SR’s Fab 5: Trust Jason Licht When It Comes To Bucs Drafting O-Linemen

Welcome to SR’s Fab 5 – my weekly insider column on the Bucs that features five things that are on my mind. SR’s Fab 5 is now a quicker read, but still packs a punch. Enjoy!

FAB 1. Trust Jason Licht When It Comes To Drafting O-Linemen

The Bucs offensive line room is sacred ground for general manager Jason Licht.

Licht said as much to Tampa Bay’s new offensive lineman Graham Barton, the team’s first-round pick, upon welcoming him into the team headquarters on Friday, April 26.

“What’s crazy is that I feel like I’ve known you, you know?” Licht said to Barton in a behind-the-scenes video released by the team. “We’ve watched all your games, your interviews – all that stuff. We’re ecstatic [about you] – not just the player, but the person that you are.

“We pride ourselves in the culture we have here, especially in that O-line room. You’re not just fitting it – you’re going to drive it. And that’s what makes you the player that you are, so we’re excited.”

Licht seems to understand the importance of building a superior offensive line room more than most GMs around the league.

Perhaps it was his background as a guard at Nebraska in 1991 before transferring to Nebraska-Wesleyan where he became an all-conference defensive tackle. Perhaps it’s seeing first-hand how far a dominant offensive line can take a team in the NFL.

Either way, Licht reveres trench warfare and understands the importance of it. He knows that despite all the changes to football in the modern day and the increased emphasis on the passing game, this is still a game won at the line of scrimmage.

The offensive line is the engine – not just for the offense, but the entire team. Five offensive linemen serve as fingers that come together to form a fist, and that fist is called upon to blast holes in opposing defenses.

Licht has drafted nine Pro Bowlers since becoming Tampa Bay’s general manager in 2014. Two have been offensive linemen – former guard Ali Marpet in the second round of the 2015 draft and left tackle Tristan Wirfs in the first round of the 2020 draft.

Of the five starters along the O-line during the Bucs’ Super Bowl season in 2020, four were Licht’s draft picks – left tackle Donovan Smith (second round, 2015), right guard Alex Cappa (third round, 2018) along with Marpet and Wirfs, who played right tackle during his first three seasons in Tampa Bay.

Bucs GM Jason Licht and former C Ryan Jensen – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

That quartet of blockers – along with Pro Bowl-caliber center Ryan Jensen – lured Tom Brady to Tampa Bay in free agency in 2020 just as much as the weapons Brady would have to throw to in the passing game, such as Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and Rob Gronkowski, the Patriots’ Pro Bowl tight end whom Licht wound up trading for. As a 42-year old quarterback, Brady was just as interested in being protected as he was in having an arsenal of capable targets to throw to.

After winning Super Bowl LV in 2020, the Bucs came close to repeating as Super Bowl champions the following season. But following the 2021 season, Marpet suddenly retired in his prime at age 29 in the 2022 offseason. Jensen would suffer a career-ending knee injury on the second day of training camp just months after signing a massive, three-year deal worth $39 million.

In an instant, Licht and the Bucs lost two Pro Bowl offensive linemen still in their prime.

That was not part of the plan.

In fact, had those two franchise-altering events not occurred, Marpet would’ve been signed through the 2023 season and Jensen would’ve been under contract through 2024. Keep in mind that Marpet just turned 31 on April 17, and chances are he would have been on his third contract in Tampa Bay had he not retired.

Licht has undoubtedly thought a few times, “Oh, what could have been.”

Bucs C Robert Hainsey – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

That’s where Barton comes in.

Despite Robert Hainsey’s physical and athletic shortcomings, he hasn’t missed a start since taking over at center for the past two seasons. He has the intelligence to make the line calls and has anchored the unit while winning back-to-back NFC South championships in 2022-23.

But the center position is the tip of the spear up front. Jensen’s size and tenacity helped set the tone for the Bucs offensive line and offense in general. His aggressive mindset helped change the culture in Tampa Bay, and it’s been no surprise that the Bucs have had the league’s worst-ranked rushing attack the last two years in his absence.

Barton looks like Marpet 2.0 to me on film due to his superior athleticism, but the Bucs are also hoping he can be Jensen 2.0 at the center position.

Since Marpet abruptly retired in 2022, which was also the same offseason Cappa left for a rich contract in Cincinnati, Licht has been reloading the offensive line. He used a second-round pick that year to draft Luke Goedeke, who failed as a left guard as a rookie, but excelled at right tackle, which is his more natural position, last season.

