To say the 2024 Bucs season has been a rollercoaster thus far would be quite the fair assessment. And they are only five games into the campaign. To date only one game has seemingly gone “to plan.” Tampa Bay’s Week 1 victory over the Washington Commanders did not rock the football world.

Since then, the Bucs have experienced highs and lows on a week-in, week-out basis that would give an EKG for a patient with tachycardia a run for it’s money. A surprising win in Detroit, followed by a flat performance against Denver. Then Tampa Bay rounded out their current 3-2 schedule with a resounding win over the Eagles before collapsing late against the Falcons.

The inconsistent nature of the team’s game-by-game results paired with the relative brevity of the season so far can lead to overreactions in terms of what is right, and wrong, with the current composition of the team as well as the near and long-term outlooks of each position group. So, with 30% of the regular season in the books I wanted to take a look at each position group through both a short and long-term lens while the Bucs try to get healthy on their mini bye following an emotional Thursday Night Football game.

After taking a look at the Bucs skill position players on offense, we now turn to trenches on both sides of the ball.

Offensive Line

After the Broncos game it seemed like Bucs fans were ready to throw the baby out with the bath water as it were with regards to the team’s offensive line. Backup swing tackle Justin Skule had a rough outing against Aidan Hutchinson in Detroit and right guard Cody Mauch struggled to handle a Broncos front that is low-key one of the best units in the NFL. But when assessing the unit as a whole after five games, there is a lot to like in terms of growth.

Left Tackle

Bucs LT Tristan Wirfs – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Left tackle Tristan Wirfs has improved from his first season on the left side last year. He has allowed just four pressures in five games and his pressure rate allowed has fallen from 3.5% to 2.1%. We will never see another season like Wirfs’ 2022 campaign when he allowed just five pressures in over 600 pass protection snaps, but that was as much a function of Tom Brady’s time to throw as it was Wirfs’ dominance.

And Wirfs isn’t just improving in pass protection. With the Bucs’ recent changes to more of a gap scheme his run blocking is getting better as well. Wirfs is being used at the second level in space more and getting downhill where his athleticism and strength are verifiable weapons for the offense.

With Wirfs under contract now through 2029 there isn’t much to do with this position in the short or long-term.

Left Guard

The offensive line is widely thought to be a weak link system. It is far more important to have no holes than it is to have one or two superstars. Veteran Ben Bredeson was signed in the offseason in the hopes of improving the Bucs’ biggest weakness from last year. Thus far the results have been improved somewhat. Bredeson is allowing pressure on 4.2% of his pass block snaps. Compare that to the Matt Feiler/Aaron Stinnie tandem of last year who combined to allow pressure on 6.1% of their pass sets.

Bucs G Ben Bredeson – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Bredeson isn’t much of a plus in the run game either, although, like Wirfs, his best reps have come from gap where he can drive and double or pull vertically. Bredeson has struggled the most running Tampa Bay’s mid zone concepts. Reach blocks are tough for him as he doesn’t fire off the snap laterally well and he cannot stay connected with the block through the running back’s cut.

Short term, the Bucs may be content with Bredeson’s play as passable for the rest of the season. He isn’t good or average, but he has not been an unplayable disaster, and the continuing change in run scheme may help prop up his play for the rest of the season. But if there is a drop off the Bucs may look to rookie Elijah Klein in the back half of the season. Klein who has a bulkier, more sawed-off frame would be an ideal fit for a gap-based run scheme and features a stronger anchor that would likely hold up better than Bredeson’s against powerful bull rushers inside.

And Klein may be the answer at right guard long-term as well. His guard tape in the preseason was very good and the team, and independent evaluators like Brandon Thorn and Duke Manyweather are all very high on his potential future.

Mason McCormick SDSU
Elijah Klein from UTEP
Willis Patrick TCU
Grant Smith South Dakota School of Mines https://t.co/rkLYk40e8j

— Duke Manyweather (@BigDuke50) March 31, 2024

Center

The amount of hope and hype that came with the Bucs’ drafting Graham Barton was a high as any draft pick dating back to Wirfs in 2020. And where Wirfs has set the bar impossibly high with the level of play his rookie year, Barton has not met those lofty heights. But that isn’t to say that he is not playing well overall. Of the 10 qualifying rookie linemen, Barton ranks 5th in pressure rate allowed at 5.3%.

