As Joni Mitchell once sang, "Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you got till it's gone?" Some fans of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers may have experienced that sensation in late September of last season when tight end Ko Kieft was placed on season-ending injured reserve due to a broken leg he suffered in a win over the New York Jets.
Kieft did not have a single reception when his 2025 campaign came to a premature end, and in fact had only been targeted one team in his last 20 games. If anything, he was most visible on special teams, where he was one of the Buccaneers' top performers and a rugged tackler.
And yet, when it was revealed that Kieft was done for the season, the reactions from his teammates and coaches made it clear that they did know what they had before it was gone, and that was a critical part of the offense.
Here's what quarterback Baker Mayfield had to say about it (and the loss of guard Cody Mauch a week earlier): "Offensively, [he is] a tone setter, he is always the a**hole. [He is] touching you until the whistle is blown and somebody is pulling you off. When you have a guy like that -- and Cody was like that too for us -- we are going to have guys step up and do that, because we want to have our identity as being smart and tough, but also physical ball. We lost two guys for the year that have done that for us. We are going to have to have guys step up and set that tone for us."
Added Head Coach Todd Bowles: "He was probably our toughest player [or] one of our toughest three players on the team because he was our tone-setter. We've got to do things differently [now]."
Even former Offensive Coordinator Josh Grizzard took the news hard: "I think you can't replace Ko from who he is as a human being. I mean, he's an enforcer. I look at Payne [Durham] a lot of the same way, where those guys are willing to do the dirty work. You're not going to replace him from a schematic standpoint on what he can bring in terms of his ability on certain things versus what Payne and what Cade [Otton] and those guys can do."
So Kieft was more important to the offense than most of us outside the locker room realized, at least in 2025. Now Buccaneers brass will have to decide how important it is to keep him around for 2026 and beyond because he is headed towards free agent status for the first time.
Kieft is one of 17 players from the Bucs' final 2025 roster and 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 in the coming weeks. However, we continue this week with a player who clearly has endeared himself to his teammates over the past four seasons.
Player: Ko Kieft
Position: Tight End
Age at the Start of the 2026 Season: 28
Experience: Entering fifth NFL season
How Acquired: Drafted in the sixth round (218th overall) of the 2022 NFL Draft out of Minnesota. The Buccaneers traded two seventh-round picks (numbers 235 and 261) to the Los Angeles Rams to get the pick used to select Kieft.
Previous Contract(s): In 2022, Kieft 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
2025 Performance: As noted, Kieft's play this past season didn't last far into the season. He suffered the leg fracture while blocking on an offensive play with 3:17 left in the Week Three contest against the Jets. He walked off the field on his own and remained on the sideline, pacing and reportedly asking to re-enter the game, until it's conclusion.
Prior to the injury, Kieft had already contributed two tackles in kick coverage against the Jets while playing 75% of the team's 32 special teams snaps. He finished his 2025 season with three tackles in three games. Overall, Kieft was on the field for 14% of the team's offensive snaps in those three games, while also being one of the team's busiest special-teamers with 77% of the snaps.
Career Accomplishments: Prior to last season, Kieft had been a consistent presence on the field for the Buccaneers, missing just one of 51 games over his first three years with the team and logging a total of 19 starts. The majority of his pass-catching production so far came during his rookie campaign, when he started 12 games and caught seven passes on 10 targets for 80 yards and a touchdown. Five of his seven receptions that season produced first downs.
That 2022 season was also the one in which Kieft had his largest role on offense, logging 265 snaps. He had another 207 offensive snaps in 2023 and caught one pass, though that one reception did produce a touchdown. Kieft's special teams play percentage never dipped below 60% in any of his four seasons. He has also produced 24 kick-coverage tackles in that span, with a career-high 11 stops as a rookie.
Other Potential Free Agent Interior Defensive Linemen: 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 Interior Defensive Line 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)
