Each week after every Bucs game, we’ll take a closer look at the snap count distribution for the Tampa Bay on offense and defense. We’ll assess what we can learn from who played the most and least from the game.
Here’s a closer look at which players received the highest and lowest number of snaps in the Bucs’ first loss of the season, dropping the game 25-11 to the Eagles on Monday Night Football in Week 3.
Bucs’ Offense
The Bucs’ coaching staff evidently does not have a lot of confidence in the rest of the running backs in the RB room at the moment. Rachaad White, who did not have a good game by any means with 14 rushes for 38 yards, was in on 91% of the snaps. Only Cade Otton had more snaps than him as a skill position player.
Bucs WR Chris Godwin – Photo by: USA Today
The Bucs need a back that can pass protect and apparently While is the only player that can do it.
Sean Tucker was arguably the most exciting rookie in the preseason, but he hasn’t amounted to anything in the regular season yet. He saw just four snaps the whole night, getting two rushing attempts for one yard. Ke’Shawn Vaughn was active for the first time this season and didn’t get an offensive snap. That tells you everything you need to know about how the coaches feel about Vaughn and the the rest of the group.
Has Trey Palmer emerged as WR3 for the Bucs? His 72% of playing time would indicate so. Palmer had just four less snaps than Mike Evans and seven less than Chris Godwin. He also had 24 more plays than the next closest receiver, Deven Thompkins. With that said, Palmer made one catch for eight yards on his lone target while Thompkins recorded one reception for 6 yards on two targets, so there’ wasn’t much production from really any receiver outside of Evans.
Godwin continues lead all receivers each week in percentage of snaps per game and yet has only had a minimal impact on the season. He deserves a ton of credit for making a great catch in Week 1 to close it out against the Vikings, but this is a $20 million receiver that is putting up pedestrian numbers through three games. I don’t think it’s all on Godwin, I’d just be curious to see more plays schemed up for him.
Tampa Bay stayed away from much tight end usage besides Cade Otton. Ko Kieft and David Wells combined for 15 snaps. They did utilize offensive lineman Aaron Stinnie as an extra blocker for one play.
Bucs’ Defense
There was some shuffling around that needed to be done since the injury bug has hit the Bucs on the defensive side early in the season. Jamel Dean exited the game with a shoulder injury, so that meant more snaps for Dee Delaney, who recorded an interception. Derek Pitts got the most playing time of the season after Delaney got hurt as well. The Bucs were down to their fourth- and fifth-string players at cornerback.
Bucs CB Dee Delaney – Photo by: USA Today
Devin White played through a groin injury and did not reach the 100% snap threshold that he’s accustomed to, but he wasn’t far off at 95%.
Vita Vea had been dealing with a pectoral injury this week, so his numbers dropped slightly down to 54%. Logan Hall led all interior defensive linemen 61%. With the defense on the field for 80 snaps, Will Gholston got his highest percentage of the year at 45% playing time, while Greg Gaines saw an increased snap count to 52%. Gaines may have been the best interior defensive lineman of the group.
Tampa Bay could really use rookie Calijah Kancey back in the mix, but he may not be seen until after the bye week.
The rotation at outside remained similar overall with Joe Tryon-Shoyinka at 62% and Shaq Barrett at 57%. YaYa Diaby had the biggest drop off going from 43% last week to 31% on Monday night. In total, the outside linebacker group combined for one quarterback hit on Jalen Hurts in the game.
