Coming into training camp, one of the most highly watched and contested battles for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was at the left guard spot. The Bucs brought in two free agents in Ben Bredeson, who played with the Giants last season, and Sua Opeta, who was with the Eagles. While it appeared early on it was Opeta’s job to lose, Bredeson was starting to make up ground, and by the end of mandatory minicamp, Bredeson had seemed to pull ahead.
Fast forward to the start of training camp, and it was Bredeson getting the go-ahead with the first unit to start practice. And while Opeta would also get his chance to get reps with the ones, it seemed like he had a lot of ground to make up. However, that was before the pads came on, and that’s really when the competition along the offensive line was going to heat up. Or so the Bucs thought.
Tragically, in the second padded practice of the season, Opeta suffered an injury during practice that after MRI results was revealed to be a season-ending ACL tear. The injury meant that by default Bredeson had won the competition and was set to be the Bucs starting guard for the season. However, it was bittersweet for the veteran offensive linemen.
“It’s terrible losing a teammate to injury, and especially during training camp,” Bredeson said. “We’ve been working with Sua since OTAs. We’ve been spending hundreds of hours together and to see him go down like that is terrible. You don’t want that for anybody, especially for the season and for our room. We just want him to get healthy and it’s tough for our room.”
While losing a player is tough, especially for an offensive line room that might be one of the most tight-knit rooms on the team, Bredeson has been enjoying getting to know his fellow linemates on and off the field.
“It’s an awesome room off the field,” Bredeson said. “It’s a great group of guys to hang out with. We spend however many hours here during the day, then go back to the hotel and we’re all hanging out in each other’s rooms anyway. We’re doing a lot off the field. Like I said, it’s a great, great room to be a part of.”
That camaraderie has Bredeson excited for what the offensive line can accomplish this year. The Bucs have done a good job inserting athletic linemen into the starting lineup, which will hopefully pay dividends in the run game this season.
“I’m very excited for this line this year,” Bredeson said. “I think there’s certainly a lot of athleticism on it, and like we talked about earlier, the cohesion that everyone’s kind of getting at, that only helps you on the field as well. It’s going to be an exciting year and I’m really looking forward to seeing what we can do as a group.”
It’s not just the line that excites Bredeson, the concept of playing in offensive coordinator Liam Coen’s offense has him excited as well.
“I’m a big fan of it, and that’s not just the company line,” Bredeson said. “That’s a personal statement. The way that you can attack the defense in multiple different ways with moving guys around, creating different running angles and being able to stretch the defense, then cut it back inside or get around the edge. There [are] so many different things you can do from a running-the-ball perspective. It’s very intriguing. There [are] different variations we’re installing all the time to try to make it as good as we can. It’s genuinely an exciting offense to run.”
The Bucs finished last in rushing the previous two seasons and are hoping the additions of Bredeson and rookie center Graham Barton will lead to a turnaround in Coen’s new offensive scheme. The cohesion and continuity they are building here in camp will go a long way in hopefully turning around the Buccaneers’ rushing attack this season.