In 2023, Licht and the Bucs took another step toward building another Super Bowl-caliber offensive line with the selection of Cody Mauch, who was a left tackle at North Dakota State and moved to right guard. After a year of trial-by-fire on-the-job training, Mauch should be improved in his second season.

This year, the Bucs used a first-round pick on Barton, who is expected to provide an upgrade over Hainsey at center. That’s four premium draft picks on offensive linemen over the past five years for Licht.

Bucs LT Tristan Wirfs – Photo by: USA Today

LT Tristan Wirfs – 2020 first-round pick
LG (To Be Determined)
C Graham Barton – 2024 first-round pick
RG Cody Mauch – 2023 second-round pick
RT Luke Goedeke – 2022 second-round pick

Wirfs is already a Pro Bowler, and based on his elite athleticism and physical traits, Barton certainly has Pro Bowl potential. We’ll see how high the ceiling is for Mauch and Goedeke on the right side, and who ultimately ends up as the starting left guard.

Of course, don’t rule out Licht using another premium draft pick on a left guard candidate next year, either. That seems to be the trend in Tampa Bay.

If you’re going to trust Licht to select any position in the draft, trust him the most when it comes to offensive linemen. Simply put, Licht is an offensive line-drafting guru. And Barton is his latest home-run pick.

FAB 2. Bucs Were Looking For The Right Fit In The O-Line Room

To suggest that the Bucs offensive line room is a brotherhood might be understating it. But there really isn’t a better adjective to describe the culture of Tampa Bay’s tightknit offensive line.

Team captain and left tackle Tristan Wirfs is the ringleader of the group, and his best friends on the team are right tackle Luke Goedeke, center Robert Hainsey, right guard Cody Mauch and Baker Mayfield, who is an honorary offensive lineman in addition to being the Bucs quarterback.

Bucs HC Todd Bowles, OL Graham Barton and GM Jason Licht – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

So when Licht and his scouts are evaluating offensive linemen, it’s not just the players on tape that they are scouting. It’s who they are as people, too.

Tampa Bay’s offensive line and the chemistry within that room is too important to screw up and take chances with.

Not only is Licht looking for a smart, tough athletic lineman, but also one that is humble, hard-working and team-oriented.

The phrase “bad character” doesn’t always mean “bad guy” when it comes to the Bucs’ player evaluations. It may mean that the player comes across as self-centered, too flamboyant or outspoken, not a great teammate, or it may mean that he is an asshole and too much of a prick for the Bucs’ liking.

Graham Barton is as high character as they come. And when Barton and Oregon center Jackson Powers-Johnson were both on the board when Tampa Bay was on the clock at No. 26, Barton’s athleticism and character gave him the edge.

It’s not that Powers-Johnson is a bad guy. It’s just that the Bucs deemed that Barton would be a better fit in the locker room and the O-line room. Barton would help row the bow, and perhaps Barton would’ve rocked the boat a bit.

It’s okay to have a firestarter on a football team – a player that brings a little bit of a nasty edge. But typically not along the offensive line, as that unit has to be has cohesive and like-minded as possible.

Oregon C Jackson Powers-Johnson – Photo by: USA Today

Past Bucs leaders like Hardy Nickerson, Warren Sapp and Jason Pierre-Paul could be viewed as abrasive, but they weren’t offensive linemen.  Ryan Jensen played with a similar, certain edge, but that was done within the team concept and didn’t rub any of his linemates the wrong way. That’s important to Licht as he and Todd Bowles assemble their roster.

The Bucs had a huge need at left guard too, and liked the nasty, aggressive playing style of Boston College’s Christian Mahogany on tape. But Mahogany the person didn’t mesh with what the Bucs wanted in a locker room and offensive line room fit.

Other teams likely felt the same way as Mahogany carried a third- or fourth-round grade on film, but fell to the bottom of the sixth round where the Lions took a chance on him.

Tampa Bay drafted UTEP’s Elijah Klein later in the sixth round, and he is deemed to be a better fit with the Bucs’ culture. Whether or not Klein has the talent to succeed in Tampa Bay remains to be seen.

Yet it should be noted that Jensen was originally a sixth-round pick by the Ravens out of Colorado State-Pueblo back in 2013, so you never know.

FAB 3. Bucs Engaging In Risky Strategy Protecting Baker Mayfield

In my first SR’s Fab 5 column in April, I detailed why upgrading the center and guard positions in Tampa Bay were so important this offseason. The Bucs had just signed quarterback Baker Mayfield to a three-year, $100 million contract and Pewter Report just had NFL Films analyst Greg Cosell on the Pewter Report Podcast explaining how strengthening the interior of the pocket was a must.

