The Bucs may have re-signed all of their valued free agents. But that hardly gives the Bucs the best roster in the NFL.
There are holes all over the place on defense and holes on offense. Surely left guard is up for grabs.
This is why Jenna Laine of ESPN believes the Bucs will possibly be looking for a guard in the draft.
It’s entirely possible [former Eagles guard Sua] Opeta could push for a starting job here. He produced a 90.9% pass block win rate from the guard position last year — 44th in the league among guards with 500 or more snaps at that position. That’s not a staggering number, but it’s an upgrade over what they got out of Aaron Stinnie (88.9%) and Cody Mauch (84.8%) last year, but there’s most certainly room for improvement. Opeta’s far more developed as a run blocker though, with a 76.4% win rate there — ninth in the league among guards with 500 or more snaps and just above Zack Martin — whereas Mauch, who is expected to start on the right side again this next year, had a 72.5% run block win rate and Stinnie was 69.6%. Given that this is one of the better interior offensive classes in a while. Could the Bucs take two interior offensive linemen?
Well, before Joe gets going, right guard Cody Mauch, barring an injury, isn’t going anywhere. There is no way Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht is going to give up on a second-round pick after his rookie year.
Mauch seemed to improve as the season wore on but he hit the rookie wall. In the first half of games in December and January, Mauch was mowing people down. In the second half of the same games, he was out of gas.
Joe is confident after an offseason in an NFL weight room, Mauch will take a step forward.
With Aaron Stinnie gone, there is a hole on the offensive line. And the Bucs signed borderline starters in free agency. So the math suggests a guard will be coming later in April.
