National Football League

Bucs TE Cade Otton making last-minute, go-ahead touchdowns his specialty

Published Dec. 12, 2023 10:22 a.m. ET

Cade Otton is an elite NFL procrastinator.

When it comes to touchdowns, Sunday was another example of him waiting until the very last minute.

Otton caught an 11-yard score from quarterback Baker Mayfield with 31 seconds left, giving the Bucs the lead on the way to a crucial 29-25 win over the Falcons that put them back in first place in the NFC South.

And that's early by Otton's standards.

Last year, his first NFL touchdown came from Tom Brady with nine seconds left, giving the Bucs a 16-13 comeback win over the Rams. And earlier this year against Houston, Otton caught a touchdown from Mayfield with 41 seconds left to take the lead, only to see the Texans march down the field to beat the Bucs on a comeback of their own.

With three touchdown catches in the final minute of games, Otton has the most in the NFL since his arrival last season. Only four other players have even two, and only two of their eight scores actually gave their team the lead.

"Cade's always going to be where you expect him to be," coach Todd Bowles said. "He's never going to be out of position. He's always going to run the right route. He's always got sure hands and he's always going to do what he is supposed to do. You know where to find him if somebody is in trouble. You know where to find him, you know he's pretty reliable, and he has a good catch radius. He's become very reliable."

And when opposing defenses try to take away Bucs receivers Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, that often leaves Otton comparably unattended. On Sunday, he got ahead of Falcons safety Richie Grant, and Mayfield threw a perfect pass, dropping right in to Otton for an over-the-shoulder catch as he ran to the back-left corner of the end zone.

"I saw the press and I just knew they weren't going to pay attention to Otton," Mayfield said. "He did a great job with his release, winning at the line of scrimmage, so good they had to hold him on his way out, but we didn't need that. He made a great play in the back of the end zone."

As niche roles go, "Last-Minute Touchdown to Win Guy" is a nice one to carve out for yourself. Otton has six career touchdowns, which is to say he has as many in the final minute of games as he does in the first 59 minutes of games. And, not to sell him short, one of the others was a touchdown with three minutes left, down 13 to the Saints last year, to set up another Brady touchdown with three seconds left for another comeback win.

Otton came to the Bucs last year as a fourth-round pick out of Washington, stepping into the big shoes of Rob Gronkowski, who had just retired. He was the fifth of 19 tight ends drafted last year, but he ranks second in catches and touchdowns — he has six touchdowns and the four tight ends drafted ahead of him have combined for eight.

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He now has 40 catches for 364 yards this season, needing just two receptions and 27 yards in the final four games to match his output from his rookie year. And while Otton tends to wait until the last minute to score touchdowns, the Bucs have him on the field plenty. His 822 snaps are the most of any NFL tight end this season, at least 90% in every game and literally every snap in three of those.

Otton's catch and Sunday's win have the Bucs in a three-way tie for first place in the NFC South, with the tiebreaker over the Falcons and Saints, who are also 6-7. That puts the Bucs in front, but they might need to win all four of their remaining games — including this week at the Packers — to pull off a third straight division title. To win like they did Sunday in the final minute shows the toughness of a young team still finding itself, and Otton's lesson is that it's never too late.

"It shows the grit and belief in our team," he said. "We're going to keep getting better. We know we left a lot of plays out there, but to be able to learn those lessons in a win is awesome."

Greg Auman is FOX Sports' NFC South reporter, covering the Buccaneers, Falcons, Panthers and Saints. He is in his 10th season covering the Bucs and the NFL full-time, having spent time at the Tampa Bay Times and The Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter at @gregauman.