What’s Josh Grizzard’s Primary Objective In Bucs Preseason?

A new Pewter Report Roundtable debuts every Tuesday on PewterReport.com. Each week, the Pewter Reporters tackle another tough Bucs question. This week’s prompt: What’s Josh Grizzard’s Primary Objective In Bucs Preseason?

Scott Reynolds: Evaluate The Play Of The Bucs’ New Offensive Tackles

New Bucs offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard has a lot to do in three preseason games to get ready for his first regular season as a play-caller. But one of the things that will be at the top of his list is working with offensive line coaches Kevin Carberry and Brian Picucci to evaluate the play of offensive tackles Charlie Heck and Ben Chukwuma in the preseason. With All-Pro left tackle Tristan Wirfs expected to be sidelined for the start of the season following minor knee surgery this summer, Heck is expected to get the start at left tackle in his place.

How Heck holds up in pass protection will be critical to Grizzard’s play-calling in Week 1. Does Heck need help in the form of a double team from a tight end or does he need a chip from a back? Or can Heck handle pass rushers one-on-one and adequately protect Baker Mayfield’s blind side?

With Grizzard wanting to incorporate more vertical passes into the offense this year, is that doable with Heck? Can Heck block for Mayfield for three seconds or longer, or does Grizzard need to rely on more of a quick, rhythmic passing game while Wirfs is out and then take those deeper shots when the All-Pro returns?

Also, how is Heck as a run blocker? Can the Bucs run to his side effectively to achieve some balance in the ground game, or will Tampa Bay be a right-handed run team in Wirfs’ absence and rely more on the run blocking of right guard Cody Mauch and right tackle Luke Goedeke?

With the Bucs being one snap away from having to play offensive tackle Ben Chukwuma should something happen to Heck or Goedeke early in the season before Wirfs’ return, how does the rookie look in the preseason? Chukwuma has loads of athletic ability, but with just two years worth of playing experience at Georgia State he’s pretty raw. Can Chukwuma play both left and right tackle? Which side is better at? Getting a good, accurate gauge on Heck and Chukwuma will definitely help heading into Atlanta on September 7.

Matt Matera: Establish A More Vertical-Based Offense

From the spring when new offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard could begin calling plays and putting together his scheme during offseason programs, there’s been an emphasis on making the Bucs just a bit more vertical with their passing attack. When the team has a player such a wide receiver Mike Evans, who has averaged over 15 yards per catch, that makes a lot of sense.

During training camp we’ve seen the offense try to go deep a little more. Baker Mayfield has taken some shots to Evans and Jalen McMillan while Kyle Trask has also gone deep on several occasions. The plan is for Tampa Bay to get more chunk plays on throws down the field rather than shorter catch and runs with the hope of breaking tackles.

While we won’t see much of Mayfield in the preseason and it will be a lot of Trask and Connor Bazelak, Grizzard can establish in the preseason what he would like this passing game to look like. It also allows for the Bucs to test out rookie receiver Emeka Egbuka in that role and the speedster in Tez Johnson. With great competition for the last receiver spots, it gives some receivers the opportunity to break out with this new wrinkle for the offense in the coming weeks.

Bailey Adams: Find The Best Uses For Devin Culp In Bucs Offense

If you’re Josh Grizzard, having the likes of Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Jalen McMillan, Emeka Egbuka, Tez Johnson, Bucky Irving, Rachaad White and Cade Otton to work with has to make life easier as a a first-time offensive coordinator. But there’s another big-time talent who presents Grizzard with a unique challenge as an offensive architect, and that’s tight end Devin Culp.

Culp, the Bucs’ seventh-round pick in 2024, is a rare blend of size and speed at the tight end position. The 6-foot-4, 237-pounder ran a 4.47 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine last year, the best time among all tight ends. And while he didn’t play all that much early on in his rookie year, he flashed a great deal of potential late in the season when Otton was out with an injury as he averaged 17.6 yards per catch over five catches.

Should Culp be the first option for quarterback Baker Mayfield? No. Is he going to start over Otton as Tampa Bay’s TE1? Also no. But there’s a role in the Buccaneers offense for Culp’s skill set, and it’s up to Grizzard to define and refine that role throughout the preseason.

Culp is having a solid camp thus far, and we’ve seen him and Payne Durham get more reps with Otton sidelined due to a hamstring injury. The speedy tight end has been able to stretch the field at times and at other times, he’s an option in the quick passing game, which allows him to get in space and put his speed to use.

So, over the course of three preseason games against Tennessee, Pittsburgh and Buffalo, Grizzard needs to tinker with things and see how to best put Culp’s unique tools to good use. Especially when you consider the sheer number of talented pass-catchers the Bucs have on offense, Culp is bound to be a mismatch with his speed. Figuring out how to take advantage of that should be on the to-do list for Tampa Bay’s offensive coordinator in the coming weeks.

Josh Queipo: Just Get Through The Preseason Healthy

The Bucs are already set to start the regular season without left tackle Tristan Wirfs for several weeks. Wide receiver Chris Godwin is currently on the PUP list and there is no set timetable for his return. Just this morning it was reported by Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times that the team is looking into signing veteran quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, who has already retired once in his career, because third-string quarterback Michael Pratt has been unable to practice due to a lower back injury.

Several receiver injuries has caused the team to bring in multiple options at that position in the past week and has even led to some shortened practices as a result of not having enough healthy receivers and quarterbacks. The NFL is a war of attrition. There is a high correlation between teams that go deep in the playoffs and the relative lack of injuries they experience throughout the season relative to the league as a whole.

Grizzard’s main concern should be trying to make sure the players expected to be key contributors make it to Week 1 healthy. M*A*S*H was one of the best shows in American history. But it’s certainly not something any football team wants to emulate. Keeping his weapons and his O-line available should be priority No. 1 for him and the rest of the team.

Adam Slivon: Don’t Be Afraid To Stretch The Field With QB Kyle Trask

The preseason, much like all of the training camp practices, is a chance to experiment. For Josh Grizzard, it provides the first-year playcaller a chance to figure out what works best for his offensive scheme while trying new things. The three preseason games do not count in the win-loss column, but it is as good of a time as any to let it rip. While Baker Mayfield will not be seeing much in-game action during the month of August, top backup Kyle Trask will be suiting up.

Trask, who re-signed to a one-year deal this offseason, has what could be his final audition with a three-game slate of exhibitions to build up his tape before hitting the open market again next offseason. With a fresh offensive mind and a quarterback looking to put together some nice film, it sounds like the perfect chance to test the vertical element of the offense.

Liam Coen’s philosophy last year was the perfect demonstration of how a modern NFL offense is run. One built on balance, but relying on the quick passing game. That reliance sparked Mayfield’s career year, but if there was one thing that was missing, it was the big passing plays. Coen utilized a lot of dinks and dunks to get the ball out of his quarterback’s hands quickly, but now it is time to use them to set up even more chunk passing plays. Boasting a deep wide receiver corps that should match up well against second- and third-string cornerbacks only makes the opportunity that much more there for the taking.

This connects back to Trask and his continued improvement year over year over the summer. More than that, he has also taken it upon himself to build relationships with the backups, including creating a group chat last year that Bucky Irving was a part of. Irving mentioned how much that helped him get acclimated, and now there is a chance to build chemistry with reserve wideouts like Trey Palmer, Kameron Johnson, Tez Johnson, and Rakim Jarrett, among others. Josh Grizzard has all the tools to build a successful offense, but now is the time to have fun and not be afraid to stretch the field.