Luke Goedeke Blocking Out Noise, “Energized” To Be Bucs’ RT

Bucs RT Luke Goedeke – Photo courtesy of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The buildup to this season for the Bucs has made for plenty of questions and not a lot of answers – yet. Those are to come, and while the biggest involves who is going to be the team’s quarterback, handling the future of a linebacker who wants a big deal, a new offensive coordinator and the future of the head coach, there are plenty of other intriguing talking points.

One of those involves the shuffling of the offensive line. As Rachaad White looks to have a breakout sophomore season, he will attempt to do so behind an offensive line that looks completely different position-by-position. Both guard positions are up for grabs on the interior, but the Bucs pretty much have their two tackles locked in, barring anything unforeseen.

Tristan Wirfs at left tackle and Luke Goedeke at right tackle.

As OTAs and mandatory mini-camp have come and gone, each has worked on adjusting to their new posts. While there is little concern regarding moving Wirfs to the blindside based on his track record, the same cannot be said for Goedeke.

There is no hiding that he struggled for much of last season at left guard. His overall regular season grade there, per Pro Football Focus, was 70th out of 77 guards at 46.7. He would be benched midway through the year in favor of Nick Leverett.

In the midst of his struggles, there were positive moments for him as well, especially in the last two games to wrap up the season. In Week 18 against the Falcons, he had an encouraging game back at right tackle.

Against the Cowboys in the playoffs, filling it at left guard again, he looked a lot more comfortable, and it was his highest-graded game by PFF at 67.

So, what does all of this mean for Luke Goedeke?

He has shown signs of progression and improvement since first putting on a Bucs uniform, and that is something that both Wirfs and head coach Todd Bowles have seen in the past couple of weeks.

Bucs HC Todd Bowles Thinks Luke Goedeke Is Doing Well

Heading into his second season as the Bucs’ head coach, Todd Bowles has seen improvement from Luke Goedeke as he slides back to something more natural for him in his second year.

“He played it in college – he was a right tackle,” Bowles said during OTAs. “It’s not uncomfortable for him. He’s energized, he’s ready to go. It’s hard to tell the progress when you’re in shorts and a t-shirt, and you really can’t put hands on anybody to the point where you’re bringing them to the ground. But the progress and the intelligence has been great.”

During mini-camp a week later, Bowles added that the former Central Michigan tackle looks comfortable on the right side.

“I think Luke has done a great job.” he said. “He’s been here all the time; he’s learning, mentally. He feels comfortable, he looks comfortable out there. We’re just looking for him to get better. Obviously, pads will tell a lot, but he’s doing well.”

While this qualifies as a positive endorsement, Goedeke still has to put on the pads, which will come next month. That will determine if he truly looks the part of a starting-caliber NFL right tackle.

Luke Goedeke Has A Friend In Tristan Wirfs

During Goedeke’s rookie year, he faced plenty of criticism for his play. But he always had someone in his corner defending him in Tristan Wirfs. During OTAs, Wirfs shared that they are both getting ready and prepared, while also hanging out and building their friendship.

“Luke’s been looking great,” Wirfs said. “We’ve been hanging out a lot — it’s just been, working together, talking. He wants to be the best that he can be; I want him to be the best that he can be. I told him, I know what I’m talking about over there. He’s been great, [offensive line coach] Joe [Gilbert] has been nothing but awesome with both of us, doing [his] best to get us ready. We do have a long way to go, but he’s been looking great. He loves throwing that outside hand, so it looks great.”

As both of them are entrusted with making seamless transitions across the line, Wirfs’ influence on and off the field has helped Goedeke out a lot.

“Tristan is probably the guy who I’m closest with on the team, Goedeke said on the Pewter Report Podcast earlier this month. “I consider him one of my best friends. With that being said, every day we attack OTAs just trying to get better.

“Talking about different techniques, what he uses, what our coach wants and everything, what we see, and what we continue to work on every day. Just picking one or two things a day because you can get really overwhelmed trying to really improve on five or six different things every day.

“Really trying to hone in on those little things and, with that, being able to bounce ideas back and forth off of each other. Obviously, he’s arguably the best right tackle in the NFL, so it’s great to have that relationship and someone who’s there to speak about [things] in football terms as well as a great friend who — we do spend time away from football and do some fun stuff like fishing and whatnot.”

Some friends catch a movie or a ballgame. But what about attempting to catch big fish? These fishing trips are what Wirfs and Goedeke have been up to away from football. In doing so, it has also been a way to measure each other’s strength.

“I grew up fishing; Tristan grew up fishing as well,” Goedeke said. “Being able to kind of have that release from football — if you’re 24/7 focusing on football, it’ll just eat you up inside. Having that kind of release to go fishing and relax, that’s so key to everything and how peaceful and how beautiful it is out on the water. Being able to do that with your teammates is huge.”

Luke Goedeke Has A Chip On His Shoulder

To get to this point, Goedeke has overcome numerous injuries and had to hustle to get his name out there and into D-I college football. In the NFL, he has faced another challenge in dealing with the noise that came from being a rookie starter and not immediately having success. Each of these obstacles has not deterred him in the slightest. It has just meant more adversity to overcome.

“I would never be here if it was not for my drive and determination. I like to think that hard work beats talent at the end of the day, I’m talented, but I’m here to outwork you. I can beat anyone when it comes down to it. I just play with a chip on my shoulder, I grew up in a small town in Wisconsin, and I’ve had setbacks in my life; I’ve faced adversity.

“I know how to overcome that, so when I did face some last year — yeah, I realized I need to be better. I had a foot injury, I need to come back stronger from that. I need to regain confidence, just a multitude of different aspects. I feel like at the end of the season, I really showed like, yeah, I can overcome the adversity.”

He is self-motivating, while also realizing that you can’t please everyone.

“I don’t need the noise to motivate me. I know what I have to do to get better. I have enough motivation within myself to definitely motivate me. I did shut down my Twitter [last season]; I’m still non-Twitter. You can play at an All-Pro level, and someone still has something bad to say about you on social media. I just take it with a grain of salt, everyone’s going to have their things to say, but at the end of the day, they’re on their couch and we’re out there playing so… it really doesn’t make much of a difference to me.”

What has made a difference to him is his journey, and being the Bucs’ right tackle is the next step.

“Without that journey, I would not be who I am today, so I’m very thankful and give all of my glory to God for it,” Goedeke said. “It’s been a crazy one, to say the least.”

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