Cade Otton — Week 2: Six Targets, Thirty-Eight Yards
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Monday, Sep 21
Otton caught five of six targets for 38 yards and one first down, a 13-yard catch first ruled incomplete and reversed on a Tampa Bay challenge. He fumbled after a three-yard catch in the second quarter and recovered it himself. Six targets was second on the team behind Ted Hurst's seven, and none came inside the 20, in a 23–19 loss to the Browns.
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16 to nine, Buccaneers, three 39 left in the third quarter, first and 10 at the Tampa Bay 29. Baker Mayfield threw short right to Cade Otton and the pass was ruled incomplete. Tampa Bay challenged, and the ruling was reversed: a catch, 13 yards, to the 42. +0.7 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — and the only first down on his line. The drive went backwards from there, a five-yard loss on a run and two deep incompletions, and three plays after the punt Cleveland had tied the game.
The line: six targets, five catches, 38 yards, one first down, −1.5 expected points on his targets. The catches went nine, three, nine, 13 four. The first nine came on third and 13 at midfield on the opening drive, four yards short, and Tampa Bay kicked a 59-yard field goal. The three was second and eight at the Tampa Bay 46 with six 30 left in the second quarter: the ball came out at the end of it, Otton recovered it himself at the 49, and Cleveland challenged the ruling of a catch and lost. The second nine was second and 10 at the Cleveland 27 on the touchdown drive that opened the second half. The four was the first snap of the final drive. The incompletion was second and 10 at the Tampa Bay 17 with a minute 53 left in the first quarter, deep right, 22 yards in the air. Three targets before halftime, three after.
Six targets was second on the team behind Ted Hurst's seven, ahead of Emeka Egbuka's five. None of the six came inside the Cleveland 20, where Tampa Bay ran 13 plays, counting one snapped from the 20 itself.
Back in June the preview made no call on Otton: 81 targets and one touchdown last season, a price that matched the production, and red-zone targets as the thing to watch in September. Week 1 was five targets for 26 yards, and the question it left was whether five was the number or the floor. Sunday says floor, by one. Through two games he has 11 targets, tied with Egbuka and Bucky Irving for the most on the team. The volume the preview called sticky is there. The red-zone half was empty this week. Two games settle little. Tampa Bay is home to the Vikings on Sunday the 20-seventh.
_Data via nflverse._
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