Bucs offensive linemen Ben Bredeson, left, and Graham Barton participate in a drill during training camp in July at AdventHealth Training Center in Tampa. Bredeson moved from left guard to center and Barton from center to left tackle for Sunday's opener against the Falcons. [ JEFFEREE WOO | Times ]
TAMPA — It was hatched as a plan in case of emergency but may have simply prevented one.
A week before the season opener at Atlanta, the Bucs needed an alternative to replacing injured left tackle Tristan Wirfs with veteran backup Charlie Heck.
“Nobody really said it, but, like, we really need to do this,” head coach Todd Bowles said Monday.
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The practice field became their experimental lab. They moved center Graham Barton to left tackle, a position he played his last three seasons at Duke. Left guard Ben Bredeson slid to center, where he had started a few games with the Giants. Finally, they wound up elevating Michael Jordan from the practice squad to play left guard.
“When we gave them a couple reps out there, at first we were doing it out of emergency,” Bowles said. “Then it was, ‘Hey, he looks pretty good out there,’ and Ben looked pretty good at center. Then we just started messing with it a little bit, and the more we saw it the more it started coming into focus, and when I first asked him to do it I said ‘in case of emergency,’ and he just took a few reps here and there.
“Then it got to being kind of an emergency and started looking better and better, and he was firing off the ball in the run game, and we were like, ‘Hey, we might be more physical with Graham at tackle and Ben at center and Jordan at guard, because he had a really good preseason.”
As they watched tape of practice last week, run game coordinator Kevin Carberry, offensive line coach Brian Picucci and offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard came to the same conclusion as Bowles.
“Between me, Carbs and Grizz, we all talked about it and we all saw the same thing but nobody wanted to say it,” Bowles said. “So I was the bad guy to say it. Then they were like, ‘Yeah, he does. He does look very good out there. Then we went with it.”
Barton played center as a true freshman at Duke but spent his final three seasons at left tackle. Even so, it had been two years since he played the position, and NFL pass rushers are a little bigger and better than what you typically will find in the ACC.
But having played lacrosse in high school, Barton always has taken pride in his athleticism.
Graham Barton, shown during training camp, played center as a true freshman at Duke but spent his final three college seasons at left tackle. "I thought Graham, for the first time at tackle (in the NFL Sunday), played very well," head coach Todd Bowles said.
But nobody wants to change three offensive line positions when you can switch one.
Yet, there was an athleticism and execution that didn’t exist with Heck taking over at left tackle.
“That’s all we wanted to do; we weren’t trying to do it,” Bowles said. ”It started out as an emergency, and it started looking better and better and then it just became, ‘We probably need to roll with this. It gives us our best chance to win.’"
Barton said he was surprised to get some reps at left tackle last week but embraced it.
“After training camp when we had that bonus week, I got, like, four practices at it and we were good to go,” Barton said after Sunday’s game in Atlanta. ”I can’t believe you guys (in the media) didn’t figure it out."
With Barton, Bredeson and Jordan all in new positions, the Bucs allowed only one sack of quarterback Baker Mayfield in the 23-20 win. In fact, they protected him well enough to fire three touchdown passes.
Ben Bredeson, left, blocking defensive tackle Calijah Kancey during training camp, "did a very good job at center, especially controlling where the blitzes go and pickups and everything like that," coach Todd Bowles said. [ JEFFEREE WOO | Times ]
Barton said he tried not to allow the position change to affect his performance.
“Embrace this or not,” he said. ”Like I said, things like this happen. You can only carry so many guys and, honestly, I just welcomed the opportunity and tried to embrace it. Leaned on my teammates."
The Bucs gained 101 rushing yards on 23 carries, a 4.4-yard average. Mayfield led the way with 39 yards, including some scrambles for first downs.
It’s one thing to move from center to guard or vice versa, because you still need strength, short speed and lateral quickness. But from center to offensive tackle? You may need insurance.
“It’s obviously a hard job,” Bredeson said. “To move from center to left tackle, it’s a big jump. It’s obviously different from college. Playing an NFL game at left tackle, I thought he did a great job. (Barton) is an incredible athlete and was able to pull it off. He helps the team a lot.”
Wirfs isn’t expected to return before Week 3 and more likely will miss the first month of the season.
“We’ll see what it is this week, but I thought Graham, for the first time at tackle, played very well,” Bowles said. “I thought Bredeson did a very good job at center, especially controlling where the blitzes go and pickups and everything like that. And then Michael Jordan played well at guard as well.
“They played tough, and they battled. For those guys moving around and playing their first game in different positions, I thought they did a good job. Going forward, we’ll see.”
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Rick Stroud is a sports reporter covering the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Reach him at rstroud@tampabay.com.