The last of the Bucs’ 2022 draft picks have been officially signed

The Tampa Bay Bucs have officially announced the signing of fourth round pick Cade Otton, a tight end out of Washington. Otton was the last of the 2022 Bucs draft class to sign, following Logan Hall’s signing late Thursday night.

Otton, 6’5” 247lbs, missed a lot of the pre-draft workouts and the Bucs’ mini-camps and OTAs due to injury but he has been officially cleared to participate in training camp, which will begin on Wednesday.

Per the Bucs’ press release;

Otton (6-5, 247) spent five collegiate seasons at Washington (2017-21), appearing in 39 games, recording 91 receptions for 1,026 yards and nine touchdowns. Otton earned first-team All-Pac-12 honors for his performance during the 2020 season, in addition to being named one of the eight semifinalists for the 2020 John Mackey Award – given annually to college football’s top tight end.

Also, according to the press release, the Bucs might just be leaving the door open for a Rob Gronkowski return with Otton wearing number 88, rather than the 87 he wore in college and the number Gronk has worn for the last two years for the Bucs.

Otton will have an uphill climb to usurp Cameron Brate as the number one tight end and now the Bucs have added former Minnesota Viking and New York Giant Kyle Rudolph who is in the top five of multiple tight end stats since 1992 – including receptions, yards, touchdowns, and catch rate percentage.

Otton will join Brate, Rudolph, fellow 2022 draft class member Ko Kieft, Codey McElroy, Ben Beise, and J.J. Howland when camp kicks off on July 27.