There was a point last year where Raiqwon O’Neal’s NFL career felt like a ping-pong ball in rush hour traffic. Tampa, Seattle, back to Tampa—the guy was bouncing around so much, you needed a tracking device just to keep up. One minute he’s protecting Baker Mayfield on scout team duty, the next he’s wearing Seahawks colors on special teams. It was chaotic. But somehow, he never looked flustered.

Maybe that’s because O’Neal’s already lived the grind. This is a guy who spent four years anchoring the trenches at Rutgers. And through it all, he has always been a protector. That instinct showed up early. In a freshman-year game at Conway High, a post-play scuffle broke out, and his teammate was on the wrong end of it. O’Neal stepped in. “Everybody always saw this gentle giant,” his mother, Dina, said. “And then finally we saw this different side on the field.” That moment changed the trajectory. By the time he was a senior, he was the blindside anchor for Conway’s offense. “He was meant to be a left tackle,” said Grainger, the team’s quarterback. “With Raiqwon on that side, I never had to worry.” So, when the Buccaneers called him back after Seattle let him go? He didn’t blink. Just packed his bags, again, and kept pushing. A homecoming.

Fast forward to now, and O’Neal was one of the 17 players who signed on the Bucs’ practice squad following the Wild Card round loss to the Commanders. Now that the 2025 season is just three months away, the 25-year-old offensive tackle addressed what the Tampa Bay fans should expect from him in the next season.

“As a player, it’s just give everything I got and leave it all on the field without no regrets,” O’Neal explained while stopping by MrBucsNation YouTube channel a couple of days ago. “But just know I could walk away from the field and knowing I gave everything I got and put up a great performance for our fans.” That’s what O’Neal believes, not just for the upcoming season but the rest of his career. Whether he’ll spend the remainder of his career in Tampa Bay or not? We’ve no idea.

But one thing’s for sure: the guy wants to put up a great performance before finally walking away from the field. And he doesn’t just want to do it for his fans. He went on, “Not just for our fans, but for my teammates and for my coaches and as a person to get in the community of Tampa and the surrounding cities to just make a difference in Tampa and that’s really what personal for same for my personal goal is just make a difference in the community that I’m a part of.” 

O’Neal, who stands at 6’4” and weighs over 305 pounds, entered the league as an undrafted free agent following the 2023 NFL draft. He spent the 2023 offseason and training camp with the Bucs, then went off to Seattle after the club signed him to their practice squad. O’Neal appeared in three games in Seattle before they released him.

And just like that, Tampa Bay brought their guy back for the 2024 season. Though he didn’t get an opportunity in the last season, the way things are shaping up, and looking how sure Raiqwon O’Neal is, safe to say the guy’s gearing up to make his way through to the 53-man roster ahead of the 2025 season. Speaking of the next season, the Bucs have major concerns for their quarterback, Baker Mayfield.

Bucs don’t want Baker Mayfield to be a hero early in the game

Picture this: it’s 4th-and-7, and Baker Mayfield was practically in a bear hug from Nick Bosa. But he isn’t going down. Nope. That’s so not Mayfield. In fact, he stiff-armed Bosa with one arm, scrambled toward the sideline, and—while still being dragged—lobbed a pass to Rachaad White for a first down. Tom Brady, who was calling the game, was mesmerized watching that kind of stuff.

He straight-up called it, “one of the best plays I’ve ever seen a quarterback make.” The result? Well, the Bucs tied the game but ultimately lost 23-20 to the Niners. Mayfield pulled off some heroic stuff during the week 10 game of the 2024 season, no doubt. But it was a bit concerning for Todd Bowles and Co. Why? Because they don’t want their quarterback to get injured early in the game.

“That right there was a ‘gotta have it,'” said the quarterback coach, Thaddeus Lewis, about that do-or-die play. “That was a ‘gotta have it’ moment. So I would want that guy show up in the ‘gotta have it’ moments. Early in the game, if it’s not there, I would prefer him to throw it away or get down, or check it down, add to the punt. Let’s play a little team ball; we have a good defense. Let’s flip the field. We don’t have to get it all in one shot.” Noted. Translation?

The Bucs don’t want their QB to take all the punishment. Mayfield is now 30 years old, and ever since Brady hung up his cleats, the guy’s been the starting QB of the Bucs. And get this, he didn’t even miss out on a single game for the past couple of seasons. We’re adding the playoffs here as well, just to be precise. So yes, the message was clear from the QB coach: play tough, no issues. But be smart about it. You can be a hero. But when it’s absolutely needed. After all, Baker Mayfield is succeeding the NFL GOAT.