Bucs QB Baker Mayfield scans the field for an open receiver in Seattle behind a perfect pocket from Bucs offensive line.
Joe said it then and he will say it now, without any hesitation or guilt:
In 2024, at worst, the Bucs had the third-best offensive line in the NFL. The starting five of Tristan Wirfs, Ben Bredeson, Graham Barton, Cody Mauch and Luke Goedeke simply got the job done. Run blocking, pass blocking, it didn’t matter.
Last year, the line was fully decimated by injuries (only Barton didn’t miss time with an injury) and was a shell of itself from the previous season. And this is likely a big reason why Josh Grizzard is now a former Bucs offensive coordinator.
And it seems, Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht agrees with Joe’s assessment. Yesterday at the Indiana Convention Center in downtown Indianapolis, the beehive of the combine, Licht stuck his neck out, spreading love for his offensive line.
“The continuity that we had envisioned and hoped for [with the offensive line], wasn’t there,” Licht said about the Bucs’ offensive line last season. “So I would say that we’re looking forward to getting back to that.
“We have an offensive line who I think, we think, is very, very good. It’s one of our strongest rooms in the in the building, if not the strongest.”
Whoa! That’s quite an endorsement. When you consider how loaded the Bucs’ wide receiver room is — hell, No. 5 receiver Tez Johnson might be able to start for some team like Arizona or Las Vegas — that is an incredible statement from Licht about his offensive line.
Think about it: the Bucs’ wide receivers are so damn good and so damn deep they may be the envy of the NFL. And yet Licht thinks his offensive line as a whole is better than his wide receivers? That’s one helluva affirmation.
(Later today, Joe will type up Licht’s response when Joe questioned him on his over-the-top lauding of his offensive line. This, folks, is what you call a “tease.”)