Cade Otton — Week 1: Three Catches, Two Misses, and a False Start
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Monday, Sep 14
Otton caught three of five targets for twenty-six yards — thirteen, ten and three — and the two incompletions were a second-and-fourteen throw over the middle in the first quarter and a deep ball down the left side in the third that was followed by a sack. He was third on the team in targets and his false start on the first snap of the second quarter turned first and ten into first and fifteen, in a 33–27 loss to the Bengals.
When Cade Otton's week moves the numbers, you'll know — every episode, in one weekly email.
The full episode, in writing
Cade Otton's two biggest catches Sunday came in the last half-minute of the first quarter and the last two minutes of the second. With 28 seconds left in the first, first and 10 at the Tampa Bay 45, Baker Mayfield threw short right and Otton took it 13 yards to the Cincinnati 42, a first down worth +0.9 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position. With two minutes left in the half, first and 10 at the Cincinnati 20, Buccaneers down 21 to three, 10 more yards to the 10, pushed out of bounds, and on the next snap Bucky Irving scored.
Between those two catches was the false start. The first snap of the second quarter should have been first and 10 at the Cincinnati 42; Otton moved, and it became first and 15 at the 47. Tampa Bay got to the 12 anyway, on a 12-yard catch by Emeka Egbuka and two Cincinnati penalties, and then Mayfield fumbled at the four.
The line: five targets, three catches, 26 yards, no touchdowns, −0.1 on the targets. The two incompletions were second and 14 at the Tampa Bay 25 with five 41 left in the first, short middle, 14 yards in the air; and second and six at the Cincinnati 24 with four 34 left in the third, deep left, 19 in the air, followed by a nine-yard sack that turned a field-goal range drive into a 51-yard field goal. The third catch was three yards on second and two from the Cincinnati 12 with three 54 left, a first down on the drive that ended in Mayfield's touchdown run.
He sat third among Buccaneers in targets — seven to Irving, six to Egbuka, five to Otton, four to Chris Godwin, three to Ted Hurst — and none of his five came on third down. Two of the five came after halftime, when Tampa Bay threw 11 times. In June the preview's read was a TE25 built on efficiency more than volume, with 91 percent availability. Sunday gave five targets and 26 yards, which is a small enough sample that it means little either way. Tampa Bay is home to the Browns on Sunday the twentieth, and the thing to watch is whether five targets is the number or the floor.
_Data via nflverse._
When Cade Otton's week moves the numbers, you'll know — every episode, in one weekly email.
Keep going