While all eyes are set on the 2023 season, Pewter Report is taking a look at the Bucs in 2023 and into the future. Going position by position, we’ll provide a three-year outlook to get an idea of what the 2024 and 2025 Bucs might look like — and how 2023 may impact those future teams.
Today, we continue with the offensive line.
Bucs Offensive Line Contracts
There are a lot of bodies in the Bucs’ offensive line room right now, many of which are jockeying for spots on the 2023 roster. We’ll focus more of this section on the projected starting group, but there are plenty of scenarios to dive into with the depth guys later on.
Tristan Wirfs, who is making the switch from right tackle to left tackle this season, is on the fourth year of his rookie deal and had his fifth-year option picked up for 2024 in April. As one of the game’s best right tackles and someone who shouldn’t have any issue moving to the left side, he is in line for a massive contract extension that should keep him in Tampa Bay well beyond 2025.
Wirfs, though, is the only long-term certainty on the Bucs’ offensive line. Center Ryan Jensen, who turned 32 in May, signed a three-year deal last offseason before missing the 2022 regular season with a knee injury. He’ll be back for 2023 and his deal runs through 2024, but he is far from a long-term sure thing at this point.
The rest of Tampa Bay’s offensive line will consist of rookie contracts and one-year deals. Presumed left guard Matt Feiler, 31, is on a one-year contract, while projected starters Cody Mauch (right guard) and Luke Goedeke (right tackle) are on rookie deals. Mauch was drafted in April, so his standard four-year contract runs through 2026. Meanwhile, as a 2022 draftee, Goedeke has a deal that extends through 2025.
Robert Hainsey, who started every regular season game at center last season, is still on his rookie deal as well. That runs through 2024, and he’s set to be a key backup for the Bucs this year.
There’s very little money guaranteed throughout the rest of the offensive line, with one-year contracts for Aaron Stinnie and Nick Leverett signed this offseason. Brandon Walton hits free agency next year as well, while some of the undrafted free agents on the fringe are far from being locks to crack the 53-man roster this year, much less in future years.
How This Year Impacts 2024 & 2025
The performance of the Bucs’ offensive line this year will determine what the unit looks like going forward. Wirfs will be a staple no matter what, though his transition to the left side of the line will be worth watching in 2023. If for whatever reason he struggles or simply looks more comfortable on the right side, perhaps Tampa Bay will be in the market for a left tackle next offseason while Wirfs returns to the right side. That feels unlikely, though.
It’s the performance of the rest of the line that will clear things up a bit more. Feiler has the size needed to make up a wall of a left side of the line with Wirfs, but he struggled at times during his career with the Chargers and is no guarantee to be a long-term fix at left guard. He also just turned 31 this past weekend.
The Bucs are excited about Mauch, but he’s making a big jump to the NFL in 2023, plus he’s adjusting to the right guard spot. There may be some growing pains, but he’ll need to show some promise in order for the team to feel comfortable with him as its right guard for the foreseeable future.
Goedeke is only in year two, but there’s a lot of pressure on him to make this switch to right tackle work. He struggled badly when moving to left guard last year, and that was a combination of switching sides of the line, moving from tackle to guard, jumping up in competition from MAC football and facing a crazy run of top-end defensive linemen in his first taste of the NFL.
Nonetheless, he has less-than-ideal arm length for the right tackle position in the NFL and will need to overcome that and solidify the position for Tampa Bay. If he doesn’t come through, things may look pretty dire for his prospects in 2024 and 2025. And if that’s the case, the Bucs will be in the market for a long-term right tackle next offseason.
One of the more interesting cases is Jensen. Coming off of a season-long knee injury that he elected not to have surgery on, he will be playing his age-32 season in 2023. There may not be any reason to believe he’ll lose his mean streak and nasty style of play, but there are scenarios where 2023 is his final season in red, white and pewter. We’ll dive into those in the next section.
Three-Year Outlook: Bucs Offensive Line
Wirfs is the only starting member of the offensive line who is written in stone for the Bucs. Contract-wise, the team has plenty of linemen on rookie deals who it would like to pan out, but there’s little certainty.
Is Feiler going to be anything more than a one-year stopgap at left guard? Can Goedeke blossom into a serviceable NFL right tackle? Will Mauch adapt well to the NFL and improve his pass protection to go along with his outstanding run blocking prowess? Will Hainsey prove to be an answer to the puzzle anywhere in the next two years before his deal runs out?
Other than those guys, it’s all about who can come up with impressive enough contract years in 2023 to stick on the roster beyond this season. Leverett has been a great hand for Tampa Bay, so it would be nice for him to still be around — at least as a depth piece who can plug in and play. Stinnie, Walton and John Molchon have been mainstays in terms of depth, but whether or not they offer enough to stick around for the future seems to be up in the air. Undrafted free agents Silas Dzansi and Chris Murray are two intriguing names to keep an eye on as potential gems who could figure into the Bucs’ future plans if they can latch on to the practice squad and impress.
And then, of course, there’s Jensen. If he maintains his high level of play and the Bucs are good enough this year that they think they can make a strong run at things next year, it makes sense for the team to hold onto him for his contract year — though perhaps with a small restructure.
But if a reset is in the cards for 2024 or the team simply sees value in testing Hainsey as the starting center again in his contract year, there may be a reality where Jensen’s future lies elsewhere. Whether that’s via a trade for a late-round pick or a flat-out release, who knows? There would be marginal cap savings if the Bucs released him, though that would accelerate the void money in his contract. A post-June 1 move would save a lot of cap in 2024, but dead money would be added back in 2025.
Trade scenarios are perhaps more interesting, but they’re harder to project. What will Jensen’s value be like in a year? Part of that hinges on when he’s theoretically being moved. He’s due a roster bonus on March 22, so a trade before then would net marginal savings. A move after March 22 would mean the Bucs absorbing a bit of a hit, though the value may jump up a bit because the acquiring team won’t have to dish out the roster bonus.
Any of these scenarios could be in play, and a lot of it depends both on how the Bucs and Jensen perform in 2023. But moving on from him could give the team a chance to see whether Hainsey is their long-term center. If he doesn’t move the needle in 2024, then there would be a completely fresh start at the position come 2025.
Three-Year Outlook Summary
The Bucs’ offensive line is far from the solidified unit it was a few years ago. Gone is longtime left tackle Donovan Smith, and Pro Bowl guard Ali Marpet isn’t walking through those doors any time soon. Shaq Mason was a one-and-done in Tampa Bay last year, and there’s a real chance Jensen could soon be on his way out as well unless he returns to his Pro Bowl form. The Bucs have a lot of young pieces along the offensive line who will need time to gel, and then the team can get a true evaluation of what it has. The only certainty is that Wirfs will be there to lead the offensive line unit into the future, and he’s an elite building block to have around.
