When the Tampa Bay Buccaneers season appeared ready to go entirely in the tank last year, a select few players stepped up, seemingly out of nowhere, and saved the day.
Leading the way was tight end Cade Otton, who kept the passing game afloat with wide receivers Mike Evans and Chris Godwin out with injuries. Otton finished the season with career highs of 59 receptions for 600 yards and 4 touchdowns as the Buccaneers finished 10-7 and won a fourth consecutive NFC South Division title.
That Otton did so while missing 3 games due to injuries shows a player who might still be able to take his game to an even higher level. As Otton heads into a career defining year in 2025, Bleacher Report’s Matt Holder singled him out as the NFC South’s elite option at tight end — even ahead of former No. 4 overall pick and Pro Bowler Kyle Pitts in Atlanta.
“Is this the year Kyle Pitts finally puts it all together?” Holder wrote on July 7. “Probably not. Meanwhile, Otton has been trending in the opposite direction with increased production in each of the last three years. Plus, the latter is the better blocker of the two.”
There’s nothing short of generational wealth on the line for Otton when he takes the field this fall as the former fourth round pick is in the final season of his 4-year, $3.96 million rookie contract.
NFL Still Actively Overlooking Otton’s Ascent
Spotrac currently projects Otton to receive a 3-year, $36.5 million contract following the season. That number could shoot up dramatically if Otton continues the steady improvement he showed over his first 3 NFL seasons.
As a rookie in 2022 catching passes from Tom Brady, Otton had 42 receptions for 391 yards and 2 touchdowns. Those numbers ticked up to 47 receptions for 455 yards and 4 touchdowns in 2023 in his first year with quarterback Baker Mayfield.
in 2024, Otton had the first 100-yard receiving game of his career and had 70 receiving yards or more in 4 games after doing it only once in the previous 2 seasons.
Even with all of that, Otton didn’t even make the Pro Football Focus list of the Top 10 NFL free agents at his position in 2026. Out of the 10 tight ends who did make the list — including Pitts — Otton had more receiving yards than 7 of them and more receptions and receiving touchdowns than 6 of them.
Franchise Tag Could Be Option for Otton in 2026
The transition franchise tag designation for tight ends is set at $12 million for 2025 — that’s where the Bucs can match contract offers. It’s safe to assume that the highest number for tight ends isn’t going to go up in any remarkable way until Las Vegas Raiders tight end Brock Bowers presumably re-sets the market in 2027.
With those numbers in mind, giving Otton the transition tag for 2026 and paying him one season at around $12 million to $13 million might end up being the more reasonable option for the Buccaneers, who could also be staring down a massive new contract for quarterback Baker Mayfield.
Headed into their 50th season as a franchise, Tampa Bay has never had an NFL All-Pro tight end and haven’t had a full time tight end make the Pro Bowl since Jimmie Giles in 1985.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Buccaneers Projected $35 Million TE Called ‘Elite Option’ in NFC South appeared first on Heavy Sports.