Bucs RG Cody Mauch – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“You just spent a lot of money on Baker Mayfield, who is a very good thrower of the football, but he’s a certain kind of quarterback,” Cosell said. “He can be successful as that kind of quarterback, as we know, but it’s very hard for him to be successful if the depth of the pocket is not controlled and taken care of.”

Mayfield is a shorter quarterback at 6-foot-1, 215 pounds, which is at the heart of Cosell’s concern about Tampa Bay’s interior offensive linemen. In Mayfield’s first season with the Bucs, he had rookie right guard Cody Mauch, center Robert Hainsey and a combination of aging journeyman Matt Feiler and backup Aaron Stinnie at left guard. Too many sacks and pressures allowed and not enough push in the running game was the result of that trio up front.

“I’m not telling Jason Licht what he should or shouldn’t do, but I think when you have Baker Mayfield you obviously just laid out a ton of cash for, you have to make sure the center and guard position are taken care of,” Cosell said. “Now you don’t need three All-Pros, but that can’t be a weakness on your team because then your quarterback can’t function. And you just gave him a lot of money with the expectation that you’re going to get into the playoffs and have a good season.

“He’s a smaller guy and he’s not necessarily great when there are bodies around him,” Cosell said of Mayfield. “He needs to be protected, ideally in the middle because the center and the two guards – they control the depth of the pocket. And he needs the depth controlled. The tackles control the width of the pocket. He needs the depth of the pocket controlled because he is just over 6-feet [tall]. You have to make sure you take care of that so he does have clean sight lines.

“The other thing is that he’s a step thrower. Some guys don’t need to step into it. He’s a step thrower, so he absolutely needs the depth of the pocket handled because he needs to step into his throws.”

Bucs OL Graham Barton – Photo courtesy of Duke

The drafting of Graham Barton in the first round is expected to upgrade the center position in terms of size and talent. But Barton will not only be a rookie this season. He will also be playing center for the first time since his freshman season when he started five games.

As good and as athletic as Barton may be, this will not be a seamless transition as it was when the Bucs drafted Iowa right tackle Tristan Wirfs to play right tackle in Tampa Bay as a rookie. Wirfs was easily the most pro-ready of the 10 offensive linemen Jason Licht drafted prior to the selections of Barton and sixth-round guard Elijah Klein this year. Wirfs played like a Pro Bowler out of the gate and helped the Bucs win Super Bowl LV during his rookie season.

Ali Marpet, a second-round pick in 2015, was a close second in terms of his pro-readiness. Barton will have to adjust from moving back to center after three years of playing left tackle at Duke. He’ll also have to work with quarterback Baker Mayfield with line calls at the line of scrimmage. Barton will have a lot on his plate as a rookie as he transitions to playing in the NFL.

Remember, the Bucs moved Marpet from right guard to center for the 2017 season. Marpet played okay in his new position, but it was clear that he was a better guard than center, and the team signed Ryan Jensen to snap the ball in 2018.

Barton is expected to replace Hainsey, the Bucs’ starting center the last two years who is entering a contract year in 2024. Hainsey, a veteran, allowed 33 pressures, including five sacks last season according to Pro Football Focus.

Can Barton be expected to surrender fewer pressures and sacks as a rookie?

Bucs G Sua Opeta – Photo by: USA Today

According to PFF, Mauch, last year’s second-round pick, surrendered 57 pressures, including a team-high eight sacks in 2023 while making the transition from playing left tackle at North Dakota State to right guard in the NFL. How much better will Mauch be in his second year as a starter?

Stinnie and Feiler allowed a combined 44 pressures, including three sacks last year. Who will emerge at left guard?

Newcomers Sua Opeta and Ben Bredeseon aren’t the answers when it comes to protecting Mayfield, either. Both are known for their run blocking as opposed to their pass protection. Opeta played in just nine games and allowed 25 pressures, including three sacks in Philadelphia.

Bredeson, who is expected to compete at center or at left guard, started 16 games across the interior offensive line for the New York Giants last season. His numbers were on par with Hainsey, surrendering 39 pressures, including five sacks.

If it’s Klein, the rookie sixth-round pick, whowins the left guard job, is it ideal to have two rookies and a second-year right guard in front of the Bucs’ $33 million quarterback?

Talent doesn’t always trump experience. And who will Barton have to lean on next year at the line of scrimmage – a second-year right guard still trying to find consistency after making the leap from North Dakota State? Or a newcomer at right guard – possibly a rookie if Klein beats out Opeta and Bredeson?

