The Buccaneers have invested heavily in keeping their core together, and three of the players carrying some of the biggest contracts on the roster entered Week 1 with high expectations. Baker Mayfield, Vita Vea, and Cade Otton all played significant roles against the Bengals, but their performances looked much different in Tampa Bay's 33-27 loss.
Mayfield had the most complicated afternoon of the three. He completed 23 of 28 passes for 216 yards, completing more than 82 percent of his attempts and finishing with a 98.8 passer rating. He also added 30 rushing yards and scored a touchdown on the ground. But Mayfield lost three fumbles, two coming on sacks and another while scrambling with Tampa Bay threatening to score. Cincinnati scored 24 points
off the Bucs' four turnovers, making Mayfield's mistakes difficult to overlook despite everything else he did well.
Vea's afternoon was much quieter. After signing a one-year, $30 million extension during the offseason, Vea opened the season without recording a tackle or sack. Cincinnati also ran for 106 yards as a team, although it averaged just 3.9 yards per carry. Vea's impact has never been completely measured by the box score because of the attention he commands inside, but Tampa Bay will still be looking for more disruptive plays from its highest-paid defensive lineman. The Bucs managed only one sack of Joe Burrow despite spending the offseason rebuilding their defensive front.
Otton had a more productive day statistically, even if he wasn't a major part of the passing game. The veteran tight end caught three of his five targets for 26 yards, averaging 8.7 yards per reception. With Tampa Bay spreading the football around to Bucky Irving and a deep group of receivers, Otton wasn't asked to carry a large receiving workload. But Otton dropped another perfectly thrown ball that would have moved the chains for a first down, a trend that has plagued him. It's only week one, but the Bucs have made major financial commitments to their core to keep them together. For a team built around retaining its own players, how its highest-paid core performs will remain worth watching as the season develops.
This article originally appeared on Bucs Wire: Bucs biggest contracts in offseason start season slow
