How Well Are New Bucs’ O-Linemen Meshing Together?

New Bucs G Sua Opeta – Photo courtesy of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Bucs offensive guard Cody Mauch can understand what Graham Barton is going through entering the NFL. Mauch was Tampa Bay’s second-round pick a year ago and was slated to start as a rookie. Barton is in a similar role, but has even loftier expectations from outsiders as he was the team’s first-round pick in April. While Mauch kicked inside from playing left tackle at North Dakota to right guard for the Bucs, Barton has a similar challenge moving from tackle to center, forcing him to get his snaps down correctly.

Now Barton did start five games at center at Duke so it could be a smoother transition, but nonetheless there’s a lot for him to pick up right away. Mauch admitted during OTAs that his own head was spinning at times throughout last season as a rookie starter. Only time will tell if there will be the same kind of pitfalls when Graham Barton lines up at his new position.

Bucs Rookie Graham Barton Showing Leadership Qualities Already

Bucs C Graham Barton and G Elijah Klein – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The Bucs are entering their third week of OTAs and there is still a long way to go before the start of the 2024 regular season. With that said, the early review of Graham Barton through the lens of Cody Mauch has been a positive one.

“He’s been great so far,” Mauch said of Barton. “It’s always tough to come in and learn a new system and whatnot. Especially, he kind of gets thrown into it and he’s been great. You can tell he’s taking the role on well. Good vocal leader I would say already, which is great as a rookie two weeks into it. Hopefully we can just keep making those small improvements and keep kind of meshing as an O-line, wherever everyone ends up.”

Barton and fellow rookie Elijah Klein aren’t the only new offensive linemen in town for the Bucs. Because of the signing of Sua Opeta and Ben Bredeson, there are players old and young that Mauch and many of the returning Bucs offensive linemen are still meshing with.

“Just as guys, they’ve been awesome,” Mauch said. “Fun guys to get to know, good vets too. Fun guys to get to actually just talk ball with. Sua is my locker roommate so we’ll just sit there and talk over some things. Just the conversations we’ve had, me, Sua, Ben, the new guys like Elijah [Klein], it’s been fun. You get to know new guys and know new guys as players as well. Get a new perspective on things, especially those guys coming from different places.”

Cody Mauch Sounds Off On New Bucs Offense

Bucs RG Cody Mauch – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

There have been several Bucs players and coaches that have commented on the what the new offense is like with Liam Coen as the coordinator. But until this point, we haven’t heard from the perspective of an offensive lineman, who of course are expected to play a very important role in turning around Tampa Bay’s run game this season.

Mauch shared his thoughts on how learning Coen’s new scheme is going thus far.

“So far, so good,” Mauch said. “We’ve all really liked what we’ve seen. Nothing drastically different than what we’ve done in the past. Maybe little tweaks – at least this far until the install – and I think the run game should improve from last year. And just the kind of little nuances we’re put in for protections as well, it’s all kind of coming along. So far a work in progress, but we’re going in the right direction.”