Royce Newman is now a Buccaneer after Tampa Bay claimed him off of waivers from the Green Bay Packers. With the starting offensive line set, Newman will occupy a depth spot on the roster. While sixth-round rookie Elijah Klein impressed with his preseason performance, Royce Newman likely slots ahead of him on the depth chart and is poised to be the first man up if the team needs to go to a reserve guard. Royce Newman brings a wealth of experience that Tampa Bay has shown to be a priority in how they are building their offensive line this year.

Bucs G Royce Newman – Photo by: USA Today

It appears the team is valuing a balanced approach to remaking their interior offensive line this year. They are banking on improvement from right guard Cody Mauch after an up and down rookie season. The Bucs invested a first-round pick into the center position when they selected Graham Barton out of Duke. That combination means that they will be starting two players next to each other with a combined experience level of one year. It would seem that they didn’t want to expand that youth movement across the entire interior.

The Bucs signed Ben Bredeson and Sua Opeta in the offseason to compete for the left guard spot. The loser of that battle would provide a veteran option should either guard spot require a backup to step in. And now with Opeta out for the season the Bucs are showing a renewed commitment to ensuring they do not have to go with extreme youth in the event of an injury.

Royce Newman On Tape

I watched some of Newman’s 2023 tape to get a feel for him as a player. The former fourth-round pick is a solid athlete and tested well during his pre-draft process.

Royce Newman was drafted with pick 142 of round 4 in the 2021 draft class. He scored a 8.72 RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 148 out of 1152 OG from 1987 to 2021. https://t.co/MCqH523fh4 #RAS #Packers pic.twitter.com/JCMqM1bG5x

— Kent Lee Platte (@MathBomb) May 1, 2021

His best trait that I viewed lined up with this testing as he can fire off the line quickly and get beneficial angles on his blocks. This plays well in the Bucs scheme where you could see all preseason, they were depending on a run game that asked their offensive linemen to be athletes who can quickly act in the run game with proactive movements and drive blocking. He has also shown a strong latch when his hands land in the right spot.

To highlight these movement skills, I’ll point you to offensive line guru Brandon Thorn.

One of my guys from the 2021 class Royce Newman looking solid out there at RG pic.twitter.com/3zdqy23qU0

— Brandon Thorn (@BrandonThornNFL) August 23, 2021

Royce Newman Opportunities

Despite some positive traits there is a reason the Packers let him go. He was set to earn $2.25 million because he had hit the playtime threshold to bump his salary from the original $1,055,000 he was set to earn in the final year of his rookie deal. With him moving from year one starter to back up by 2024, Green Bay opted to save the money and give someone else on the roster the opportunity to fill his spot.

Bucs G Royce Newman – Photo by: USA Today

Royce Newman’s game just never progressed in multiple areas. He plays with a super wide base that can lead him into trouble because he slows (and sometimes fully stops his feet). Once his feet slow, he is susceptible to getting caught leaning. He also doesn’t show an incredible anchor that he can use to fend off power rushers.

Add to this inconsistent hand placement and you start to see the picture of a guy who just isn’t successful enough at the NFL level for an organization to put a lot of trust in him. Per Pro Football Focus Newman’s pressure rate allowed has moved from 4.85% in 2021 to 6.64% in 2022 to a career-high (but not in a good way) 8.33% last year.

His run blocking doesn’t make up for his lapses in pass protection as many of the issues listed above come through in the ground game as well. No, the Bucs didn’t put a claim in on Royce Newman because they saw a traits-y player who they could unlock. They want someone who has real life NFL experience, no matter how bad that experience is. They wanted a vet. And Newman gives them that. He has 33 games worth of experience over the last three seasons and over 1,700 snaps. If Bredeson or Mauch is unable to play the Bucs want that experience to plug into the starting lineup. Royce Newman brings experience, but not much more.