The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have more than a full slate of picks for the second day of the 2024 NFL draft, in part thanks to an offseason trade that could net them a potential Pro Bowl tight end.
The Buccaneers can add talent to the roster with three picks in the second and third rounds, including an extra third-round pick at No. 92 overall thanks to a trade that sent Buccaneers cornerback Carlton Davis to the Detroit Lions.
PFF’s second and third-round mock draft has Tampa Bay taking an intriguing prospect with the pick obtained from the Lions by drafting Ohio State tight end Cade Stover with the 92nd pick.
“Stover is a well-rounded, well-versed football player whose natural athletic ability and fundamentally sound approach to the position should make him a high-floor role player with TE1 potential,” wrote PFF’s John Kosko and Trevor Sikkema
The Buccaneers already added a key component to the offense in the first round, taking Duke center Graham Barton at No. 26 overall.
Stover Bounced Around Positions at Ohio State
Stover’s athleticism was on full display during his time at Ohio State.
Originally recruited to play linebacker, Stover was moved to defensive end as a freshman then moved to tight end. Stover was moved back to linebacker then back to tight end … before moving back to linebacker for the 2022 Rose Bowl due to a lack of depth at the position.
Stover finally got his chance to be a full-time tight end in 2023 and delivered with 41 receptions for 576 receiving yards and 5 touchdowns. Stover averaged 14.1 yards per catch and was named Big Ten Tight End of the Year despite being named second-team All-Big Ten.
Stover, 6-foot-4 and 247 pounds, ran the 40-yard dash in 4.65 seconds at the NFL and was projected as going in the third or fourth rounds by NFL analyst Lance Zierlein, who compared Stover to Pro Bowl tight end Jake Ferguson.
Stover was selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the fourth round out of Wisconsin in 2022.
“Catch first, block second tight end whose jump in play as a receiving threat is going to be hard to ignore,” Zierlein wrote. “Stover is a tight end conversion from the defensive side of the ball. He’s a little clunky getting off the line but really picks up the pace as the route unfolds.”
Buccaneers Already Have TE1 Spot Filled
The Buccaneers do already have a good and potentially great player in place at tight end with 2022 fourth-round pick Cade Otton.
Otton started 11 games as a rookie in 2022 and finished with 42 receptions for 391 yards and 2 touchdowns. Otton started all 17 games in 2023 and had 47 receptions for 455 yards and 4 touchdowns.
First-year offensive coordinator Liam Coen singled Otton out in an article from Pewter Report’s Scott Reynolds.
“Cade Otton is a guy that if you look at his body of work in such a short time playing in the NFL, you take for granted that he played 98 percent of the snaps last year,” Coen said. “That’s something we need to take off his plate a little bit, but you gain more of an appreciation for a guy that is playing 98 percent of the snaps in this weather, in this league, at a position where you are playing really two.”
Another stretch would be the Buccaneers taking a tight end in the draft for the third year in a row following Otton in 2022 and Payne Durham in 2023.
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