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

This is higher than Robert Hainsey allowed last year, but Barton provides a better level of play as a run blocker. And most of Barton’s pass protection troubles have come from getting his eyes properly aligned throughout a rep, syncing his body movements to the specific motions required of a center and defending stunts/twists. And he hasn’t shown a specific issue with any single type of pass rusher, such as strength/power, speed/gap shooters or hand fighters. Hainsey struggled in 2023 with power rushers giving up 40% of his total pressures in two games facing Andrew Billings and Derrick Brown specifically.

Transitioning from tackle to center in his rookie year was always going to be a challenge for Barton, but he has looked the part thus far and each week he shows improvements in specific areas of his game.

One of Graham Barton’s (#62) biggest areas of opportunities through the first three weeks of the season was understanding when to look for and finding stunts/twists. Can’t do it much better than this. pic.twitter.com/Cx0XvwqqM5

— Joshua Queipo (@josh_queipo) September 30, 2024

And like Bredeson and Wirfs he seems to favor the gap blocking system. He has shown some incredible athleticism that he has leveraged to win some reps clean and saved some potential losses as well.

The Bucs have to be happy with the initial returns on the young center. Most offensive linemen make a jump in both their second and third year in the NFL. Given his initial level of play this bodes well for his future as well as the future for the Bucs at the position in both the near and long-term. Backup center Robert Hainsey will likely try to trade off of his two years of experience in the starting lineup and find a starting job elsewhere next year so the Bucs will likely look for an experienced backup come the offseason.

Right Guard

Bucs RG Cody Mauch and C Graham Barton – Photo by: Cliff Welch P/R

There is no player on the Bucs roster who is as polarizing at this moment than Cody Mauch. But let me just start with this.

Cody Mauch rolling 4-game pressure rate allowed. This includes playoffs (24 game total). Check the right tail.https://t.co/PQxopSnwbZ

— Joshua Queipo (@josh_queipo) October 5, 2024

His losses are some of the ugliest you will ever see, but they are becoming fewer and farther between. His two biggest issues as they stand right now are inconsistent hand placement and lacking an answer for power when he gives up his chest. The first is improving in a small sample size to start the year, but the improvements are promising. The second may always be an issue for him. His arm length isn’t proportional to his frame length, and as such shorter defensive tackles who can explode up off the snap may continue to be his kryptonite.

What the Bucs seem to understand is that he is just 22 months remove from playing left tackle at North Dakota State and a learning curve is to be expected. Mauch is progressing along that learning curve nicely. I doubt there are any conversations inside the Advent Health Training Center about any change at this position either this year or next.

Right Tackle

Luke Goedeke looked very good in his lone game this year. But since being diagnosed with a concussion early in week two he has not been able to clear protocol to return to the field. But once he is back, provided he continues to play at the level he did last year he is absolutely considered a core tent pole to the Bucs offense. Given the team has relatively few pending free agents who will need large, long-term contracts this upcoming offseason, I suspect the team will look at an early extension for Goedeke to be a top priority.

Bucs OT Justin Skule – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

In his absence, Justin Skule has provided exactly the level of play the team would hope for out of a swing tackle. As mentioned previously, the Lions game was bad, although not as bad as you might think. But since then, he has not been sore thumb that has handcuffed the offense. The Bucs have averaged 22.5 points per game with him in the lineup. He has been the offensive line’s second-best run blocker according to Pro Football Focus, and since the Lions game he has allowed a pressure on just 4% of his pass blocking snaps.

If called to play more this season, and provided his play remains at its current level it would not surprise me one bit if the Bucs sought to re-sign Skule in 2025. Look around the league and see what the state of tackle play is right now. Now filter for backup tackles. When you start to understand how steep the drop-off is past tackle 50 or so you can really begin to appreciate what Skule has been able to do for the Bucs. That doesn’t mean that the team shouldn’t take a swing on a higher upside developmental player in the draft next year while penciling in for fairly reliable play from Skule in the meantime.

PFF has the Bucs as the 10th best pass protecting unit in the NFL and 15th in run blocking. Tampa Bay ranks 7th in passing success rate and 20th in rush success rate. The composite of those rankings paints the picture of a unit that is somewhere around 9th-12th in the league up front. But here’s the kicker. There is upside in the form of continued development for Mauch and Goedeke as well as the impending return of Goedeke to the lineup. And there is security with four of the five starters under contract through at least 2025. The Bucs offensive line is in great shape and looks to continue to be for some time to come.