The only negative when it comes to drafting offensive linemen and starting them right away – even really talented ones – is that arrive in the NFL as rookies with an awful lot to learn.

FAB 4. The Potential Peril Of Open Competition Along Interior O-Line

When Tampa Bay signed free agent left guard Matt Feiler and drafted athletic offensive lineman Cody Mauch in the second round last year, the Bucs did a smart thing. They looked at the talent they had on paper along the offensive line and decided to start the five most talented linemen.

Bucs RT Luke Goedeke, RG Cody Mauch and C Robert Hainsey – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The Bucs deemed that Tristan Wirfs would move to left tackle, Luke Goedeke would move to right tackle and Robert Hainsey would stay at center for continuity’s sake. Feiler would start at left guard and Mauch would start at right guard. That was the starting lineup on the first day of OTAs and it never changed all the way up to the season opener.

Tampa Bay’s offensive line was far from perfect last year, but it did allow Baker Mayfield to pass for 4,000 yards and make the Pro Bowl, and the team to field a pair of 1,000-yard receivers in Pro Bowler Mike Evans and Chris Godwin.

The Bucs didn’t have an open competition at either guard spot. And even though Aaron Stinnie eventually took over for Feiler after an injury in Week 7, he wasn’t much of an upgrade. Tampa Bay’s “set it and forget it” mindset along the offensive line allowed that unit to build continuity all offseason and into training camp and the preseason, and there’s something to be said for that.

Let’s not forget that continuity aided Wirfs in his move to left tackle and Goedeke in his move to right tackle. Wirfs and Feiler spent months working together on combo blocks and picking up twists and stunts on the left side. Goedeke and Mauch developed a similar chemistry on the right side after months of practicing together.

But this year the Bucs will likely take a different approach, according to assistant general manager John Spytek.

It seems like the team knows that first-round pick Graham Barton and Mauch will start, but will Barton factor in as the starting center or will he man a guard spot? Will Mauch stay at right guard or move to left guard?

Bucs G Elijah Klein – Photo courtesy of UTEP

Will newcomer Ben Bredeson emerge as the starting center or will he factor in at the left guard battle? Is Sua Opeta the favorite at left guard and how much of a shot will rookie Elijah Klein have?

“I think the whole interior is kind of up for grabs,” Spytek said. “I mean obviously Graham and Cody are going to factor into that somewhere, you know? We obviously moved Cody from left tackle at North Dakota State to right [guard]. I mean could we move him back to left [side]? We could, it depends on who feels comfortable where. Graham played center and left tackle, but I mean, he play guard if it shakes out a certain way, obviously with Bredeson and Sua and Klein now. And we still like Robert Hainsey a lot. He’s played a lot of good football around here … Brandon Walton.

“I just I look at it from a standpoint of we’ve got great competition in that room, which I think always elevates the level of play of the players that matter the most. Who’s going to rise to the occasion? Who knows how it’s going to shake out? And the fact that we could move these different parts different places – we’ll just let the guys compete, and we’ll plug-and-play the guys that do the best wherever it is. We’ve kind of got the two bookend tackles right now, and then the rest of it is who wants it more? Who wants it the most? We’ll be excited to see that competition.”

Competition does bring out the best, but for a unit that craves continuity more than most, the Bucs are taking a risk by having a revolving door in training camp and the preseason along the interior offensive line instead of beginning the process of cohesion along the O-line right out of the gate by simply looking at the talent and naming five starters as they did a year ago.

But the Bucs knew what they had last year with roster holdovers like Stinnie, Walton and Nick Leverett. That’s not the case with newcomers like Opeta, Bredeson and Klein.

Bucs OL Graham Barton – Photo courtesy of Duke

If I had to guess right now, the top three interior offensive linemen in Tampa Bay in terms of talent and ability will be Barton, Mauch and Hainsey. Given the fact that Hainsey is really just a center due to his lack of size and can’t play guard, I think the ideal lineup for this year would be Barton at left guard, Mauch at right guard for the sake of continuity with Goedeke and Hainsey at center.

Not ideal for the long-term, as I think Hainsey is replaceable. But for this year’s Bucs team, they may have stick with Hainsey, who will be motivated by the fact that he’s in a contract year, snapping for one more year if he’s one of the top three interior linemen – despite the fact that they really want Barton to take over there.

Maybe Opeta, Bredeson or Klein prove me wrong and one of them winds up being a better left guard than Hainsey does at center. Then, one of those three would line up next to Barton, who would play center, and opposite Mauch at right guard.

All eyes will be on the interior offensive line competition, which can’t really begin in earnest until training camp when the pads come on.

