![\"Joe](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2263100417-e1775646701318.jpg\")
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Cincinnati tight end Joe Royer. <\/p>\n
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers<\/a> made a \u2018Meh\u2019 investment in the future of their tight end position by bringing veteran Cade Otton on a 3-year, $30 million free-agent contrac<\/a>t.<\/p>\n Dropping that kind of cash on Otton seems kind of reflective of where the Buccaneers are at right now in terms of bringing back low-performing assets from 2025 for another run in 2026 \u2013 a group that includes head coach Todd Bowles.<\/p>\n We do have some evidence that the Buccaneers are thinking about the future, including bringing University of Cincinnati tight end Joe Royer in for a Top 30 visit.<\/p>\n \u201cAnother day another 30 Visit & another TE?!!\u201d NFL reporter Jace Allen wrote<\/a> on his official X account on Tuesday. \u201cBucs are hosting Cincinnati TE Joe Royer on an official 30 visit, per sources. Royer marks the 4th TE the Bucs have brought in behind Oscar Delp, Villari, and Mas Klare. At 6\u20195, 247 he has good size and soft hands but needs work as a blocker.\u201d<\/p>\n Royer Left Big Ten Powerhouse For Bearcats<\/p>\n Royer spent the first 3 seasons of his career at Ohio State, where he was buried on the depth chart and only had 4 receptions for 24 yards and no touchdowns. He transferred to Cincinnati and had a breakout season in 2024 with 50 receptions for 521 yards and 3 touchdowns.<\/p>\n So far,\u00a0The Ringer\u2019s Todd McShay<\/a> is the only draft insider to project Royer into the first round. Royer broke 3-time Super Bowl champion tight end Travis Kelce\u2019s single-season receptions record at Cincinnati in 2024.<\/p>\n \u201cRoyer set a UC single-season record by a tight end with 50 catches in 2024,\u201d Sports Illustrated\u2019s Russ Heltman<\/a>\u00a0wrote on May 5. \u201cHe turned those into 522 receiving yards and three touchdowns. It amounted to a 65.4 overall Pro Football Focus grade across 657 snaps. His run-blocking is the biggest weakness to beef up. If Royer can improve a 52.3 PFF run-blocking grade from 2024, he very well could be selected in the first 32 picks.\u201d<\/p>\n Through the first 3 games of the 2025 season, Royer has 8 receptions for 138 yards and 2 touchdowns.<\/p>\n The Bearcats have had several tight ends drafted in the last 2 decades who went on to become\u00a0NFL<\/a>\u00a0standouts. Brent Celek was drafted by the\u00a0Philadelphia Eagles<\/a>\u00a0in the fifth round (No. 162 overall) of the\u00a02007 NFL draft<\/a>\u00a0and played all 11 of his NFL seasons there, retiring after an upset win over the\u00a0New England Patriots<\/a>\u00a0in Super Bowl LII.<\/p>\n More famously, the\u00a0Kansas City Chiefs<\/a>\u00a0drafted tight end\u00a0Travis Kelce<\/a>\u00a0in the third round (No. 63 overall) of the\u00a02013 NFL draft<\/a>. Kelce is a 7-time\u00a0NFL<\/a> All-Pro, 10-time Pro Bowler, 3-time Super Bowl champion, and one of the greatest tight ends in\u00a0NFL<\/a>\u00a0history.<\/p>\n Fans Not Happy Bucs Sticking With Cade Otton<\/p>\n Plenty of fans thought the Buccaneers would have been smart to let Otton leave in free agency and go after a different tight end on the open market, or just turn to a rookie like Royer to try and see if they\u2019re up to the task.<\/p>\n Otton was also called out for not wearing football gloves when he plays. Which is a major advantage to anyone trying to catch a football.<\/p>\n \u201cHopefully 2026 brings him a pair of gloves,\u201d\u00a0X user Doug Michael wrote.<\/a><\/p>\n \n\t\t\tTony Adame<\/a> covers the NFL for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Washington Commanders, Dallas Cowboys, Baltimore Ravens, Philadelphia Eagles and Denver Broncos. A veteran sports writer and editor since 2004, his work has been featured at Stadium Talk, Yardbarker, NW Florida Daily News and Pensacola News Journal. More about Tony Adame<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Buccaneers\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Cincinnati tight end Joe Royer. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers made a \u2018Meh\u2019 investment in the future of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":860828,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2077],"tags":[211,7,6,704,250,2597,2596],"class_list":{"0":"post-860827","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa-bay-buccaneers","8":"tag-buccaneers","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-tampa-bay","12":"tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers","13":"tag-tampabay","14":"tag-tampabaybuccaneers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116369013338074964","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=860827"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860827\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/860828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=860827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=860827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=860827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}