Bucs Graham Barton Highest Graded Offensive Rookie

Tampa Bay Buccaneers center Graham Barton was given the highest grade by an offensive rookie player in the latest Pro Football Focus rankings.

PFF gave Barton an 85.2 game grade for his performance in the Buccaneers' first preseason game. That ranks just behind Baltimore Ravens cornerback Nate Wiggins for all rookies (89.2). Barton played just 18 snaps in Saturday’s preseason game, but according to PFF, he was nothing short of amazing.

In those 18 snaps, he allowed 0 quarterback pressures and was rewarded with an 80.1 pass-blocking grade and 87.3 run-blocking rate.

Barton said earlier this week that he’s just working on being the center of communication on the offensive line. NFL Network’s legendary offensive lineman Brian Baldinger also took notice giving Barton his own segment highlighting his blocking performance.

Related: 'Surreal' Says Bucs Center Graham Barton

Bucs right tackle Luke Haggard was also graded highly by PFF receiving a 94 grade over 64 snaps. For an offensive line that struggled a lot last year, it has to be relieving for Bucs Nation to see all the reports and accolades these guys are receiving.

Barton also said that he is looking forward to building on this performance and building on it only means he will be a dominant center for a long time.

It looks like the Bucs hit with the draft pick as Barton’s football IQ seems to be ahead of his time.