Potoa'e Didn't Dress for Super Bowl LV, But He'll Wear a Ring

The rookie from the University of Washington spent the season on the Tampa Bay roster, even appearing in one game.

Dan Raley | Feb 8, 2021

Benning Potoa'e wasn't one of the 55 Tampa Bay Buccaneers in uniform for Super Bowl LV, but he will share in the rewards of their NFL championship just the same.

Give that man a ring.

The former University of Washington defensive tackle spent the season as one of 14 members of Tampa Bay's practice squad after signing on as an undrafted free agent last May.

Potoa'e even made his pro football debut at the end of the regular season, appearing in 17 snaps in the final game on the schedule, a Bucs' 44-27 victory over the Atlanta Falcons in Tampa on Jan. 3.

That put him in the record books as an official NFL player.

The 6-foot-3, 290-pounder from DuPont, Washington, spent most of his time learning his craft participating in drills alongside Vita Vea, a former UW teammate and a Bucs' D-line starter.

By all accounts, Tampa Bay seemed encouraged by Potoa'e's progress, hence his season-long stay with the organization.

A highly touted player from Lakes High School, Potoa'e had an interesting UW career path, though its progression might have prevented him from getting drafted. He shuttled between playing as a down lineman and an outside linebacker for Chris Petersen's teams.

As a redshirt freshman, he appeared in 13 of 14 Husky games and started once for a 2016 team that advanced to the College Football Playoff and lost to Alabama 24-7 in Atlanta.

In 2017, he opened in 10 of 13 games for a Fiesta Bowl team and a year later in 13 of 14 games for the Huskies' Rose Bowl team (all but that last game against Ohio State).

As senior, Potoa'e started just 4 of 13 UW games for a Las Vegas Bowl team, battling with Josiah Bronson all season for playing time and opening assignments.

As an NFL player, he's concentrating on being a full-fledged lineman now, settling on one position now and trying to move up with the best team in pro football.

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Published Feb 8, 2021

DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.