TAMPA, Fla. -- With 10:31 to go in the third quarter Monday night at Arrowhead Stadium, a 6-foot-5, almost 250-pound tight end leapt into the air to make the catch as a defender slammed into his back midair. His body contorted backward upon impact, and he fell hard to the ground before springing right back up.
But this wasn't Kansas City Chiefs future Hall of Famer Travis Kelce eliciting a collective "Oooh!" from the crowd -- it was Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end Cade Otton stunning the away crowd as the Bucs attempted to mount a furious comeback.
"He's got a knack for the game -- he just knows the game," Bucs offensive coordinator Liam Coen said of his tight end who he described as a "true footballer."
"Sometimes people look at that as a knock -- maybe they're not as fast or as quick or as strong or can jump as high. He's tough as nails, he's smart as heck, and I'd love for my son to grow up to be Cade Otton. That's the kind of guy that he is."
The Bucs (4-5) would go on to lose in overtime 30-24 to the league's lone unbeaten team, but despite a three-game skid, if there's been one possible silver lining to come from the losses and the injuries to Pro Bowl wide receivers Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, it has been the emergence of the third-year tight end.
He has become quarterback Baker Mayfield's top target over the past three weeks and his 258 receiving yards are the most in the NFL among tight ends. His three touchdowns in that span are also tied for most among tight ends.
"It's all Cade," Mayfield said Wednesday. "[He's] a special player that [is] so smart, he knows where to be, he knows exactly what we're trying to get done within whatever scheme we're calling, run or pass, and he understands everything.
"You add in the physical traits that he has, and he's able to showcase those in the last few weeks and that's an all-around player that we have."
Otton, a fourth-round pick out of Washington, said this is largely possible because Mayfield is such an effective communicator and because the two are now in their second season together. They have having connected in big moments, like the game-winning touchdown catch against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 13 last year.
"You just develop a rapport as you get more reps," Otton said. "I've talked about before, how great of a communicator Baker is, especially in those situations which require a ton of detail. He's just really great, whether it's in meetings or out on the field, coming to us as pass catchers and talking through what he's seeing and when he thinks we might get the ball.
"Going into the game in certain situations, I have a pretty good idea of what he's thinking, and that's a big credit to him."
In an offense that is designed to get the ball into Evans' and Godwin's hands, losing both Week 7 in the Bucs' "Monday Night Football" game against the Baltimore Ravens -- Godwin for the season with a dislocated ankle and Evans until at least after their Week 11 bye with a moderate hamstring strain -- meant Mayfield no longer had his trusted safety net in the slot or his big-play target downfield.
"Seeing the way Mike and Chris have operated my whole time here, I just try and step up in their place," Otton said. "Obviously, they're a huge part of our offense and will be whenever they come back, but I think just as a group, we really challenged ourselves, and Coach Coen challenged us to, as a collective, raise our game. Personally, I wanted to do that, and also as a group, I think we're working hard to do that."
Since the Ravens game, Otton has run more routes out of the slot than any other receiving target on the team, with 15 catches for 180 receiving yards. His usage in motion -- he has been their most commonly used player in motion over the last three weeks -- has shot up as well.
"Intelligence in football does a lot for you because at this level, obviously you have to be physically gifted, but intelligence takes you to the next level and Cade has that," Mayfield said. "Like I said, he understands what we're trying to get done and understands the concepts and everything that everybody else is doing. He knows where he fits into it and how to get open."
Unlike the Bucs' past three opponents -- the Ravens, Atlanta Falcons and Kansas City Chiefs, who have given up considerable yardage to tight ends -- their next opponent may be a tougher matchup for Otton.
They'll host the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday (1 p.m. ET, Fox), and they are giving up 38.25 yards per game to opposing tight ends, fifth best in the league. However, the 49ers give up a bit more to targets lining up in the slot -- 82.5 yards per game (11th most).
"In man-to-man coverage, he's just doing a good job of winning," Mayfield said. "But in the zone stuff, he's understanding the soft spots in the zones, the timing of where he's at in the progression and that's a big part of it. In this offense right now, we're distributing the ball, trying to get it to everybody and so sometimes they're not keyed in on him. There's a couple third downs where they did double cover him -- or tried to -- and so the ball is going to go elsewhere but yeah, he understands where he fits in the progression really well."
Scheme is helping too. Against the Chiefs -- where he led the team in catches (eight) and yards (77) in the overtime loss -- he came across the back side of the formation in motion on his 11-yard touchdown in the third quarter, where he worked one-on-one against safety Justin Reid and to the corner of the end zone.
Coen said that they're designing more plays with Otton in mind to maximize his skill set.
"It's a great thing for him, for me, for our offense to know that we've got another guy we can rely on to make plays," said Coen, who's in his first year with the Bucs. "He's gaining a ton of confidence. I don't know where he stands with his career and where he's been at in normal years -- I don't know -- but I have to believe he's probably feeling pretty good about where he's at right now and the way he's playing."
So is simplifying things for him, even as defenses are starting to key in on him more.
"It's something I've learned being here the last few years -- if you have too much in your mind, if you're thinking through all the coverages while you're running a route, you're not going to play fast," Otton said. "So to me, I try to simplify it as much as I can, to where, like, if I'm seeing space in a certain place, I can reflect and know it as a certain coverage, but at the end of the day, it's about finding space and winning against leverage."
In just nine games, he's just 34 receiving yards away from matching his total last season (455). His 72.1% receiving percentage is also a career high, and he has already matched his career best of four touchdowns in a season.
"When you look at him, you see just this model of a kid, you know, All-American boy, one of the best guys I've been around," Coen said. "But he's tough. He's a tough football player. He's risen to the challenge. He's made the plays when they've been able to present themselves. ... I've been really proud of him."