In the NFL, Cover 4 refers to a defensive coverage that aims to cover four deep zones on the field. Following that lead, I’m going to provide you with the same coverage of the Bucs – your favorite football team.

Each Wednesday morning I’ll cover four areas as they apply to Tampa Bay: 1. a short film breakdown, 2. a finance angle, 3. a look forward at what’s to come, and 4. a bit of fun. 

Film – New Bucs G Billy Schrauth

NFL Draft analyst Connor Rogers was a big fan of the Bucs picking up Notre Dame guard Billy Schrauth in the fifth round of the 2026 NFL Draft. Giving Tampa Bay an “A” grade for their draft haul he wrote, “If not for injury, Billy Schrauth was a no-brainer top 100 pick. I think he’s a future starter at guard.”

Getting a starter in the fifth round would be quite a coup. So, I was interested to see what Rogers saw in the former Fighting Irish captain.

Notre Dame G Billy Schrauth – Photo by: IMAGN Images – Michael Clubb

What I found was a familiar type for Tampa Bay offensive linemen, one Bucs fans know well: technically sound, physically limited, mean. If that combination sounds like Alex Cappa to you, you’re tracking with me.

Before I get to the tape, it’s worth noting that Schrauth got better every year in college. The arc is real.

The Strengths Are Real And They Are Pro Traits

Schrauth understands what he is and what he isn’t, and his game is built around maximizing the gap. He plays with consistent pad level, sees the field at a high level, and brings the kind of pre-snap recognition you want from an interior lineman. 

Schrauth’s punch is strong. His hands are active. His recovery skills are above average, and Schrauth never gives up on a rep. He’s at his best as a part of a unit, particularly in duo schemes where he can work combinations to the second level. He eats up ground when asked to climb vertically, and when he gets a defender lined up in space as a puller, Schrauth delivers a jolt.

The Limitations Are Real Too, And They Cap The Ceiling

Schrauth is not a fluid athlete. The lack of high-end movement skills shows up in three specific places.

First, mirroring against superior athletes. When a quicker interior rusher forces him to redirect, Schrauth’s hips don’t open quickly enough, and his footwork struggles to keep up.

Second, Schrauth lacks the lateral burst to match elite get-off. Zane Durant beat him off the line at Penn State on multiple reps, and the issue wasn’t technique on those plays. It was that Durant was simply quicker.

Third, he’s clunky as a puller in space and as a redirect blocker against loopers. When Schrauth has to strain back on a redirect against a stunting rusher, he relies on a waist bend that isn’t going to cut it at the next level. When he’s asked to climb to a linebacker in space, the marginal athleticism shows up.

Add it all up, including the competitive streak that had Schrauth playing through the knee injury against USC that ultimately ended his season, and you see why the Bucs are willing to bet on the player over the traits. Ceiling: a solid starting guard who maximizes average athleticism through technique, hand placement, and recovery (Re: Alex Cappa). Floor: a reliable backup who can spot start and not kill your scheme.

Connor Rogers and I may disagree on the likelihood Schrauth becomes a starter. But that’s still a strong fifth-round pick. 

Finance – Potential Bucs’ Cap And CASH Casualties

Last week I detailed how the projected $94 million in available cash for 2027 won’t be enough for them to keep all of the players needing contracts. The team could look to reallocate current resources to make up that gap. Here are four players Tampa Bay could cut in 2027 to help free up cash. I have listed them in order of likelihood.

WR Chris Godwin Jr. 

Godwin will be entering the final year of the three-year, $66 million extension he signed in 2025. Last year was a bit of a redshirt year for him. And Bucs general manager Jason Licht acknowledged that at the time of the deal and has reiterated several times over since then. But his career lows in catches (33) and receiving yards (360) are still cause for concern. 

As is the fibula injury he suffered that cost him six games last year. Since 2020, Godwin has averaged just 12 games played per season. And that number is headed in the wrong direction. Godwin needs to show two things in 2026 to convince the Bucs to not cut him and save $22 million in cash – because none of that salary is guaranteed.

Bucs WR Chris Godwin – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

First, he has to show he can stay on the field. Godwin needs to get through 14 or more games to show he can contribute consistently. And second, he has to show he can deliver volume and high leverage production. After numerous lower body injuries, Godwin’s past his explosive prime. But before he was lost for the 2024 season, he showed he can be a volume producer who can move the chains on key third downs. 

That’s the Godwin the Bucs need to show up in 2026 to justify keeping him for 2027. If he doesn’t hit both of those, the team will likely move on, saving the cash while clearing $13.7 million in salary cap space.

S Antoine Winfield Jr.

Winfield is also out of guaranteed money. He played well last year, but was conspicuously devoid of impact plays. He earned his market-setting contract in 2024 on the back of a near-historic 2023 season that included six forced fumbles, four fumble recoveries, six.sacks, six tackles for loss, 12 passes defensed and three interceptions. Since then, he has matched just one of those numbers (tackles for loss) over a two season sample.

If Winfield can’t get back to creating turnovers and plays behind the line of scrimmage, the Bucs could decide to take his $19.6 million salary and dedicate it to someone else. They would save $7.7 million in salary cap space in the process in 2027.

LG Ben Bredeson 

Bredeson has played well above what anyone would have expected when the Bucs signed him to a cheap contract in 2024. His play that season earned him a three-year, $22 million re-up from Tampa Bay. 

