TE Antony Auclair – 6-6, 256 – 27 years old – 4th season

Auclair is one of just a few NFL players who played their college ball in Canada, hailing from the University of Laval. Entering the league the same year as O.J. Howard with Cameron Brate already on the roster, Auclair wasn’t just a long shot because of his undrafted free agent status, but also because of the talent ahead of him on the depth chart.

That won’t change in 2020, as Auclair now faces an uphill climb for playing time and maybe even a roster spot given the signing of Gronkowski. Auclair did however sign a one-year, $1.25 million contract this offseason with the Bucs, including $800,000 in guaranteed money. That’s not enough to lock in his roster spot, but it does show how serious Jason Licht and Bruce Arians are about their interest in what Auclair brings to the table.

Bucs TE Antony Auclair – Photo by: Mark Lomoglio/PR

So what does he bring to the table? As a receiver, not much. Auclair has 13 targets and 10 catches for 84 yards and zero touchdowns in three seasons with the Bucs, while playing almost 700 total snaps. If Auclair catches a pass this upcoming season, it’ll be a mini-upset.

Still, Licht had this to day about Auclair at the NFL Scouting Combine back in late February, before the team re-signed him to a one-year deal:

“Antony is a really good piece to the puzzle to our team. He’s got a role. We like him. He’s good at what he does. He’s a great kid, and we see him as one of the bricks in the building here for awhile hopefully.”

One of the main reasons that Licht and Arians like Auclair is because of his blocking and his toughness. The big tight end might be a face-in-the-fan type of player, but the first part is still more promise than actual ability. Auclair has size and technique for a blocker, but he still gets tossed around too often and needs to improve his footwork to stay on blocks consistently.

We only have 172 snaps from Auclair last season, and most of them came against Tennessee and Seattle in Weeks 8 and 9. There were a few good reps in the run game, but Auclair spent most of the Tennessee game struggling to control the line of scrimmage.

When you only see the field for 172 snaps, you probably don’t want to get tossed around like a rag doll for a handful of them. Auclair, who battled a toe injury that ultimately led him to injured reserve prematurely in 2019, is tough and does get after opponents. Yet the bad outweighs the good right now.

Still, there is some reason for optimism. Auclair may not be a great point-of-attack blocker right now, but he plays with the length, leverage and high-end flashes to be worthy of development in this area. Some of his best work has actually come in pass protection, where he typically handled his own on the limited opportunities he saw this past season.

Is this a role worth keeping Auclair around to fulfill if he can’t improve in the run game? Not in my opinion. But clearly the Bucs appreciate what he brings to the table in terms of toughness and effort, believing he’s worth taking at least a longer look at this preseason.

One final concern about Auclair that must be cleaned up this season: getting flagged 13 times in less than 700 career snaps is not great. He played 341 total snaps in 2018 and finished the season second on the team in penalties with eight. Some of those came on special teams where Auclair plays a big role, but that’s crazy. Auclair has frequent issues with snap timing, either jumping too early (seven false starts) or too late, as is the case on many of the plays when he was beaten this season.

Auclair isn’t a rookie anymore. Tampa Bay’s tight end room is crowded, and the time for excuses has run its course. He’ll need a strong training camp and preseason as a blocker in order to hold off competitors for the fourth tight end spot, and even that might not be enough to ensure Auclair makes the final roster.