Cade Otton is showing the NFL what the Tampa Bay Buccaneers always believed he could become: a key offensive player.
The third-year tight end, known for his strong blocking, has stepped up in the past month as a reliable target for Baker Mayfield while wide receivers Mike Evans and Chris Godwin have been injured.
Even though Evans (hamstring) could return after this week’s bye, the Bucs (4-6) will likely need to keep Otton involved in the passing game to help turn around a tough stretch where they’ve lost five of their last six games after starting 3-1.
Through the first 10 games of the season, the 2022 fourth-round pick from Washington has already set career highs in receptions (49) and receiving yards (456), and has matched his best with four touchdowns.
“Seeing the way Mike and Chris have operated my whole time here, I just try and step up in their place,” Otton said, referring to the team’s injured star wide receivers. Last year, Otton finished with 47 catches for 455 yards and four touchdowns in 17 games.
“Obviously, they’re a huge part of our offense and will be whenever they come back, but I think just as a group, we really challenged ourselves … as a collective to raise our game,” Otton added. “Personally, I wanted to do that, and also as a group, I think we’re working hard to do that.”
Baker Mayfield, who is tied with Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow for the NFL lead with 24 touchdown passes, credits Otton’s toughness and intelligence for his recent success.
“Cade’s a guy … when we have Mike and Chris out there, the offense just looks different,” Mayfield said. “You’re scheming things up for those guys, and Cade does a lot of the dirty work. Right now, he is being able to showcase his physical talent.
“He’s such a smart player, unselfish guy, but he understands in some of these zone coverages what he’s supposed to do, where he’s supposed to attack it, and you’re seeing him thrive because of that.”
At the start of the season, with Evans and Godwin both performing well, Otton was often overlooked in new offensive coordinator Liam Coen’s system.
The 6-foot-4, 247-pound tight end had three or fewer receptions in four of the first six games, including one catch for 5 yards in the season opener against Washington, and no catches in a Week 2 win at Detroit.
Since Evans and Godwin were both injured during a 41-31 loss to Baltimore on October 21, Otton has become Mayfield’s favorite target, catching 30 passes for 293 yards and three touchdowns over the past four games — even though the team lost all four of those games.
“I know my production has been up the past few weeks. But the biggest thing I go back to is the win-loss column, and I’m definitely not satisfied with where we’ve been,” Otton said of the past four losses. “We’re going to do anything we can to change that around.
“If my production goes down and we win, I’ll be much happier.” Coach Todd Bowles said that the biggest area where he’s seen Otton grow is in his route running.
“Not that he couldn’t do it. I don’t think we asked him to do it because we had the other guys out there doing it,” Bowles explained. “So, just asking him to step up in a receiver role, you really see his route-running prowess and his precision.”
Evans is a 10-time 1,000-yard receiver and the franchise’s career leader in scoring and receiving. Godwin, a four-time 1,000-yard receiver, was leading the league in receptions before his injury. Evans had six touchdowns, and Godwin had five, ranking among the league leaders.
Bowles said again this week that the Bucs are hopeful Evans will return to the lineup as soon as November 24 against the New York Giants.
Coen, the offensive coordinator, believes Otton will continue to thrive once Evans and the other injured playmakers get healthy. “It’s a great thing for him, for me, for our offense to know that we’ve got another guy we can rely on to make plays,” Coen said.
Otton remains focused on helping the Bucs turn their season around. Tampa Bay has won the last three NFC South titles and made four straight playoff appearances.
“We know we can beat the best teams in the league, and we see ourselves as being up there. We just have to prove it. We have to find ways to win,” Otton said. “There’s an urgency there, but we’re not breaking apart or anything. We’re not pointing fingers.
“We’re just going back to work and doing anything we can to find a way to win.”
