The Facts: Brate had surgery to repair a torn labrum in his hip in January, but he was dealing with the injury well before he finally had it repaired. Brate said he expects to miss the team’s offseason work as he continues to rehab his hip with eyes on being cleared for training camp.

Diehards Line: Brate was hurt in 2017, but doctors hoped that it would heal without surgery. Brate, who signed a six-year extension last year, opted to play through the injury and then kept playing through it because the Bucs lost tight end O.J. Howard during the season. He played in every game, but his production dropped to 30 catches and 289 yards. “Yeah, personally I wish I would have played better last year and everything like that, but I just don’t think I was able to prepare for the season the way I wanted to dealing with the injury,” Brate told PewterReport.com. “More than anything I’m just glad I was able to get it taken care of. I won’t have to deal with that moving forward. ...” Next up? Sorting out roles for both Brate and Howard under new HC Bruce Arians. Stay tuned for more on that in coming weeks.