The Bucs have re-signed tight end Ko Kieft to a one-year deal.

The news was broken on X by none other than general manager Jason Licht.

Kieft missed the final 14 games of the 2025 season due to a broken leg he suffered in the Week 3 win versus the Jets. The former sixth-round pick, who played with Bucs safety Antoine Winfield Jr. in college at Minnesota, is primarily a blocking tight end and a core special teams player for Tampa Bay.

Kieft, who made $1.1 million in base salary last year, will be brought to camp to compete for a spot on the depth chart, as his contract does not guarantee him a place on Tampa Bay’s 53-man roster this season. The Buccaneers have blocking tight end Payne Durham, who is entering a contract year, and Devin Culp on the roster as Kieft’s main competition for a roster spot.

Tampa Bay is also expected to take advantage of a pretty deep tight end position in the draft this year.

Bucs TE Ko Kieft – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Bucs Value The Toughness Ko Kieft Brings To The Team

No, Ko Kieft is not a threat in the passing game.

He has just 15 targets in his four years in Tampa Bay with none over the past two seasons. Kieft only has eight career catches for 82 yards and two touchdowns. But the Buccaneers value his toughness and physicality as a blocker and as a tackler on special teams more than anything.

“I think you can’t replace Ko from who he is as a human being,” said former Tampa Bay offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard last year when Kieft was placed on injured reserve after suffering a broken leg. “I mean, he’s an enforcer. I look at Payne [Durham] a lot of the same way, where those guys are willing to do the dirty work.

You’re not going to replace him from a schematic standpoint on what he can bring in terms of his ability on certain things versus what Payne and what Cade [Otton] and those guys can do.But, in terms of the run game and just [having] that physical nature – whether it is the O-line – Payne brings that as well, Cade [Otton] brings that as well, and it really sets the tempo, especially in some of that ‘12’ personnel run game, to be able to go press on people.”

Bucs TE Ko Kieft and former OLB Joe Tryon-Shoyinka – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Tampa Bay head coach Todd Bowles heaped a good deal of praise on Kieft when he confirmed that the former sixth-round pick was going to be placed on injured reserve back in Week 4.

“Ko is on [injured reserve] – he broke his leg,” Bowles said. “He was probably our toughest player [or] one of our toughest three players on the team because he was our tone-setter, offensively. He did a lot of things in the room from a blocking standpoint. So, we have to try and run the ball different ways without him. That was a huge loss for us.”

Bucs fans might disagree with that assessment, but it is Kieft’s toughness and blocking ability that Tampa Bay clearly values, which is why the team re-signed him for another year.