Tampa Bay Buccaneers fantasy preview

Warren Sharp’s Strength of Schedule: Warren Sharp projects the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to face the 6th-easiest overall offensive schedule and the easiest pass-defense slate of 2019.

Must Draft

Mike Evans is a strong candidate to lead the league in targets, playing in HC Bruce Arians’ high-flying offense. Draft him confidently as a top-end WR1.

For two years, Chris Godwin has been the obsession of savvy drafters. The time has come for him to live up to the hype. From Bruce Arians in mid-April: “I think Chris Godwin is going to be close to a 100-catch guy, especially because I think he can play in the slot. He’s never coming off the field… I’m not saying he’s Larry Fitzgerald by any means yet, but (he can) play the role like Larry did in Arizona.” Regarding Godwin’s playing time, Arians has stayed true to his word through the preseason. As ETR’s Adamn Levitan noted last week, “Jameis Winston has played 58 snaps this preseason. Chris Godwin has been on the field for all 58 and lined up in the slot 32 times. Recorded 6 [catches] - 72 [yards] - 1 [touchdown].”

Carrying on with this lights out passing game, O.J. Howard will cement himself as one of the next game-changing tight ends. Arians has never had a tight end weapon like Howard before but just like Godwin, Howard has seen extension 1st Team usage. Per Adam Levitan, “OJ Howard been in on 57 of Jameis’ 58 [preseason] snaps. Detached from the line for 12. Recorded 2 [catches] - 20 [yards] - 0 [touchdowns] on 4 targets”. That is elite tight end usage.

With your final pick in the draft, running back Dare Ogunbowale. The little known pass catching running back has locked up 3rd-down duties and, as Evan Silva noted, saw equal snaps to both Peyton Barber and Ronald Jones II -- an indication that both Barber and Jones II have failed to secure the job. With both being subpar pass catchers and the Bucs set to frequently throw on early downs, Ogunbowale is looking at 15+ league-winning touches per game in 2019.

Given what we expect from Tampa Bay’s pass catchers, Jameis Winston looks like a darkhorse Top 5 QB option, coming off the board as the QB12.

Good Values

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Monitor

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Avoid

Peyton Barber and Ronald Jones II.