The Bucs’ offensive line was generally considered a top-five unit in the NFL in 2024 but it was derailed by relentless injuries last year. Center Graham Barton was the only one of the expected starters to play more than 12 games in 2025 and the returning five from that outstanding 2024 campaign did not end up playing a single offensive snap together. While All-Pro left tackle Tristan Wirfs is currently on the sideline with a hamstring strain, the Bucs are hopeful they’ll have that same five together for the start of the regular season. In the meantime, Robinson and that crew are trying to determine exactly what combination of schemes and plays is going to produce the best results in the ground game.<\/p>\n
“Exactly what that’s going to like once we start kicking this thing off, that’s to be determined, but we’re working everything right now,” said Robinson. “We’re kind of honing in on what we want to be truly here in a couple weeks once we reach that after the Jets practices. We’re going to hone in on what we want to be. Those guys, I can’t say enough about just the investment they’ve put in, how smart they are. It’s a great group to work with. They’re incredibly physical, feeling what it feels like in pads with some of those guys, especially in some of the pass-protection stuff as well. It’s a firm group up front. It’s been great working with those guys and I’m looking forward to just continue building, getting reps and figuring out where we’re going.”<\/p>\n
A return to 2024 form with some added conceptual wrinkles could lead to a huge improvement in the team’s ground output in 2026 after it dropped to 21st in the league last fall. In addition to getting the blocking front back together, the Bucs now have a fully-healthy Bucky Irving, who was a sensation in the backfield as a rookie in 2024 before he too was knocked back by injuries in his second season. The Bucs also added running back Kenneth Gainwell in free agency after he racked up career highs in Pittsburgh last year with 73 catches and 1,023 yards from scrimmage.<\/p>\n
“Bucky is a stud,” said Robinson. “Watching him in ’24 \u2013 explosive play waiting to happen. He’s just got such a great attitude, great spirit about him. He’s a team guy, always has a smile on his face, so just the person has been cool to get to know him. I’m still getting to know a lot of these guys. We only had so much time in the spring. Kind of just feeling the personalities of these guys out. Bucky’s been great, and obviously the talent speaks for itself. The way that he runs the football his feet are always on the ground so he’s always able to change directions, and obviously that keeps him so balanced to break tackles. The versatility he has in the pass game, run game \u2013 he’s done a great job. It’s been a blast seeing him cut some of these runs.”<\/p>\n
Irving’s greatest talent is stacking moves and making defenders whiff on their tackles, and that becomes a much more potent weapon when the line can spring him quickly into the open field. Robinson thinks the Bucs have the men capable of doing just that, and it doesn’t matter what the scheme is.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Bucs’ offensive line was generally considered a top-five unit in the NFL in 2024 but it was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":362926,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[128669,589,135,137,136,15949],"class_list":["post-362925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-2026-training-camp","tag-featured","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-zac-robinson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=362925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362925\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/362926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=362925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=362925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=362925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}