This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/nfl by /u/spideralex90 on 2023-08-07 15:27:11.
This is my first year attempting this post, and I’ve got some big shoes to fill taking over for /u/thefencingcoach but shoutout to coach for the numerous years of excellent write ups!
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Division: The Division most likely to send a losing record to the playoffs in 2023 - aka the NFC South
2022 results: 8-9, 1st in the NFCS, wildcard exit vs the Cowboys.
Coaching Departures:
| Coach | Position | New Team |
|---|---|---|
| Byron Leftwich | Offensive Coordinator | N/A |
| Clyde Christensen | Quarterbacks Coach | North Carolina Tar Heels |
| Todd McNair | Running Backs Coach | N/A |
| Kevin Garver | Wide Receivers Coach | N/A |
The best news of the Bucs offseason was that Byron Leftwich was loaded into the cannons on the pirate ship and fired into the sun let go from the team. There was a post recently about who the worst offensive coordinator was and I was very disappointed how far I had to scroll to find Byron in there.
I will tell you all right now that without a shadow of a doubt in my mind and I’m pretty sure stats back it up that the worst offensive coordinator on any team in the NFL last year was 100% Matt Patricia. But I mean come on, Patricia’s not a real OC. So while Patricia was doing his worst OC impression driving the Patriots offense off a cliff in his rearview mirror was Byron Leftwich absolutely tanking Brady’s final year. Byron Leftwich was the most stubborn offensive coordinator who scoffed at reporters when they tried to present him with analytics about how piss poor the offense was under him. The only time out offense looked semi-competent last season was when Brady was in total control of play calls on 2 minute drives.
I swear Leftwich drew up one gameplan for the whole year and then huffed glue in his office Monday thru Friday. I don’t get how anyone could be so braindead and not see that they were personally driving their career into the dirt. THIS MAN WAS CONSIDERED A TOP HEAD COACH CANDIDATE THIS TIME LAST YEAR. Byron leaving Jacksonville without a contract because they wouldn’t fire Baalke was the only time Jags fans ever appreciated that Baalke was there.
The only coaching departure that hurt me was Clyde Christensen. I’m honestly surprised he was let go because the pedigree of QB’s he’s worked with is insane. I still don’t get why we axed him.
Coaching Hires:
| Coach | Position | Old Team |
|---|---|---|
| Dave Canales | Offensive Coordinator | Seattle Seahawks |
| Thad Lewis | Quarterbacks Coach | Bucs - Internal Promotion |
| Jordan Somerville | Assistant Quarterbacks Coach | University of Oregon |
| Skip Peete | Running Backs Coach | Dallas Cowboys |
| Brad Idzik | Wide Receivers Coach | Seattle Seahawks |
Dave Canales was not my first OC choice. I desperately had hoped we would lure Todd Monken back after his success at Georgia. But I can safely say that Canales is the most exciting hire we made this offseason and while he’s obviously unproven I cannot wait to see what he can do for this offense. He had a hand in developing Seattle Russ and rescuing Geno Smith’s career. Can he rescue Baker’s career now?
Canales assembled his own staff here and I don’t know much about a lot of the guys to be honest and I won’t pretend to. It’s exciting to get some new blood in the building though.
Also Bills/Browns/Texans/Eagles/Ravens/9ers/Ram’s legend Thad Lewis was on the Bucs coaching staff last year and I had no idea. He got promoted to QB coach after Clyde was axed. I have nothing really to add here beyond that, but yeah Thad Lewis is there.
Players lost/cut
| Player | Position | New Team |
|---|---|---|
| Tom Brady | QB | Fox Sports |
| Blaine Gabbert | QB | Kansas City Chiefs |
| Giovani Bernard | RB | Retired |
| Leonard Fournette | RB | Free Agent |
| Julio Jones | WR | Free Agent |
| Scotty Miller | WR | Atlanta Falcons |
| Breshad Perriman | WR | Indianapolis Colts |
| Cameron Brate | TE | Free Agent |
| Kyle Rudolph | TE | Free Agent |
| Cody McElroy | TE | Free Agent |
| Shaq Mason | G | Houston Texans |
| Donovan Smith | LT | Kansas City Chiefs |
| Josh Wells | RT | Jacksonville Jaguars |
| Akiem Hicks | DE | Free Agent |
| Rakeem Nunez-Roches | NT | New York Giants |
| Carl Nassib | OLB | Free Agent |
| Genard Avery | OLB | Philadelphia Eagles |
| Sean Murphy-Bunting | CB | Tennessee Titans |
| Mike Edwards | SS | Kansas City Chiefs |
| Keanu Neal | FS | Pittsburgh Steelers |
| Logan Ryan | SS | Free Agent |
| Ryan Succop | K | Free Agent |
Tom Brady on his own is a big loss, but good lord this list is a damn long one.
