The Tampa Bay Buccaneers gained praise for picking Duke offensive lineman Graham Barton with the 26th overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft.
Most of the praise was for Barton’s flexibility — something the Buccaneers will test right away.
Tampa Bay's new offensive coordinator Liam Coen discussed making a position switch official for Barton with The Tampa Bay Times’ Rick Stroud . Barton, who spent most of his college career as a left offensive tackle, will now play center.
“We’ll start (Barton) off at center and see how he does,” Coen said. “There’s a lot of communication and things with the quarterback and the rest of the team. We’ll see how that goes, but we think he can handle it. If not, we’ll move him to guard and give him a chance there.”
Barton, 6-foot-5 and 313 pounds, played five games at center for Duke in 2020 due to an injury before starting 34 consecutive games as a left offensive tackle.
Tampa Bay Overcame Issues with Center in 2023
OurLads.com has already named Barton as the starting center for the Buccaneers, which is no surprise to those who closely watched Tampa Bay’s offensive line.
Robert Hainsey has started every regular season game for the Buccaneers at center in the last two seasons — 34 straight starts — and had one of the lowest grades in the NFL at his position in 2023.
According to PFF, Hainsey had 9 penalties in 2023, the second-most in the league at center, and his 4 sacks allowed were tied for eighth in the league.
Hainsey had a low grade of 52.8 percent for the entire season.
The two centers who made the NFL All-Pro Team in 2023 had grades over 80 percent: Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles (80.7 percent) and Frank Ragnow of the Detroit Lions (88.8 percent).
PFF’s Gordon McGuinness considered Tampa Bay as having one of the most improved offensive lines in the NFL after the draft.
“The choice of Duke’s Graham Barton in the first round is not just good because of his excellent college performance, where he earned an 88.7 PFF grade over the past two seasons, ranking fifth among FBS tackles,” wrote McGuinness. “It's also good because of his versatility. Barton played center early in college and will likely play inside for the Buccaneers; he is comfortable wherever he plays.”
Barton’s Role with Bucs Wasn’t Completely Certain
Good Morning Football’s Peter Schrager, who correctly predicted Barton to the Buccaneers at No. 26 in his final mock draft, had Barton listed as simply “OL” but indicated he could play various positions.
As the 26th overall pick, Barton will get a 4-year, $14 million rookie contract.
“Tampa may have had the best offseason of any team in the league so far, keeping many key players from last year’s Divisional Round team,” Schrager wrote. “The offensive line still needs improvement, though. Barton played tackle and center at Duke — he could play either in the NFL.”
