It’s Day 4 of our 4-EYED TEAM PREVIEW SERIES and today we are covering the Tampa Bay Buccaneers! This morning we’re talking offense and later today we’ll be releasing our IDP outlook, so stay tuned!
The 2021 Super Bowl Champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers have somehow returned all of their offensive players and brought in Giovanni Bernard to make up for their running backs lacking in the receiving game. What’s there to say about this offense that is going to be heralded by Tom Brady and is going to show off Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, and Rob Gronkowksi? Prepare for the Bucs to be very good again. Lol. But seriously!
Nevertheless, who are the players from the Buccaneers offense that can help you win a fantasy championship in 2021?
Find out below in our 2021 Buccaneers 4-EYED Offensive Team Preview!
Quarterback
Tom Brady
If Brady was thinking about hanging it up before last season, it didn’t show in his fantasy stats. Brady finished as the QB8 in half-PPR scoring and he is doing his best to keep up with the dual-threat rushing and passing quarterbacks. Last season, Brady had the second most completions, the third most passing yards, and he was tied for second in passing touchdowns. As I mentioned in the introduction, every offensive piece that the Buccaneers had last year is back and so unless Father Time finally comes for Brady, he is projecting as a QB1 again this year and he isn’t going to be drafted as high as the mobile quarterbacks.
Running Backs
Ronald Jones
The RB16 in 2020, Jones figures to still retain his role of the “lead” back in this offense although he may be losing out on receiving back duties to new teammate Giovanni Bernard. . For running backs with at least 190 rushing attempts last year, RoJo finished fourth in yards per attempt, third in average yards after contact, and sixth in breakaway percentage which tracks the number of runs the player had that went longer than 15 yards. I think his value comes down a little bit with the crowded backfield, but there is still going to be some value for Jones on the Buccaneers.
Leonard Fournette
Forunette was the only player last season with six rushing touchdowns and fewer than 114 rushing attempts. And this is where I think Fournette’s role is going to be on the Buccaneers this season. He may help the team get down the field, be he is going to be their redzone running back helping bruise his way to the endzone. Both Jones and Fournette were tied for the most drops with under 50 receiving targets last year so while the backfield is crowded, I think they are each going to have their role and I wouldn’t draft Fournette hoping he finds the endzone on a certain week.
Giovanni Bernard
At this point, I just assume that if any offensive player joins a team with Tom Brady as the quarterback that Brady personally selected that person to join the team. Bernard can focus on just being the receiving back in this offense so he is going to really only carry value for me in PPR leagues. Bernard seems to benefit when he isn’t the main face of the running back room and he can just concentrate on what he does best. He had the 11th most receptions among running backs last year and I expect that to change in his new home in Tampa Bay.
Wide Receivers
Chris Godwin
Godwin played in 12 games last year dealing with an injury but still was able to finish as the WR32. Now, with another offseason practicing with Brady, the Buccaneers are looking to be one of the very few offenses that can sustain four receivers between the three wide receivers and their tight end. For Godwin, he did only drop two passes last year so at least Brady will like his efficiency. All his other statistical categories have him falling in the middle of the road for receivers and that trend will probably continue into this season. I would say Godwin’s ceiling is that of a WR2, but his floor is a WR3 and weekly flex play so not too bad.
Mike Evans
Evans had a pretty roller-coaster season for the WR10 in fantasy last year. There was a two-week span where he had 6.1 total points and then there was week 16 against the Lions that he put up 35.1 points. Evans eclipsed 100 receiving yards in four of his 16 games last year, and in seven of his games, he had three or fewer receptions. The only consistent thing about Evans was that he excels at finding the endzone because in 2020 he scored 13 touchdowns which were the fourth-most in the league.
Antonio Brown
After serving his eight-game suspension last year, Brown debuted for the Buccaneers, and his season finish as the WR66 is a little misleading. In Weeks 9-17, the weeks that Brown was active, he finished as the WR24. In that same time span, Evans was the WR7, Godwin was the WR13, and Gronk was the TE7. Tom Brady wants Brown around and involved and he has shown that he can still bring value to your fantasy lineups as a weekly flex play. In the final three weeks of the season last year, Brown had his three best games and he was the WR3. His ceiling is impressive and like his teammates, his floor is reliable.
Tight End
Rob Gronkowski
The only thing Gronk needs to work on this offseason is his evil laugh. We have seen that if Brady wants you around and wants you involved, you will be and heavily. We have seen that after the big names in tight ends go in drafts it can become a crapshoot of finding value and reliability and in Gronk, you get both.
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