The Tampa Bay Buccaneers may already have another tight end worth watching, and his name is Bauer Sharp.
While most of the attention in camp has centered on veteran starter Cade Otton, the Bucs’ rookie sixth-round pick has been making noise early and looking like one of the more impressive young players in the building. Sharp has reportedly turned heads around the organization and among the beat writers, putting together one of the best training camps to open the summer.
That kind of start is easy to overlook when a team has bigger names in the mix, but Sharp has been building a case anyway. He was viewed as one of the most talented pass-catching tight ends in this draft class and came into the league as a player many believed was underrated because he didn’t get the same target volume as some of the other top prospects.
What he’s shown so far lines up with that evaluation. Sharp has developed strong chemistry with all the quarterbacks in the room and carried over a productive summer of workouts that included big touchdown catches. He’s also shown more wiggle than expected at the start of his routes, which has helped him separate and make plays.
At 6-foot-4 and 249 pounds, Sharp brings the kind of size teams want at tight end, but the bigger takeaway has been how fluid he looks moving. He’s finding space, getting open, and flashing more playmaking ability than Cade Otton and the rest of the tight end group.
None of that means Sharp is about to replace Otton this season. Otton remains the starter, and the Buccaneers are counting on him to take another step after re-signing with Tampa Bay. But Sharp already looks like a useful complement, especially for Baker Mayfield in the red zone.
That matters because the Buccaneers needed another end zone threat this summer. Getting more efficient inside scoring range and turning those chances into touchdowns was part of the equation, and Sharp has given them a real reason to believe that box can be checked.
He’s still flying under the radar nationally, and some of that attention has gone to the young wide receivers, including rookie Ted Hurst, along with the contract drama surrounding Baker and Vita Vea. Even so, Sharp has emerged as one of the better stories of the offseason.
For Buccaneers fans, he’s a name to keep in mind heading toward the 2026 season.
In Other News...
Bucs Preseason QB Plan Suddenly Looks A Lot Less Certain
A quiet preseason week got a little more complicated for Tampa Bay when backup quarterback Jake Browning went down during a joint practice with the Jets. Browning appeared to suffer a lower back injury, left the field and was replaced by second-year quarterback Connor Bazelak, a development that immediately put some uncertainty around how the Buccaneers will handle the position in their first preseason game.
The timing matters because Tampa Bay had been working through its quarterback plan for the opener, and Brownings availability could shape how those reps are divided. If he cannot go, the Bucs may need to lean on Bazelak and Jalon Daniels to cover more of the work, which would turn a simple preseason tune-up into a more fluid evaluation period for the staff. [Read more 🡒]
Bucs Joint Practice Turned Ugly And Luke Goedeke Is Central
Joint practices are supposed to sharpen a team before the games start counting, but the Buccaneers and Jets managed to turn one into a full-on dustup. Tempers flared on the field between both sides during the session, with multiple scuffles breaking out as the two teams worked through camp reps and got a little too comfortable with the physical edge that often comes with August.
Luke Goedeke wound up right in the middle of the mess after a Jets interception by safety Jairus Monroe sparked a post-play confrontation, and another altercation later involving Jets defensive tackle Darrell Jackson and a Buccaneers offensive lineman pushed things far enough that the teams scrapped their second scheduled joint practice. For Tampa Bay, the episode leaves the usual training camp takeaway hanging over everything else: the line between competitive and chaotic got crossed quickly, and the details of how the Bucs handle the fallout will matter just as much as the next rep. [Read more 🡒]
Bucs Depth Chart Just Sparked A Real Defensive Competition Debate
The Buccaneers first official depth chart ahead of their preseason opener against the Jets offered an early look at how the defense is being sorted out, and it came with a few eyebrow-raisers. First-round rookie Rueben Bain Jr. is the lone rookie listed with a starting spot, while Vita Vea remains penciled in as the starting nose tackle even after missing practices, a reminder that these early charts can say as much about expectations as they do about current availability.
SirVocea Dennis also shows up as the starting middle linebacker, a noteworthy call in a camp where Josiah Trotter has drawn attention with more splash plays. The secondary has its own intrigue, with Benjamin Morrison sitting as a second-string cornerback despite limited practice time because of injury, and J.J. Roberts listed behind the starters at safety even though he has not been on the field because of injury. The chart does not settle the competition, but it does make clear that several jobs remain very much in flux. [Read more 🡒]