Buccaneers Offense Preview (S14)

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Tampa Bay Buccaneers Offense Preview

Last year the Bucs continued on this new trend of winning games under Dirk Koetter. A 10-6 record to sneak into the playoffs as the 6th seed but they put on a strong showing to get to the NFC championship where the Bucs' season would end. Now we're on the verge of the third season for this Buccaneers ownership and fans in Tampa are getting accustomed to winning so expectations are high. There was a bit of changes to the roster this offseason so let's take a look at what to expect from the offense heading into the preseason.

Quarterbacks
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Jameis Winston is still the man who runs the show here in Tampa and is coming off an interesting season. In the first season under Koetter the offense relied heavily on the run game of Doug Martin and Charles Sims but heading into last season the goal was to have a more balanced offensive attack but Jameis struggled out of the gates. It took him a while to get in a rhythm but Winston finished the season fairly strong, especially in New Orleans where he threw for over 400 yards. Expect Jameis to continue being a big part of this team. There is one thing to look out for though as this season will be the last one on Winston's rookie contract and the front office will have some decisions to make with quite a few other key players also on expiring contracts. With that being said, the Bucs brought in some new talent to backup Jameis this offseason. A.J. McCarron, the former Bengal, was signed to a 2 year deal to have a bit more quality behind Winston. We've seen plenty of starting QBs go down with injuries and if that ends up happening the team is confident in McCarron's ability to lead this offense. Mitch Leidner returns for his 2nd season in the NFL after spending last year as the third stringer behind Aaron Murray. Leidner is slated to be QB3 once again and hasn't done much to impress the coaches that he's deserving of anything more.

Halfbacks
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This is the position to watch all year long in Tampa. We're all familiar with how big of a role Doug Martin has in this offense and with Charles Sims leaving in the offseason for Kansas City the front office wanted to bring in a quality back since Martin is starting to lose a step. They did just that in the NFL Draft when they selected Derrius Guice from LSU with the 29th overall pick. Once again the Bucs snagged a player who surprisingly fell in the draft. Last year they had Derek Barnett who ended up winning DROY and now Guice who will be getting ready to take over for Martin. It all depends on what happens on the field but the most likely scenario with this 1-2 punch is that they're used pretty evenly throughout the season. A 60-40 or even 50-50 split between Martin and Guice. Buccaneers have quite a few players competing for the 3rd HB spot on the depth chart this preseason as well. Lance Dunbar is the obvious choice but he'll have competition from Alex Collins, Ross Scheuerman and Mike Warren. Collins has spent most of his time on the Bucs' practice squad but did get some snaps while Sims was out with an injury last season. Scheuerman was signed this offseason to a cheap deal to try to prove himself this preseason. He went to Allentown High School in New Jersey and the front office loves their Jersey talent so expect to see him a lot this preseason. Mike Warren was just drafted this year in the 6th round out of Iowa State. Warren was actually named first team freshman All-American in 2015. He's a speedy back which is a need that the Bucs wanted to fill this offseason and he'll get plenty of time in the backfield this preseason.

Wide Receivers
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Mike Evans signed a 4 year extension during last season so he'll be the #1 here in Tampa for awhile. However, Vincent Jackson retired this offseason so the Bucs have quite a bit of competition at this position. 2nd year pro Dede Westbrook will be moving into the #2 spot while the #3 position is up for grabs this preseason. Breshad Perriman had a few clutch catches in the playoffs and also did a fine job as the kick returner when Kenny Bell was placed on IR but he's not the clear cut favorite here. Chris Hogan, Michael Campanaro, Carlos Henderson, James Quick and Chad Hansen are all new to the team and capable of performing well and impressing coaches this preseason. Hogan, nicknamed 7-11 by his teammates because he's always open, is a veteran guy who's not as quick as he once was but is still a hell of a route runner. I should also mention that he played college ball for the Monmouth Hawks. Another NJ product. Campanaro is pretty similar to Hogan but he's faster and should get some opportunities returning kicks and punts this preseason as well. Carlos Henderson was selected in the 4th round of this year's draft out of Louisiana Tech and has a solid shot at winning the job as well. Henderson was All-Conference USA in 2015 as a WR and KR and in 2016 had an absolutely insane game where he racked up 326 yards receiving and caught 5 touchdowns which tied a school record. James Quick was drafted last year by division rival Carolina and spent the year on their practice squad. This year, the former Louisville Cardinal, will get every opportunity to prove he can make the roster here in Tampa. Chad Hansen is the Bucs' 7th round pick and is a long shot to be the 3rd or 4th WR on the depth chart but he's used to being overlooked. Hansen walked on to the football program at Cal-Berkeley and by the end of his time there he was a stud that other teams had to gameplan for. He's used to proving himself and we'll see if he can do enough this preseason to impress the coaching staff.

Tight Ends

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Austin Seferian-Jenkins is without a doubt the #1 TE on this team. The former 2nd round pick had 774 yards and 2 TDs last year and is penciled in as the starter for yet another season. Behind him there's Tim Wright, James O'Shaughnessy and Rico Gathers. Tim Wright was the #3 TE last season behind Vernon Davis but Davis left this offseason for Green Bay so it would make sense that Wright, the former Rutgers wide receiver, is the favorite to be the new #2. The downside to Wright is, despite being a quality receiving TE, he can't block too well but that's to be expected from a former wide receiver. The other two options behind Wright aren't the best blockers either though so it'll come down to whoever performs best in preseason. James "Luck of the Irish" O'Shaughnessy hasn't had any game action in the past 2 seasons but the Bucs signed the former Illinois State Redbird to compete for a spot on the roster. Jimmy is a solid receiving tight end and he's got quite a bit of speed as well. Rico Gathers is an interesting name as well. Gathers was drafted in the 6th round by the Cowboys in 2016 despite middle school being the last time he was on a football field. Gathers was a power forward for the Baylor basketball team and the Cowboys took a chance on the guy after he showed potential at his pre-draft workout. However the Cowboys let him to go free agency this offseason and the Bucs are now giving this 6'8" 290 pound mammoth a chance to prove himself. He's got plenty of size and he's pretty quick for a guy that big. Gathers will just need to prove he can catch and run routes well enough to justify the Buccaneers keeping him around.


Be on the lookout for the Buccaneers defense preview later today!
 
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