating as NFC South champions and winning a playoff game. This year, Goedeke will look to build on his success from last year and potentially set himself up for a big second contract – maybe even next offseason?

4/5 Luke Goedeke is the best poised to be a target for this if he has another strong season. With the OT market rising as it has, locking him up after 2024 could mean the diff between $17.5M APY and +$20M.

— Joshua Queipo (@josh_queipo) August 20, 2024

It’s been a good offseason and training camp for Goedeke, who turns 26 in November. He didn’t play in either of the first two preseason games, instead sticking close by lifting partner and good friend Tristan Wirfs on the sideline. But on Friday night, Goedeke will get back to it and surely show off the feistiness that Buccaneer fans saw more and more of last season progressed. The third-year pro had a good showing in Wednesday’s joint practice, and he’ll look to build on it with whatever playing time he gets on Friday.

OG Ben Bredeson

Ever since Sua Opeta suffered a season-ending knee injury in late July, it’s been a foregone conclusion that veteran Ben Bredeson would be the Bucs’ starting left guard come Week 1. On Wednesday, head coach Todd Bowles confirmed as much. Bredeson had a really impressive showing in the preseason opener against Cincinnati, then played just 12 snaps against the Jaguars last weekend. This time around against Miami, he’ll line up next to starting center Graham Barton and, presumably, Pro Bowl left tackle Tristan Wirfs.

How Bredeson gels with Barton and Wirfs will be something to monitor in Friday night’s game in addition to simply seeing how he fares in both the passing game and the run game. He opened up some lanes for the run game in the preseason opener and graded out well in run blocking last week as well, even in the limited snaps he played. While Robert Hainsey and Elijah Klein will continue to get some cross-training for depth purposes, Bredeson is the guy at left guard for the Bucs, and Friday will be the first real chance to see how he fits in with the whole starting group.

C Graham Barton

Bucs C Graham Barton – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

After officially being named the team’s starting center earlier this week, Graham Barton will take the field at Raymond James Stadium for the first time as a Buc on Friday night. He played extremely well in his preseason debut two weeks ago before only getting 14 snaps last week in Jacksonville. This will be his first time playing with Tampa Bay’s starting offensive line in a game setting, and it should be a valuable tune-up for him and the unit as a whole as a result.

In addition to watching how he fares both in pass protection and in the run game, it’ll be interesting to keep an eye on the way he commands the group, makes his line calls and completes the snap exchange with Baker Mayfield. Tampa Bay’s 2024 first-round pick will then be ready for his regular season debut in just over two weeks.