The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have a few needs to address heading into the offseason, but one of the biggest ones is the offensive line.
With the retirement of Ryan Jensen at center, the Bucs are likely to look at a new center to replace the poor play of Robert Hainsey and someone to fill the empty left guard spot that was taken by both Matt Feiler and then Aaron Stinnie in 2023. An improvement to the interior offensive line would be a big boon to Tampa Bay’s run game and overall pass protection, and Trevor Sikkema of Pro Football Focus recognized this — that’s why he has the Bucs selecting Duke offensive tackle Graham Barton in his post-Super Bowl mock draft.
Here is what Sikkema wrote about Barton and his fit in Tampa Bay:
Barton is a Jason Licht type of player with tackle, guard and even center flexibility. He has served as Duke’s starting left tackle over the past two seasons, but his NFL home is likely somewhere on the interior. Luckily, that is exactly what Tampa needs.
Barton is a tough son of a gun with vice grip-like hand strength and enough experience to realistically start in his rookie season.
As Sikkema mentioned, many project Barton to slide in as a guard at the next level instead of as a tackle as he played at Duke. The interior line class appears to be a solid one for 2024, so there are a lot of options general manager Jason Licht and the Bucs could take heading into this draft.
Tampa Bay drafted a tackle and converted him to guard last year with North Dakota State’s Cody Mauch, so this would be a similar move if indeed it were to occur. Mauch had a bit of a rough debut his rookie year, but that’s to be somewhat expected given the tough nature of the position. Should the Bucs draft Barton and find a center elsewhere in either the draft of free agency, the offensive line could look very solid heading into next year.
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