Week 1 Buccaneers waiver wire: who to add

Tampa Bay's 33-27 loss at Cincinnati was decided by four turnovers, not by a shortage of playmakers, and two names buried in the snap count are worth a look before Sunday's kickoff against Cleveland. Neither is a league-wide must-add. Both saw their role grow for reasons that should carry into Week 2.

Key facts

• Ted Hurst III played 75 percent of Tampa Bay's offensive snaps in his NFL debut and caught all three of his targets for 36 yards, all three coming on a single fourth-quarter touchdown drive.
• Cade Otton played 57 of the Buccaneers' 58 offensive snaps in Week 1 and turned five targets into three catches for 26 yards, the second-most targets on the team behind Bucky Irving.
• Sean Tucker was inactive for the Week 1 loss to Cincinnati with a hamstring injury.
• Chase McLaughlin made both his field goal attempts, including a 51-yarder, and all three extra points against the Bengals.
• Cleveland allowed five sacks and turned the ball over twice in a 34-10 Week 1 loss to Jacksonville.

Ted Hurst III, WR

Tampa Bay's third-round rookie made his NFL debut with Jalen McMillan inactive and Emeka Egbuka still working back from a toe injury, and he played 75 percent of the offensive snaps, six fewer than Egbuka and Chris Godwin Jr., who each played 86 percent. The production was thin on paper, three catches for 36 yards, but every one of those catches came on three straight plays during a fourth-quarter, 51-yard touchdown drive that cut Cincinnati's lead to six points. Baker Mayfield went to him on three consecutive snaps in that sequence, which is not usually how a team's fourth or fifth read gets used. Hurst is not a start in a normal-sized league this week. He is a free stash in anything 12 teams or deeper, because Tampa Bay's receiver room has already dealt with injuries to Egbuka and McMillan once this season, and Hurst is the player who has shown the staff trusts him in a big moment when one of them is out.

Cade Otton, TE

Otton played 57 of Tampa Bay's 58 offensive snaps against Cincinnati, essentially every down, and turned five targets into three catches for 26 yards, the second-most targets on the roster behind only Bucky Irving's seven. That is a heavier workload than his usual TE2-in-deep-leagues profile suggests, and it happened with McMillan out of the lineup. Otton is not an exciting name and he is unlikely to be rostered in a shallow league, which is exactly why he belongs on this list: a tight end seeing nearly every snap and finishing second on the team in looks is a streaming option worth owning in any format that starts a flex or a second tight end, especially if McMillan's knee keeps him limited again in Week 2.

One name to note but not add: Sean Tucker was inactive against Cincinnati with a hamstring injury, and Josh Williams was elevated from the practice squad as insurance at running back but did not see meaningful work. Bucky Irving (seven catches on seven targets, a rushing score) and Kenny Gainwell handled the entire backfield without him. Nothing here says add Williams; it says watch the Wednesday injury report to see whether Tucker's absence repeats.

Cleveland is up next, and the Bucs D/ST looks streamable

Tampa Bay hosts the Browns in Week 2, and Cleveland's offense was rough in its opener: a 34-10 loss at Jacksonville in which the Browns allowed five sacks and turned the ball over twice, with Deshaun Watson throwing an interception and losing a fumble. Two independent fantasy outlets, FanDuel Research and DraftSharks, both flagged the Buccaneers as a top streaming defense for Week 2 specifically because of that Cleveland performance, and both noted Tampa Bay's own defense held up reasonably well against a more dangerous Cincinnati offense the week before, limiting Ja'Marr Chase and scoring twice itself on a Josiah Trotter pick-six. The Bucs D/ST is available on the wire in most leagues and is a sensible add-and-start this week.

Chase McLaughlin is a smaller-scale version of the same story. He made both his field goal attempts, including a 51-yarder, and all three extra points in Week 1 despite a rough overall team performance, and he now gets a home game against a Cleveland defense that is unlikely to force many empty offensive possessions for Tampa Bay. He is already rostered in most leagues that use a kicker, so this is less a waiver add than a reason not to bench him.