Cade Otton Suffers Drop In Fantasy Football Tight End Rankings Amid Leg Injury

Todd Bowles reports that Cade Otton is dealing with further injury issues, causing a potential week one absence.

Dec 1, 2024; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end Cade Otton (88) is tackled by Carolina Panthers cornerback Chau Smith-Wade (26) in overtime at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

Tampa Bay Buccaneers starting tight end, Cade Otton, is now set to miss some time with a recent stack up of lower-body injuries. As for fantasy football implications, this is massive news. As Otton now has multiple lingering issues, he may not just miss week one, but it could linger all season long. This dramatically adjusts the tight end outlook for fantasy drafting, as well as the Buccaneers passing game.

Buccaneers TE Cade Otton could miss season opener vs. Falcons with leg injuryhttps://t.co/1ZobkWzsbm pic.twitter.com/W8H6yNcOFh

— Around The NFL (@AroundTheNFL) August 27, 2025

Injury Analysis

Back in July, Cade Otton began to deal with a mild hamstring injury. Thought nothing considered serious, this injury is of the soft-tissue type, and those will always linger. Of course, it has lingered as it has been bothering Otton all august.

Now, Cade Otton is reported to be dealing with an unclarified leg injury. Per Todd Bowles, Otton will miss "some time" which is pretty bad coach speak. In my experience, "some time" probably does not mean one week, it means a soft-tissue matter that will probably linger, and it would be about treatment and pain tolerance. NFL players cannot rip pain shots pregame like they used to. This will be a problem.

Fantasy Football Impact - Buccaneers Offense

This injury impacts fantasy football in multiple ways. The first will be internally with the Buccaneers passing offense. In 2024, Cade Otton saved many fantasy managers with his surge of excellence off of waivers. In 14 games, Cade Otton Otton had 87 targets for 59 catches, 600 yards and 4 touchdowns. With Chris Godwin's injury, Cade Otton was looking at being the third receiving option in a surging offense.

As Cade Otton now may miss time, this actually benefits his counterparts. His 15% target share is now to be spread around between Mike Evans, Emeka Egbuka, and Chris Godwin, if healthy. More opportunity equals more upside, especially for the rookie phenom, Emeka Egbuka. He very well may be a fantasy football WR1 on rosters by October. I cannot see a world where he should have a target share under 25% at this rate.

Fantasy Football Impact - Drafting

Currently, Cade Otton is being drafted as the T23 in fantasy. This is likely already a devalue due to his hamstring issue. Regardless, he has not been a huge tight end commodity, which is good. However, Otton has been a handcuff tight end of many rosters. I love to draft tight end handcuffs. As you have backups at RB and WR, why not TE? I would hate that Otton is my backup, if applicable.

Luckily, tight ends run deep in fantasy this year. I would pivot quickly to perhaps get another handcuff once Otton is IR eligible. My best targets are: Mason Taylor, Jonnu Smith, Brenton Strange, Hunter Henry.

Cade Otton is now our TE29 in Standard Scoring, TE30 in Half-PPR, and TE-28 in PPR scoring. This drops him out of our top 25 and near undraftable in most leagues. If Cade Otton gets fully healthy, he could be a later season waiver wire pickup, but I would avoid him currently. This is another example of why you should not draft in fantasy until within days of the season kickoff.