Each week following every Bucs game, we’ll take a closer look at the snap count distribution for Tampa Bay on offense and defense. We’ll assess what we can learn from who played the most and least in the game.

Let’s get a closer look at the Bucs players who received the highest and lowest number of snaps in their 37-20 win over the Commanders in Sunday’s season opener.

Bucs Offense

The biggest factor we were going to see with Liam Coen as the offensive coordinator is that the primary look for Tampa Bay’s offense was going to feature three wide receivers. This would mean many situations where Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and Jalen McMillan would all be on the field together at the same time. As fate would have it, all three of these receivers ended up scoring a touchdown in the game, with Evans having two.

Bucs WR Mike Evans – Photo by: USA Today

It ended up being the rookie McMillan who had the most snaps out of the three, playing 53 out of 64 snaps for 83%. Godwin clocked in at 78% while Evans wound up playing 70% of the snaps.

This comes with a slight caveat, as the Bucs were up big in the fourth quarter, so it wasn’t necessary to risk Godwin and Evans being involved on every play. The Bucs will have closer games the season, and I’d be willing to bet that these numbers change around when everything on the line.

Nonetheless, it’s encouraging to see that the Bucs can get a solid rotation in for the wide receivers and get production while not having to tire out their top guys. Trey Palmer saw a handful of snaps at 31%, and Kameron Johnson even had a designed play for him and played 17% of the reps. Every snap felt meaningful for each player, which is important moving forward.

Bucs RB Bucky Irving – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

We saw a fair amount of looks where running backs Rachaad White and Bucky Irving were on the field at the same time. White dominated in the passing game while Irving led the way on the ground. Considering White is an established veteran in his third year and Irving was making his NFL debut, it makes sense that White out-snapped Irving 45-20.

Irving also had many of his snaps in the second half as the Bucs attempted to salt away the game. That’s when they found their most success running the football and it feels as if Irving has already earned himself more opportunities.

It’s evident that White and Irving are each going to have an impact on this offense with both getting enough chances to do so. Hopefully Coen and the Bucs can find more ways to get them on the field together and cause issues for the opponent.

At tight end, Cade Otton was known as an ironman last season as he played almost every snap. He still led the Bucs’ skill position players in snaps for the first game this year, but at 86%. Payne Durham also had some moments at 17%. Overall, these are good numbers for the tight ends as they won’t be the focal point of this talented group.

Bucs Defense

While there are certainly patterns that we can take from the offensive snap counts, we might not be able to say the same for Tampa Bay’s defense. Unfortunately, the Bucs suffered a myriad of injuries throughout the game and were already down two starters before the weekend even began. Starting cornerback Zyon McCollum was out for the rest of the game with a concussion after just 11 snaps. His replacement, Bryce Hall, was later carted off early in the third quarter and played only 17 snaps.

Bucs DB Christian Izien – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

This sprung backup safety Christian Izien into action to play cornerback, which he hadn’t played since high school. Izien did a commendable job, recording a pass breakup on a third down while playing a new position. His snap share ended up being 53%, but it’s difficult to say if that’s how he’ll be utilized during the season or if this was just an emergency situation. What was interesting is that the Bucs elected not to use Tavierre Thomas on defense despite all that was going on.

Aside from working around all of their injuries, the Bucs really got the most out of all of their players, constantly rotations people in and out. Although Jamel Dean, Jordan Whitehead and Antoine Winfield Jr. played 100% of snaps and Lavonte David played 98%, there was a huge gap in the amount of playing time with the rest of the team. Rookie nickel corner Tykee Smith had the next highest percentage of snaps at 68%.

Bucs ILB SirVocea Dennis and Commanders QB Jayden Daniels – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

A big reason for this was because the Bucs had a rotation at the other inside linebacker position besides David. K.J. Britt was on for a lot of first and second downs, playing 66%, then SirVocea Dennis would come in on third down and ended up with 36% of the snaps. Both players performed admirably, as Britt recorded five tackles while Dennis was second on the team with seven and also had a sack. Todd Bowles is using the strength of each player to get the best outcome for the group.

Defensive tackle was always going to be a slippery slope with Calijah Kancey and Logan Hall out. Vita Vea and Greg Gaines took the bulk of the snaps, but it was practice squad elevated players Mike Greene and C.J. Brewer who out-snapped veteran defensive tackle Will Gholston. Newly signed Ben Stille got six snaps, but that makes sense since he just arrived.

Yaya Diaby had the most snaps at outside linebacker, but was in for 54% of the time. That was probably to ease his way back into playing after returning from an ankle injury. The Bucs kept a solid rotation with the rest of group, as Joe Tryon-Shoyinka and Anthony Nelson each played 47% and rookie Chris Braswell clocked in at 42%. It was essentially an even playing field for those three with Diaby starting on the other side. Only Markees Watts wasn’t really used at all, playing just 8% of snaps in the game.