Bucs TE Bauer Sharp hollers in delight after blasting Atlanta defenders.
The answer was for all to see on Sunday from The Licht House.
Last spring the Bucs traded up 10 spots in the draft from the seventh round into the sixth round to draft an obscure tight end who had bounced around college football a few times, last landing at LSU.
His name was Bauer Sharp.
Joe remembers a draftnik texting Joe and was borderline upset. “What the hell is Jason Licht trading up in the draft to get a tight end for? Like we don’t have enough tight ends already!”
Then, when cutdown day came and the Bucs let go popular backup tight end Devin Culp, Bucs fans were upset. Culp had shown an ability to stretch the field and make catches in the few snaps he played on Sundays.
Sharp? Not so much.
Well, as Joe often explains, a general manager told him many moons ago that if a guy isn’t starting, he better play special teams or he is an endangered species. Culp wasn’t much of a special teams guy. Sharp was. And is.
But on Sunday when the Bucs decided to bludgeon the Dixie Chicks and play some good ol’ fashioned F*** You Football, the Bucs often used a three-tight end set. That third tight end was Sharp.
And for folks who watched closely, they noticed that Sharp was kicking people’s asses wearing red jerseys all game long.
This did not go unnoticed by former NFL offensive lineman and current NFL Network analyst Brian Baldinger, who put out a video on Twitter which was a cutup of some of Sharp’s beautiful blocks to spring Bucky Irving or Kenny Gainwell.
Baldinger just raved about Sharp and gave a hat tip to Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht for finding Sharp and having the stones to go get him.
The trade up is paying off already — and Sharp is a pretty good special teams player, too.
Even KitKat-eating Bucs coach Todd Bowles gave Sharp a shoutout yesterday about Sharp’s physical play.
“Obviously, he can catch the ball and run routes, but he’s really getting the run game down,” Bowles said. “He’s really a willing, physical blocker, putting his face in there.
“He’s getting the scheme down, so he’s seeing more time.”
There was just so much to like about the physicality of Sunday’s win. Offense, defense, special teams, and backup tight end coming into the game and jacking up Atlanta defenders.
Now Bucs fans have the answer to the two aforementioned questions about Sharp.