Bucs Have A Couple Of Iron Men With Increased Workloads

The Bucs have themselves a couple of iron men on their roster who have taken on the bulk of the snaps at their positions. Conveniently enough, they both come from the University of Washington, so whatever they’re doing in that program, it’s making their players more than ready for the grueling efforts in each week of an NFL game.

For the record, Tampa Bay has a number of players who are in for every snap in each game. That’s expected of quarterback Baker Mayfield and the offensive line. It’s also become normal to see it from linebackers Lavonte David and Devin White, along with all the starters in the secondary at corner and safety.

But where we’re seeing it with nose tackle Vita Vea and Cade Otton is newer territory.

Vea Dominating On The Bucs’ D-Line

Vita Vea is a star that every Bucs fan knows. He’s one of the best nose tackles in the league, a team captain and was the leader in sacks for Tampa Bay last season. How can Vea get better? He continues to be a menace and is playing even more than before. Vea went from playing 59% of the snaps in a Week 1 win over the Vikings to 64% in Week 2’s victory over Bears.

You may not think that’s a crazy jump, but also consider that the Bucs played with a closed roof in Minnesota followed by intense heat in Tampa, where it felt like it was over 100 degrees. While many other players on the roster were understandably rotated in more to stay fresh, Vea kept going rep by rep.

The stats don’t do it enough justice, but Vea terrorized the Bears on the way to three tackles, 1.5 sacks, one tackle for loss and three quarterback hits. Making sure Vea is good to go for further down the season is important, but the more he plays, the better the Bucs are.

If they want to upset the Eagles on Monday night, Vea will be a main reason why they did it.

“Vita did some great things to free the other two guys up,” head coach Bowles said of Vea. “He’s grown into a great leadership role. He got off the ball, quite a few times. He had a heck of a ballgame. His stamina as he continues to run, for a guy that size, is still really unbelievable to look at. He plays hard, he plays tough and he’s our anchor.”

Otton Is Heavily Involved In Bucs’ Scheme

Cade Otton has become a mainstay for the Bucs offense, as he’s the starter this season. If you’re watching Tampa Bay’s offense, that means you’re seeing Otton contribute.

In both games, he’s played in 97% of the snaps on offense. He isn’t taken off the field and often is one of the players in pre-snap motion. Of all the skill position players, Otton is used the most. That’s more than Mike Evans, more than Chris Godwin, more than anyone.

Bucs TE Cade Otton – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“It’s a great challenge,” Otton said. “I try to take pride in never asking to come out of the game, so it’s one of those things [where] you have to refocus every single play, just focus on that next rep and what you have to do to win it. That’s really all I’m thinking about in the moment and then however many plays I play at the end of the game, it is what it is.”

Playing all of those snaps can do a number on the body. But when you’re 2-0 and the team is playing fairly well, it’s the type of pain that you don’t mind enduring.

“I feel good,” Otton said. “One of my coaches in college said after a game you lose and you play a lot, you hurt, but if you win it’s like a sweet pain. Thankfully I’ve had the sweet pain the last couple weeks and hopefully that keeps going.”

Why Otton Went Back To Going Barehanded

Otton saw his role in the passing game expand last game, when he made six catches for 41 yards. You may have also noticed that Otton wasn’t wearing any gloves, which he hadn’t done since playing at Washington. He had a comical story behind the move.

“It was on Tuesday I brought my gloves out to practice and realized I brought two left handed gloves,” Otton began. “And I was like, ‘alright’ and just threw them to the side. Throughout practice, I just felt good catching the ball, so I did it again the next day [and] it felt good again, so I felt like going back to it. It felt good.”

Will he continue it this week? We may not find out until kickoff.

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