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2012 roster: Luke Stocker, Dallas Clark, Danny Noble, Nate Byham
2013 roster: Luke Stocker, Tom Crabtree, Nate Byham, Danny Noble, Zach Miller
Advantage: 2012
Well, two consecutive years of a steaming pile of ostrich leavings at tight end makes for stagnation. The Bucs have done very little to improve at tight end, and it's clearly the weakest position. They then let their most productive receiving tight end walk, although Dallas Clark wasn't all that valuable last year.
Signing Tom Crabtree may turn out to have been a stroke of genius, but it's hard to place much faith in a player whose career is more defined by his Twitter account than his on-field exploits. Crabtree could double his 302 receiving yards this season and still be less valuable than Dallas Clark was.
If the Bucs are to get more than pure, unbridled mediocrity out of this group of tight ends they need their young players to improve. And boy do they have a lot of them: Luke Stocker, Nate Byham, Danny Noble, Zach Miller -- all largely inexperienced players who have some talent and could turn into better players this year. Or. they could bomb. Because that's what players do, sometimes.
So, are the Bucs better now? It doesn't look like it to me. What do you think?
Previously: Quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers
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