Bucs LG Ben Bredeson and Cardinals DT Calais Campbell – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Bredeson surprised again last year when he moved from left guard to center early in the season as the team juggled the offensive line due to injuries. But as he moved back to guard late in the season, the interior protection wobbled, and Mayfield’s late-season decision-making suffered alongside it. 

That’s not to say he is underperforming his modest salary. But Cody Mauch is the superior guard and is entering a contract year. If the team feels they can only keep one of the two it makes sense they would go with the younger, better player. They could save $7 million in cash and $4.5 million salary cap by letting Bredeson go (or potentially trading him).

CB Zyon McCollum

McCollum struggled with consistency in 2025. His 3-game rolling passer rating allowed swung from 57.6 in Week 11 to 127.7 by Week 12. That volatility is the issue. The Bucs were hoping he could ascend to CB1 status, but his up-and-down play left them wanting more. The tools are still there. And he plays a high-variance position. There’s a better than decent shot he turns it around this year.

The team gave him a vote of confidence when they restructured his salary this year, increasing the dead cap hit they would incur should they cut him next year. McCollum’s contract has a rolling guarantee structure, and earlier this offseason $7.4 million of McCollum’s 2027 salary vested into a guarantee. They owe him that even if they cut him next year. But they can still save $8.006 million in cash while taking an $800,000 salary cap penalty if they decide to move on. The cap penalty isn’t important. The cash savings is.

Forecast – Graham Barton Becomes A Top 10 Center In 2026

Bucs center Graham Barton has had a rocky start to his NFL career. Three years removed from playing center in college, the Duke left tackle was asked to return to play the pivot from day one after Tampa Bay selected him in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft.

Through the first nine games of his rookie campaign, Barton ranked 26th among all qualifying centers (minimum 279 snaps) in Pro Football Focus’ offensive grades at 53.9. He was 25th in run block grade (53.9) and 20th in pass block (59.2). PFF’s grading system has long been maligned, but with a lack of alternatives to provide context, their grading is properly illustrative.

Over the back half of the season Barton showed real improvement. His run block grade remained fairly static – 27th among qualifying centers at 52.3. But his pass block grade improved substantially to 67.5, good for eighth in the NFL.

Beyond these grades, his tape was littered with flashes of high-end play.

The simple fact is very few centers in the league possess Barton’s ceiling when you factor in size, strength and ability to move in space. That athletic combination made him a viable candidate for stepping into left tackle at the beginning of 2025 when starter Tristan Wirfs had to miss time due to a summer knee surgery.

You can count on one hand the number of centers in the NFL who would have even a snowball’s chance in hell of handling that assignment – and you wouldn’t need every finger. It wasn’t pretty for Barton, but he survived.

One of my favorite ways of tracking offensive linemen progression is through rolling pressure rates allowed. You can see signals in a trend line. Here is Barton’s career rolling three-game pressure rate allowed.

The trend line supports the PFF pass block grade improvement throughout his rookie season. The switch to left tackle was a doozy, not just derailing his pressure rate allowed, but setting back his development as a center.

The approach to center is vastly different from the approach to tackle. Centers work in a more condensed space, have to react quicker post snap and face bigger, stronger opponents. Tackles have to defend a larger amount of space from quicker, smoother defenders.

Switching from one to the other and back isn’t a light switch, and you can see it took about two games for Barton to regain his bearings at center. The remainder of the season he had to catch back up to his own learning curve while working primarily with backups flanking him at guard. None of 2025 was conducive to his development as a center.

But the traits are all still there.

Heading into his third year in the league, Barton is getting his star right guard back in Cody Mauch. He’s getting his solid left guard back in Ben Bredeson. And he’s getting to focus solely on center again. All of those are positive indicators that he is primed for a big jump in play.

The key is his post-snap setup on pass sets. If he can get just a fraction of a second quicker and smoother it will put him in position to not give up his chest, which to date has so often put him in the unenviable position of getting walked back. What some label as a lack of strength or anchor is really just a timing issue that prevents him from using those traits, which are legitimately plus.

Mark it down. Graham Barton gets to focus on center with NFL starting caliber players flanking him and fixes his biggest issue on tape in 2026. And that pushes him into the top third of centers in the NFL. 

Fourth Down Fun – Bauer Sharp Facts

The more I dig into Bucs sixth-round pick Bauer Sharp, the more fascinated I become. Here are six facts about the LSU tight end you might find interesting.

LSU TE Bauer Sharp – Photo by: IMAGN Images – Stephen Lew

• Sharp led Oklahoma in receptions (42), receiving yards (324), and yards after the catch (185) in 2024.
• Sharp accumulated nearly 26% of his 2025 receiving yards on a single play, a 65-yard catch-and-run against Florida in the fourth quarter.
• Sharp scored his first touchdown as a Tiger against his former team, catching five passes for 73 yards and a score in LSU’s week 4 win over Southeastern Louisiana.
• Sharp doesn’t run the 40. The 40 runs Bauer Sharp. (RIP Chuck Norris) He ran a 4.63 in the 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine
• Sharp posted an impressive 9.16 RAS score. 
• Sharp converted from QB to TE when he realized no one was better at catching Bauer Sharp passes than Bauer Sharp.