Cade

Otton

Otton saved an otherwise quiet day with a 44-yard catch on the Bucs’ final drive. He finished the team with a team-high in receiving yards and posted his best fantasy outing since Mike Evans returned to the lineup. On the other hand, Otton registered a dismal 14 percent target share and needed an improbable long grab to escape the TE3 ranks on the week. Otton has struggled to earn targets with Evans on the field and that won’t change in Week 15. He enters the fantasy playoffs as a mid-range TE2.

Otton’s seven targets tied for the second-most on the team but his is limited to TE2 status with Mike Evans back in the fold. Otton deserves credit for a hard-fought first-down pickup where he dragged a would-be tackler well past the first-down marker. Otton is a TE2 against the Raiders in Week 14.

Otton also had a drop that doesn’t show up as a target because the play was called back by penalty, anyways. We certainly don’t love to see Otton commanding only three official looks in Mike Evans’ first game in five weeks, though this was not a competitive contest. Baker Mayfield did still reach 30 attempts, however. It’s a sad reminder that Otton won’t be quite the money-printer he was during Evans’ protracted absence, but he is still a safe TE1 heading into Week 13 against the Panthers.

All of Otton’s work came before halftime in a contest where Baker Mayfield generated just 18 completions for 116 yards. Otton has taken to leading the Bucs in receiving during Chris Godwin and Mike Evans’ absences, but Evans might finally be ready to return from his hamstring injury when Tampa comes off bye in Week 12. Even if Evans is back, Otton will have enough compiling and touchdown potential to keep him in the top 10 in fantasy.

Otton was the primary point of emphasis through the air for the second consecutive week following the injuries to Chris Godwin and Mike Evans, the former of whom is out for the season while the latter is likely to return following the team’s Week 11 bye. That means fantasy managers are likely to get one more week of Otton as the lead pass-catcher when the Buccaneers play host to the 49ers in Week 10.

With Mike Evans and Chris Godwin sidelined, Otton functioned as the Bucs’ top pass-catching option and made the most of his opportunity. Otton now has 17 catches for 181 yards and two scores over his past two games and appears to be a top tight end option in the deleted Tampa offense. Baker Mayfield looks to Otton first on critical plays, including near the end zone. He has a chance to be a top three or four option in Week 9 against Kansas City.

Down 34-10 as the fourth quarter started, Otton was the hot hand against Baltimore’s prevent defense, racking up eight targets and 83 yards and getting punished heavily by Ravens defenders for the privilege. Otton would seem to be a real beneficiary of Chris Godwin’s absence going forward, and could make for an interesting waiver wire target now in our TE-starved timeline.

Otton reeled in his first touchdown of the season on a red zone strike from Baker Mayfield. The third-year tight end began the season with one catch for five yards in his first two appearances but has turned things around since then. He has 18 receptions for 158 yards over his past four games. With the Bucs staring down the barrel of a possible shootout with the Ravens next week, Otton will sit just outside of the TE1 ranks for his date with Baltimore.

Otton has now cleared 40 yards in three consecutive games after combining for 1/5/0 across Weeks 1 and 2. 3/44 doesn’t look impressive, but it came in a contest where Baker Mayfield attempted only 24 passes. Otton has done enough to establish weekly TE2 value considering the sorry state of his position. The Saints await for Week 6.

After being held without a catch in Week 2, Otton now has 13 grabs on 17 targets over the past two weeks. He has turned that volume into 99 yards. Otton is third in Tampa Bay’s pecking order for targets at best, but his recent resurgence keeps him on the TE2 radar for Week 5. Like most tight ends, it’s touchdown-or-bust for Otton versus the Falcons next week.