Cade Otton was the fifth tight end selected in the 2022 draft, going to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with the first pick of the fourth round. There were 18 tight ends drafted overall that spring, including two by the Bucs as they also snagged Ko Kieft in the sixth round. Of those 18 tight ends drafted, none has spent more actual time on the field than Otton.
In fact, in the four seasons he has been in the NFL, Otton has logged 3,716 offensive snaps, the most by any tight end in the league, regardless of when they arrived. The top five are Otton, Chicago's Cole Kmet, Kansas City's Travis Kelce, Arizona's Trey McBride and Dalton Schultz of the Cowboys and Texans. Otton's percentage of offensive snaps played, which only measures the games in which he played, is 87.5%, also the highest in the league, just ahead of San Francisco's do-everything tight end George Kittle (86.6%).
It helps that Otton has mostly been able to avoid injury, missing only four games due to ailments, plus one more as a rookie to attend to be with his family after the death of his mother. But the main reason he has been on the field so much for the Buccaneers over the past four seasons is that he does each part of his multi-faced job well and has the complete trust of the coaching staff.
Putting those four seasons in the books means that Otton has played out his initial rookie contract and will hit free agency next week if the Bucs do not re-sign him first. And that means we don't yet know if those 3,716 snaps are going to be his final total as a Buccaneer.
Otton is one of 17 players from the Bucs' final 2025 roster (including reserve lists) who could become unrestricted free agents (UFAs) on March 11. In the weeks between the Super Bowl and that kickoff to the new league year, we are taking a closer look at nine of those 17 players, examining where they are in their careers, what they have accomplished recently and what the free agency and the draft fields look like at their positions.
This is the full schedule of our 2026 Free Agent Focus rundown:
February 11: LB Lavonte David
February 13: WR Mike Evans
February 18: DL Logan Hall
February 20: TE Ko Kieft
February 25: RB Rachaad White
February 27: CB Jamel Dean
March 4: WR Sterling Shepard
March 5: TE Cade Otton
March 6: OLB Haason Reddick
This list is subject to change based on potential roster moves prior to the start of free agency. However, we continue this week with a wideout who proved over the past two seasons that he still had fuel left in the tank.
Player: Cade Otton
Position: Tight End
Age at the Start of the 2026 Season: 27
Experience: Entering fifth NFL season
How Acquired: Drafted in the fourth round (106th overall) of the 2022 NFL Draft out of Washington. The Buccaneers acquired the pick, which was the first one in the round, in an earlier trade with the Jaguars in which they moved down from pick number 27 to pick number 33.
Previous Contract(s): In 2022, Otton signed the standard four-year contract that all players drafted in Rounds 2-7 receive, a pact he completed in 2025.
Rank in Pro Football Focus Top 250 NFL Free Agents for 2026: 181st. PFF excerpt: "Otton has played 3,951 snaps over the last four seasons, the second-most among tight ends. His availability hasn't necessarily correlated with individual success, compiling a 59.7 overall PFF grade with a 58.7 PFF receiving grade. Otton's best usage may be in pass protection, as his 71.3 PFF pass-blocking grade was the sixth-highest among qualified tight ends in 2025."
2025 Performance: With a rash of injuries at the wide receiver position, Otton stepped up and hauled in 59 passes, second on the team behind rookie Emeka Egbuka, for 527 yards and one score. That was almost an identical stat line to what he accomplished in 2024, when the Bucs also had injury issues at receiver and Otton hauled in 59 passes for 600 yards and four scores. While Otton's touchdowns dropped this past season after he had four in each of the previous two campaigns, it's worth noting that he was the only Tampa Bay tight end to find the end zone in 2025. He also accounted for all but three of the receptions made by Buccaneer tight ends.
Otton's offensive snap percentage was 93%, marking the third straight year he came in at 92% or higher. He had his most prolific pass-catching stretch in the middle of the season when Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and Jalen McMillan were all sidelined by injuries. In four games from Weeks Six to 10, Otton caught 25 passes for 238 yards, with a high point of nine receptions for 82 yards against the Patriots. Otton also finished the season on a high note, catching seven passes for 94 yards and a touchdown in a must-win game against Carolina in Week 18.
Career Accomplishments: In his first four NFL seasons, Otton played 63 games and started 58 of them, including 11 starts as a rookie in 2022. He has compiled 207 catches on 300 targets for 2,018 yards (9.7 avg.) and 11 touchdowns. Of his 207 receptions, 108 have resulted in first downs. He has a career catch rate of 69.0% and a yards-per-target rate of 6.7.
Otton has also played in all four of the Bucs' playoff games in that span, starting all four as well. He has 19 postseason interceptions for 244 yards and one touchdown. Much of that production came during an impressive two-game playoff stretch in 2023 when he snared 13 passes for 154 yards and a score.
Among tight ends, Otton ranks fifth in team history in receptions behind Jimmie Giles, Cameron Brate, Kellen Winslow Jr. and Ron Hall. He is within 13 receptions of moving up to third on that list. He has one career 100-yard receiving game so far, an eight-catch, 100-yard outing against Baltimore in 2024.
Other Potential Free Agent Tight Ends: Kyle Pitts (Falcons), Dallas Goedert (Eagles), Isaiah Likely (Ravens), David Njoku (Browns), Travis Kelce (Chiefs), Chig Okonkwo (Titans), Darren Waller (Dolphins), Austin Hooper (Patriots), Charlie Kolar (Ravens), Tyler Higbee (Rams), Noah Fant (Bengals), Zach Ertz (Commanders), Foster Moreau (Saints)
Top Tight End Prospects in 2026 NFL Draft: Kenyon Sadiq (Oregon), Eli Stowers (Vanderbilt), Max Klare (Ohio State), Jack Endries (Texas), Michael Trigg (Baylor), Justin Joly (North Carolina State), Sam Roush (Stanford), Marlin Klein (Michigan), Josh Cuevas (Alabama), Nate Boerkircher (Texas A&M), Joe Royer (Cincinnati), Eli Raridon (Notre Dame)
