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Pewter Report’s Scott Reynolds answers your questions from the @PewterReport Twitter account each week in the Bucs Mailbag. Submit your question to the Bucs Mailbag each week via Twitter using the hashtag #PRMailbag.  Here are the Bucs draft questions we chose to answer for this week’s edition.

QUESTION: Do you believe that Luke Goedeke can be a good enough right tackle? His arm length would be an outlier for a starting tackle, and the game a lot of fans are hanging their hopes on was Atlanta in Week 18. He played well, but the Falcons’ edge play last year was closer to college than legit NFL play.

ANSWER: Do I believe Luke Goedeke can be a good enough right tackle in the NFL? It remains to be seen, but I did like what he did against Atlanta in Week 18 in his lone start there last season. Goedeke played right tackle for two seasons at Central Michigan, which led to him being drafted by the Bucs in the second round in 2022. I think he has the best chance for success there as opposed to left guard, where he struggled mightily during his rookie season.

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

The reason why Goedeke was moved inside to guard anyways was his shorter-than-ideal arm length. Goedeke’s arm length is just over 32 inches, which ranks in the 11th percentile all-time, according to MockDraftable.com. Pro Bowl right tackles Ryan Ramczyk and Rob Havenstein both have 33 3/4-inch arms, and former first-round pick Jonah Williams has 33 5/8-inch arms. Tristan Wirfs has 34-inch arms, which is on par with fellow All-Pro Trent Williams. Another All-Pro right tackle, Lane Johnson, has 35-inch arms. Football is a game of inches and NFL scouts and coaches love to have tackles with long arms that help keep pass rushers at bay.

I do agree that Goedeke didn’t face stiff competition against the Falcons last year. He’s yet to be tested by the likes of a Joey Bosa or a Cameron Jordan, but will face both later this year if he hangs on to the right tackle job. He may not look pretty or technically sound, but Goedeke is a scrappy pass protector, who has shown some improvement this year, according to offensive line coach Joe Gilbert. It can look like a bar fight as far as the Bucs are concerned, just as long as Goedeke gets the job done and avoids penalties.

If Goedeke is not up to the task, moving Matt Feiler to right tackle is an option, as is giving Brandon Walton a shot there. The one thing I’ve been told about Dave Canales’ new system is that it doesn’t require the tackles to hold their blocks nearly as long in the run game or the pass game. With the Bucs offense featuring more stretch zone runs and the passing game being more horizontally-based rather than vertically-based like Bruce Arians’ system, that should help Goedeke – and the Bucs offensive line in general – this season.

QUESTION: How do you feel about this now that you’ve had eyes on both quarterbacks? Are you still thinking it’s Baker Mayfield’s job to lose or have you moved more towards Kyle Trask’s side?

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield and OC Dave Canales – Photo courtesy of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

ANSWER: Well, the media has only seen one open practice so far, and that was last Tuesday’s OTA. This Tuesday’s OTA will be the second practice that we’ve been able to watch. The quarterback competition has only just begun and there’s a chance it doesn’t get sorted out until late August after the preseason games conclude. Bucs offensive coordinator Dave Canales said as much this offseason.

The battle between Geno Smith and Drew Lock lasted all of training camp and the preseason last year in Seattle before it was determined that Smith would succeed Russell Wilson under center. That worked out well for the Seahawks and Smith. Seattle was a surprise playoff team and Smith made his first Pro Bowl and was named the NFL Comeback Player of the Year. So don’t fret if Canales and head coach Todd Bowles don’t name a starter until just weeks before the start of the 2023 regular season.

I still believe it’s Baker Mayfield’s job to lose. He arrives in Tampa Bay with 69 games worth of experience and a playoff win under his belt. Mayfield is on a cheap one-year, prove-it deal and has an obvious chip on his shoulder. The only way he doesn’t win the job in my opinion is if he suffers an injury or turns the ball over too much. If Kyle Trask can prove that he can move the offense, score touchdowns and protect the ball better, he can pull the upset over Mayfield. But given Mayfield’s experience, that is likely Trask’s only path to the starting job – avoiding turnovers in practice and the preseason games.

QUESTION: Which injured player from a year ago are you more concerned about returning to form this year?

