Should There be More Concern About the State of Tampa Bay’s Offensive Line?
Bucs Impressive Roster Still Poses Questions
Despite Bucs general manager Jason Licht's best efforts, parts of the team's roster still have question marks that could be problematic.
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What If The Interior O-Line Is Below Average?
Now this one is much more in the realm of “reasonable.” No starting group had more turnover this year than the offensive line. All three interior spots will be manned by new players to start the season. While it is appropriate for us to assume that right guard should be okay due to the high-level of play Shaq Mason has displayed over the past several years, the other two spots are legitimate wild cards.
Bucs LG Luke Goedeke
Left guard is an open four-way competition between veteran Aaron Stinnie, rookie Luke Goedeke, Brandon Walton and Swiss army knife Nick Leverette. Between the three of them they have logged a combined 418 snaps of professional regular and postseason play. No one can definitively say that it is a lock that the Bucs will get average-to-good play from that position.
In all three seasons he has logged snaps,
Stinnie has produced slightly below-average play per Pro Football Focus. However, he knows the system and played adequately in place of an injured Alex Cappa during the team’s post-season run to the Super Bowl in 2020. Goedeke is not only a rookie, but he is making a position switch. Playing mostly tackle at Central Michigan, he is learning the intricacies of the guard position. Still, the Bucs used some draft capital to trade back up into the second-round to select the self-described “glass-eater.” He has the physical tools to be a star. But most offensive linemen struggle in their first couple of years. Not everyone is Tristan Wirfs.
And the center spot looks to have even less experience. Leverett is also competing to be the starting center while Ryan Jensen is laid up with a knee injury. He is competing with second-year draft pick Robert Hainsey. In extremely limited action last year Hainsey showed promise. And as a former Day 2 pick the Bucs selected him to be an eventual starter. However, the team had the option to make him the presumptive starter this past off-season but opted to re-sign Jensen. This signals they weren’t completely ready for him to step into a starting role.
Likelihood: Very Possible
Sixty percent of the starting group will be new. The odds that all three new starters are average or above is remote. The most likely scenario is that at least one player is good and at least one player is below-average. Combined with the overall good-to-elite play of the tackles the line will still be good enough to help the team reach a Super Bowl.
After all, the Bengals did it with virtually no good players last year.