Expect to See More Three Tight End Sets

Bucs head coach Dirk Koetter is an innovative offensive mind, allowing him to take advantages of mismatches. The Bucs displayed multiple formations on offense last season and one of the more successful ones was the three tight end sets which feature one Wr and one Rb along with three tight ends. This allowed the Bucs to attack certain matchups against the opposing defenses and created unpredictability on offense. It did two things as it gave the Bucs numbers in the run game and if they wanted to pass out of it, it provided max protection or mismatches in the passing game with the versatility of the Bucs tight ends. Here is just one example in how it allows Doug Martin to get one on one matchups in the running game which he will win most of the time.

The Bucs lined up in a three tight end bunch formation with Evans the lone receiver on the top of the screen with Martin as the single back. This is well designed play as the tight ends and the line downblocks allowing Martin to go against the strong side corner one on one, and Martin easily blows by him and its solid gain of 15 yards. Expect to see more of this in 2016 with a mix of run and pass taking advantage of the Bucs deep tight end group. With ASJ, Brate, Stocker, and rookie Dan Vitale the Bucs have guys capable to take advantage of the matchups that they will get in these formations. Balance will be the focal point again for the offense in 2016, and this formation is one that we could see quite often as it can be very effective.