Bucs C Ryan Jensen – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

ANSWER: Good question. I think it has to be a tie between outside linebacker Shaq Barrett and center Ryan Jensen. Barrett will turn 31 in November and Jensen turns 33 in May. The older players get the harder it is for them to fully recover from injuries. Jensen was injured on the second day of training camp when Aaron Stinnie landed on his knee, and the Pro Bowl center finally revealed the severity of the injury after missing the entire season and returning to start the Bucs’ playoff loss to the Cowboys in mid-January.

“It was a pretty severe injury which a lot of people I know were confused on why I didn’t have surgery but I ended up tearing my MCL, ACL, PCL,” Jensen said. “I flipped my meniscus, I had a fracture, and another little bone chip thing. It was a major injury. I was fortunate as I could be with the way the injury happened where I didn’t have to have surgery and it was able to heal on its own. Five months and trying to come back off of that – some call it dumb, but I’m a football player and football players play football.”

Without surgery to repair the knee, how will it hold up over a full 17-game season after a long training camp? That remains to be seen, but obviously the team is encouraged by his recovery. Still, it’s worth noting that the Bucs added two guards this offseason in veteran Matt Feiler and second-round pick Cody Mauch. Their arrival will keep Robert Hainsey on the bench as Jensen’s backup this season rather than moving him to guard, which is interesting. Hopefully Tampa Bay doesn’t need Hainsey this year and that Jensen returns to action and returns to form.

As for Barrett, he tore his Achilles tendon in Week 8 and that’s a tough injury to fully come back from in one year. Throw in the fact that the 6-foot-1, 250-pound Barrett isn’t big nor is he fast, and there’s some concern that he regains his quickness. It’s Barrett’s quickness and ability to time the snap that allows him to possess one of the faster get-offs when healthy. Without his first-step quickness, Barrett is just an above-average pass rusher – not one that is capable of being elite. We’ll see if he can gain regain that explosion with his surgically repaired Achilles.

QUESTION: It was reported that former Bucs director of player personnel Jon Robinson was seen at OTAs with Jason Licht. Now that he’s out as the G.M. with the Titans. Do you see him rejoining the staff with us here in Tampa?

ANSWER: Jon Robinson was in Tampa last week visiting Jason Licht and watching the Bucs OTA last Tuesday. Robinson, the former Titans general manager, was fired midseason, which caught him and the rest of the league off guard. I haven’t heard of anything imminent between Robinson and the Bucs, and he may be taking the year off to enjoy some quality family time on Tennessee’s dime. The Titans still owe him the millions of dollars left on his contract.

The Bucs don’t really have any room for Robinson, the team’s former director of player personnel, in the front office right now. John Spytek is Licht’s new right-hand man and was promoted to vice president of player personnel following the Super Bowl win in 2020. Mike Biehl and Rob McCartney are co-directors of player personnel. Biehl spends more time with college scouting, while McCartney handles more of the pro scouting.

Even if Spytek leaves for a general manager position next offseason, it’s not a given that Robinson would necessarily return. While Robinson and Licht are very good friends, Biehl and McCartney have been in the Bucs organization a long time. McCartney has been in Tampa Bay for 12 years, while Biehl has been with the Bucs for the past nine seasons.

QUESTION: Do you foresee the team inducting Tom Brady into the Bucs Ring of Honor this season now that he’s retired?

Bucs QB Tom Brady – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

ANSWER: There is a chance that Tom Brady gets inducted into the Bucs Ring of Honor soon – perhaps this year. I wrote about that possibility a week ago in a separate story for PewterReport.com. The Bucs inducted Brady’s coach in Tampa Bay, Bruce Arians, last year after he abruptly retired from coaching. It would only make sense for the Bucs to want to put Brady in sooner rather than later.

It’s up to Brady, really. He would have to agree to return to Tampa Bay for the induction ceremony, which the Glazers would love because just his appearance alone would guarantee a sell out. And because he spent the first 20 years of his NFL career there, Brady might want to see if he could be inducted into the Patriots Ring of Honor first – then join the Bucs Ring of Honor.

This is all speculation, though. But it’s a safe bet that Brady will be inducted into the Bucs Ring of Honor within the next five years. Personally, I’d like to see Hardy Nickerson and Simeon Rice enter the Ring of Honor first. They’re just as deserving and have had to wait quite a while.