FAB 5. Behind The Scenes Of Pewter Report’s Draft Coverage

I wanted to pull back the curtain a bit and let you know how Pewter Report’s mock drafts and Bucs Best Bets came together this year, in case you were wondering. As you may know, Pewter Report does five official Bucs mock drafts each year – one pre-Senior Bowl in January, one post-Senior Bowl in February, one post-NFL Scouting Combine in March, one in early April and then a final one during draft week in late April.

Tulane QB Michael Pratt – Photo by: USA Today

During our pre-draft positional previews, Pewter Report picks two players whoif Tampa Bay was going to draft from that position in Rounds 1-3 it would be this player, and if the team was going to select someone in Rounds 4-7 it would be this player. Those are our Bucs Best Bets.

Our goal is to try to identify the players the Bucs are interested in so those fans who read Pewter Report would be more educated than most when it comes to the draft. We actually hit on four Bucs Best Bets last year – guard Cody Mauch, outside linebacker YaYa Diaby, tight end Payne Durham and wide receiver Trey Palmer – which established a new record. Pewter Report has hit on three a few times, but never four.

This year Pewter Report hit on two – offensive lineman Graham Barton and defensive back Tykee Smith. And we came oh-so-close to tying last year’s record and nailing two more Bucs Best Bets in running back MarShawn Lloyd and quarterback Michael Pratt. The Packers picked Lloyd one spot ahead of the Bucs in the third round and selected Pratt one spot ahead in the seventh round.

Here are some interesting notables about some of the Bucs draft picks and how they factored into Pewter Report’s draft coverage.

• With our first mock draft in January, it’s basically like throwing darts at a dartboard because it’s before the college all-star games and any athletic testing at the NFL Scouting Combine or pro days. Ironically, we had Alabama outside linebacker Chris Braswell going to the Bucs at No. 26 in our first mock draft.

Alabama OLB Chris Braswell – Photo by: USA Today Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023.

But when we saw Braswell at the Senior Bowl, it was clear that he was really a second-round pass rusher along with the likes of Western Michigan’s Marshawn Kneeland and Penn State’s Adisa Isaac. Had we known that the Bucs had Braswell in for a Top 30 visit, we would’ve likely replaced Kneeland with Braswell as our Bucs Best Bet. Tampa Bay had Kneeland in for a Top 30 visit and also had a formal visit with him in Indy.

• I believe Pewter Report was the first media outlet to link Graham Barton to the Bucs at No. 26 back in our second mock draft on February 8. We had Barton to the Bucs in our second and third mock drafts and probably would’ve had him going to Tampa Bay in our final two mocks as well. We just didn’t think he would be there when the Bucs were on the clock. Neither did general manager Jason Licht.

We had Barton as a Bucs Best Bet at guard, and I think he’s best suited to play left guard. But Tampa Bay sees more value in him at center. Given his elite athleticism, Barton could excel at either spot, really.

• It should be noted that we had Tampa Bay drafting an offensive lineman in our last four mock drafts this year. We had Barton as the first pick in our second and third mock drafts, Oklahoma’s Tyler Guyton in the fourth and Oregon center Jackson Powers-Johnson in our final mock.

Again, we just didn’t think Barton would fall to No. 26. But since February, we knew that the team was prioritizing interior offensive line in the first round – not edge rusher.

Georgia S Tykee Smith – Photo by: USA Today

• Georgia defensive back Tykee Smith was a third-round pick in Pewter Report’s third mock draft, and we also had Smith in our Pewter Report All-Defense Bucs Mock Draft, which is a fun little exercise we did in the weeks leading up to the draft. Smith was also our Bucs Best Bet at safety and we just knew he was a Todd Bowles-type DB.

• In addition to just missing out on Bucs Best Bets in Lloyd and Pratt, we also missed out on tight end Devin Culp, the team’s seventh-round pick. Pewter Report had Culp as a seventh-round pick in our third mock draft, and I initially had him as a Bucs Best Bet at tight end on Day 3.

But when I learned that Illinois tight end Tip Reiman came in for a Top 30 visit along with K-State’s Ben Sinnott, I changed my mind and listed Reiman as the Day 3 tight end instead of Culp. Big mistake. Had I known that Culp, who had a formal interview with Tampa Bay at the Combine, had also come in for a Top 30 visit, I would’ve kept him as a Bucs Best Bet. Still, we’re thrilled to nail two Bucs Best Bets, as it’s quite hard to do.

The post SR’s Fab 5: Trust Jason Licht When It Comes To Bucs Drafting O-Linemen appeared first on Pewter Report.