Bruce Arians Is Impressed By The Tight Ends

Bruce Arians has been long known to see tight ends as only blockers and seldom drew up specific passing plays for the position, however, it seems that Arians might just be taking a different approach while he’s here in Tampa.

Of course O.J. Howard is a different breed of tight end and could easily follow in the footsteps of some the greatest tight ends to ever play the game.

Throughout Howard’s career, his name had been frequently attached words in headlines such as hero, key to team’s success, most complete tight end prospect in ten years, unlimited potential, rising star, and so on. You get the point. He is a gamechanger.

“A lot of potential. He’s an interesting guy because he can hold the point of attack and he’s obviously a mismatch versus safeties and linebackers. So, you’re trying to use him in a lot of different ways. Matching up those three tight ends we have should be a lot of fun this fall,” Bruce Arians said, which leads me to believe that Howard and the rest of the tight ends are going to play a much bigger role in the offense, bigger than just blocking.

Arians has been known for running the dual tight end set, but admittedly only in the blocking scheme of things, however, O.J. Howard stated in late April that this offensive playbook is very tight end friendly.

With our tight end squad, how could it not be?

We have some talented players in that position. Brate had been the security blanket for Winston for a time, and when Howard got here, he became an instant threat.

Antony Auclair is quickly rising in status, and with Cameron Brate recovering from surgery, that will help solidify the position.

Donnie Ernsberger, while not exactly a stand out in college, has the hands and the head for the game which results in competent depth.

Jordan Leggett, a former fifth-round pick in the 2017 draft, was recently picked up to compete in camp. He has skill if he has the right guy throwing him the ball, and if he makes the team, he will definitely strengthen the position and add another big target for Jameis Winston in the middle.

Tanner Hudson was picked up by Tampa last season and has yet to show anything. He will compete for a spot, but if he can’t make a special team’s spot, I don’t believe he remains on the squad.

A New Era in Tampa Bay.

As we move into this New Era of Buccaneers football, our new head coach is going to approach the game differently than we are used to by getting the most out of our players’ abilities. It feels like a storm is brewing in Tampa Bay, and hopefully, the winds blow us towards a winning season. We haven’t seen one of those in a while.