Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end Cade Otton picked the perfect time to have his best game of the 2025 season. With the Buccaneers needing a win to keep their playoff hopes alive, Otton caught seven of his nine targets for 94 yards and a touchdown in Saturday's rain-soaked 16-14 victory over the NFC South rival Carolina Panthers.
"He did a great job," said Head Coach Todd Bowles. "With the conditions, it was that type of game; you really couldn't get it outside much -- in the first half especially, it rained continuously. He did a heck of a job on the boots and made some key catches for us. He did a good job."
Otton opened the scoring for the Bucs just over five minutes into the game. Quarterback Baker Mayfield found Otton running up the seam and rifled a pass to the fourth-year tight end, who lowered his shoulder to fend off an oncoming safety and cross the goal line.
The 18-yard score was Otton's first touchdown of the season, and the Bucs wouldn't relinquish the lead the rest of the way.
But Mayfield didn't stop looking for his tight end after the first drive. Just before halftime, a scrambling Mayfield found Otton standing all alone near the sideline for a 22-yard pickup to get the Bucs into field goal range just before halftime, giving them a 13-7 lead. Otton played a role on the next scoring drive as well, drawing a 13-yard pass interference call to put the Bucs in kicker Chase McLaughlin's range.
But it was Otton's last catch of the day that might have been his most important. After a Panthers score narrowed the Bucs' lead to two, Mayfield and company got the ball back with around two-and-a-half minutes left and all three timeouts in their opponents' pockets.
A pair of three-yard runs left the Bucs facing a 3rd-and-4 from their own 35 with just over two minutes to play. Mayfield rolled right off of play action and found Otton in the flat. The 6-5 tight end weaved his way through the Panthers' defense to pick up the first down and another 16 yards for good measure. The third-down conversion allowed the Bucs to run another minute and a half off the clock before a Riley Dixon punt pinned the visitors at their own 3-yard-line with under 20 seconds remaining.
"Each and every week, I try to be ready when the ball comes my way, and if it doesn't, I just do my job in other places," said Otton. "This game I ended up with some more production in the pass game but I'm just really happy to get the win."
Otton left the field Saturday with the second-most yards he's recorded in a game in his career – his career-high came in a 100-yard performance against the Baltimore Ravens in 2024.
The University of Washington product finishes the regular season with 572 yards and the one score. His 59 catches on the year match his previous career-high, which he set last season.
