Could Sua Opeta Be A Starting Option For Bucs?

Opeta’s best strength could be … well, his strength.

Seeing those 39 bench press reps on a RAS card is one thing but watching him do it is quite the other.

The Eagles signed Opeta as an undrafted free agent, and after spending a year on their practice squad he spent the past four on their active roster. Over that time period he has played in 33 games while starting nine of them. Opeta has experience at both guard spots but has not played any center, and has extremely limited snaps at tackle.

The Bucs have likely signed him to compete for the currently open left guard spot with the option to make him the primary backup to both guard spots if he does not come away victorious in a likely camp battle.

In his four years with Philadelphia Opeta played just under 1,000 snaps. His best season, according to Pro Football Focus, was a 163-snap 2021 season when he earned a 74.1 overall grade from the site largely on the back of a 77.2 run block grade.

Last year, Opeta saw the most action of his career with six starts and 528 total snaps. He earned a 53.2 overall grade from PFF with a 50.5 run block grade and a 57.9 pass block grade. That pass block grade was the best of his career. Over his four years he has posted a 95.3 pass block efficiency rate while allowing 44 pressures, 34 hurries and five sacks over 547 pass block reps.

Scouting Report For New Bucs Guard Sua Opeta

Sua Opeta’s strength is his greatest asset not just in the gym, but also on the field.

After watching Robert Hainsey and Aaron Stinnie both struggle against power/strength last year, it appears the Bucs brass want to find more of an enforcer type with Opeta. His grip strength and lower half power translate into a powerful man who can dictate the point of attack and drive opposing defenders backwards.

You can see it in the clip below as he combines his upper and lower-half power to drive the 3-technique to the second level.

He can also plant and anchor in this next clip.

Pass Protection

Sua Opeta’s kept a pretty stable pass block grade over his career, but it’s not a great one. His strength gives him a good base skillset to handle power, and as long as his opponent is trying to go through him, Opeta holds up well. He even earned the praise of Brian Baldinger in a game against the Rams and the recently retired, future first-ballot Hall of Famer Aaron Donald.

But there are cracks in the armor with Opeta. And the Bucs will need to figure out quickly if they feel comfortable leaving him on an island with more agile athletes. He is susceptible to guys crossing his face and can get into trouble against more finesse rushers.

To me it looks like he prefers a straight up bar fight face-to-face. But when opponents start to reduce surface area, shoot gaps, or try to make Opeta defend on a horizontal plain, the lack of agility becomes an issue, and he struggles.

Opeta’s career 95.3 pass block efficiency rate is worse than Matt Feiler’s 97.4 and Aaron Stinnie’s 96.2 marks last year. And before anyone says him potentially playing next to Tristan Wirfs should naturally improve his pass blocking, please bear in mind he is coming from an environment where he was playing next to both a Top 10 left tackle in Jordan Mailota and one of the best centers to ever lace them up in Jason Kelce.

Environment was not an issue and shouldn’t be considered an opportunity when projecting him forward.

Run Blocking

I like Sua Opeta as a run blocker and I think this combined with his overall strength profile is a big reason why the Bucs pursued him over some of their internal options. He has an obvious pedigree, despite less-than-ideal-grades coming from Philadelphia. The Eagles have had one of the best run games in the NFL for several seasons.

But beyond that he shows several attributes that the Bucs likely saw as positives. In addition to his power, he showed really good ability to time up double teams, which is an area Tampa Bay struggled in last year.

What’s interesting with Opeta is that while I believe he is a much better blocker in a gap scheme, his grading has been nearly identical in each concept over his limited playtime. Still his inconsistent footwork make him more of a liability in a stretch zone scheme and that he can be much better suited for a gap-based scheme.

That’s not to say he can’t be used on the move. Opeta is a solid puller and can use his power as a mobile weapon when he can target well.

I’m Still Out On Sua Opeta As the Bucs Starting Left Guard

I like the signing as I think he’s going to be an upgrade over Aaron Stinnie as a run blocker, and I think there is room for him to grow as a pass protector. But I am not a fan of this move if the team feels comfortable making him the starter and doesn’t try to address the left guard position early in the draft.

Sua Opeta is a solid depth signing and should be a good backup who the Bucs can feel solid about filling in for a game or two. But I still don’t see him being enough of an upgrade to pencil Opeta in as a starter at this time.