All Eyes Are On Bucs OT Charlie Heck

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Bucs OT Charlie Heck – Photo courtesy of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

After news broke this week that All-Pro left tackle Tristan Wirfs is likely to start the season on the PUP list, curiosity naturally mounted on who would man his position until his much-anticipated return – veteran newcomer Charlie Heck. The Bucs lost last year’s backup swing tackle Justin Skule to the Minnesota Vikings in free agency. Skule likely left for an opportunity to get more starting opportunities as Minnesota’s own starting left tackle Chrisitan Darrisaw is still recovering from a torn ACL.

Oh, how the turns have tabled.

Needing to replace Skule the Bucs landed Heck. A five-year veteran and former fourth-round pick of the Houston Texans, Heck has 23 career starts and 50 total games that he has played in while amassing almost 1,500 snaps on offense. The Bucs have prioritized experience with their recent backup tackles and Heck continues that trend.

Physical Profile

Heck has a tall, lean frame with good athleticism and limited flexibility.

Height – 6-foot-8
Weight – 311 lbs (during draft process)
Arm Length – 34.125″
40-yd dash – 5.16 seconds
Vertical Jump – 28″
Broad Jump – 112″
3-Cone – 8.02 seconds
Short Shuttle – 4.86 seconds
Bench Press – 20 reps

Can Charlie Heck Be An Adequate Fill-In For Tristan Wirfs?

Over the course of his five-year career, Charlie Heck has allowed 66 pressures and nine sacks over 854 pass blocking reps – good for a 7.7% pressure rate allowed. Compare that to Justin Skule, who had allowed 37 pressures and eight sacks over 413 opportunities, a 9.0% pressure rate allowed, and you get a more experienced, more consistent swing tackle.

But Skule is coming off of a career year in Tampa Bay. His 5.9% pressure rate allowed last year was the lowest of any season where he played at least 200 snaps. The Bucs were likely excited to try and retain him, and I’m sure they were willing to match the Vikings’ $2 million offer. But the path to playing time for Skule was clearer in Minnesota than in Tampa Bay, which gave Skule a higher ceiling to future earnings. And so, the Bucs turned to Heck to be their new veteran swing tackle.

Heck is a better pass protector than he is as a road grader in the run game. He struggles to win with leverage in both aspects of the game. His 6-foot-8 height works against him in this area, so he is consistently battling his own dimensions to stay low.

Heck’s hands often get high allowing opponents to dip under him or slide off his punch/latch. Because of this he does not stay connected through the end of the snap very often as a run blocker. But you can see flashes of his athleticism when he is able to get good hand placement and stay latched. On those reps you will often find him driving edge defenders several yards away from the play. You can see this also on reps where he can climb and try to beat linebackers to spots.

In pass protection, Heck’s lack of leverage negates his powerful legs. He can struggle with bull rushes despite his considerable strength, especially in his lower half. It is just difficult for him to exert power when he is working down and backwards. This causes him to allow the pocket to condense more often than one would like. You can see several of those reps in this clip provided by Evan Closky of WTSP.

Heck is at his best when he is keeping his hands low and beating defenders to spots. His footwork is a plus, although the best/most athletic edge rushers can beat him around the arc.

Bucs Ot Charlie Heck

Bucs OT Charlie Heck – Photo by: USA Today

How Can The Bucs Help Charlie Heck?

The answer lies in Weeks 10 and 12 of last year. Those were the games that Justin Skule stepped in for Tristan Wirfs for significant snaps. And there were some interesting changes in the structure and personnel usage for Tampa Bay that speak to how they operate without their All-Pro left tackle in the game. To start, there was a small, but noticeable change in running back usage. In those two games Rachaad White out-snapped Bucky Irving 53/47. In the weeks thereafter Irving held a 51.5/49.5 edge.

More significantly, the Bucs moved tight end Cade Otton – literally. A total of 57% of Otton’s in-line snaps in those games came on the left side of the line. Right next to Skule. The rest of the season that number was just 38%.

The Bucs also utilized backup tight end Payne Durham and 12 personnel at the highest rate of the season to that point. Durham’s 17 snaps in Week 10 were tied for the second-most in the season at the time. In Week 12, his 24 snaps were a season high – again to that point. Tampa Bay chipped and glanced right edge rushers at almost every juncture, ensuring Skule was rarely on an island.

Former offensive coordinator Liam Coen also brought out some exotic pulls in both the run and the pass game, running some counter-trap play-actions that had right tackle Luke Goedeke, center Graham Barton and right guard Cody Mauch rolling around to stone Nick Bosa unexpectedly against San Francisco.

Former Bucs Ot Justin Skule

Former Bucs OT Justin Skule – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Structurally, the Bucs made some modifications to how they operated on the left hash. Instead of running 3×1’s to the field they leaned on their 2×2 packages. They also leaned even more heavily into their short/quick passing game to keep Skule from having to strain for too long.

From Week 10 to Week 12, 69.5% of Baker Mayfield’s throws were for 10 air yards or less. That was the third-highest rate in the league among qualified passers. He trailed only Aaron Rodgers and Gardner Minshew. Juxtapose that with the remainder of the season when Mayfield targeted that area of the field just 61.4% of the time and ranked 15th overall.

Despite facing such talented edge rushers as Bosa and New York Giants edge rusher Kayvon Thibideau, Tampa Bay was able to hold them in relative check. Bosa generated just three pressures on 28 pass rushes as he was chipped, dinged and clipped throughout the game. His 10.7% pressure rate for the game was almost 6% lower than his season average.

Thibodeaux was able to hurry Mayfield just once. His pressure rate for the game was also around 6% lower than his season-long rate. Meanwhile Skule allowed just three pressures and a 5.2% pressure rate while the Bucs averaged over 4.5 yards per carry. Most importantly, the Bucs were able to keep themselves out of too many pass-obvious situations. Skule was only put into those circumstances 18 times over the two games.

The loss of Wirfs for possibly the first three games of the 2025 season is no doubt a blow to the offense and the team as a whole. But as Tampa Bay showed last year, the team has a solid eye for talent on the offensive line. And paired with the exceptional coaching of Kevin Carberry and Brian Picucci, along with schematic adjustments to give the necessary help, the team can weather a loss of such magnitude.

Remember that Charlie Heck’s track record is comparable – if not favorable – to that of Skule’s when he first joined the Bucs a few years ago.

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