So Tom Brady re-retired. Has he played his final down in the NFL? Perhaps. I didn’t believe his initial retirement, I wasn’t buying Tom going out after setting passing records at his age, but this past season seems to have brought him back down to earth. I don’t blame most of the past season on Tom, but between Leftwich, Tom’s divorce, and the team overall playing poorly it felt like Tom was actually ready to be done this time
I would be lying if I said I believed there was absolutely zero chance he returns. I’d comfortably say I’m 95% confident he’s fully retired though.
Onto the rest of the list though. The Bucs entered this offseason knowing we’d be fucking super cash strapped. A lot of us hoped Tom would return because we could mess with his cap hit but his retirement meant we finally had to pay the piper and eat his massive cap hit of $35 million. That combined with all the cap fuckery we did from 2020-2022 to keep most of our team around meant we were going to have to lose some guys. That and a lot of these guys are getting older. Notice how many are still free agents? A lot of those guys are just waiting for an injury and hoping for a desperate team to sign them.
I’d love to see Will Gholston return though as he’s been a Buc his whole career, but I’m not sure we can even afford him one another 1 year deal (value around $4 million most likely). I wrote this before we re-signed him, he’s back baby!
Free Agents signed/re-signed
| Player | Position | Old Team | Length | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baker Mayfield | QB | Cleveland Browns | 1 year | $4 Million |
| Lavonte David | LB | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 1 year | $4.5 Million |
| Jamel Dean | CB | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 4 years | $52 Million ($24.5 gtd) |
| Dee Delaney | CB | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 1 year | $940k |
| Cam Gill | OLB | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 1 year | $965k |
| Nick Leverett | G | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 1 year | $940k |
| Anthony Nelson | OLB | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 2 years | $10 Million ($5.5 gtd) |
| Pat O’Connor | DE | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 1 year | $1.2 Million |
| Deadrin Senat | DT | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 1 year | $1.2 Million |
| Aaron Stinnie | G | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 1 year | $1.4 Million |
| Chase Edmonds | RB | Arizona Cardinals | 1 year | $1.2 Million |
| Matt Feiler | OT | Pittsburgh Steelers | 1 year | $2.5 Million |
| Greg Gaines | DT | Los Angeles Rams | 1 year | $3.5 Million |
| Chase McLaughlin | K | Indianapolis Colts | 1 year | $965k |
| Rodrigo Blankenship | K | Arizona Cardinals | 1 year | $940k |
| David Moore | WR | Chicago Bears | 1 year | $1 Million |
| Ryan Neal | S | Seattle Seahawks | 1 year | $1.2 Million |
| John Wolford | QB | Los Angeles Rams | 1 year | $1 Million |
| William Gholston | DE | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 1 year | $2.5 Million |
Before we made the big splash signing with Baker the front office was talking about how they felt comfortable with what they had in Kyle Trask.
That immediately set off my bullshit alarm because of course they would say that about the ONLY QB they had on the roster at that point. Nothing about the way they’ve positioned Trask during his tenure tells me the front office actually believes he is the guy long term.
Now I was actually hoping we’d sign Baker last offseason while the rumors where swirling about which team would sign everyone’s favorite sexual assaulter of 25 or more women. I know we Bucs fans can’t talk too much shit because we had Jarapist Winston here for years, but that was a very tumultuous time for the fanbase but I don’t think I could I could have handled something like that again.
Anyhow back on topic, we were saved from hell when Brady unretired and we didn’t have to worry about the QB position in 2022.
Now me personally I like Baker. He’s not an elite QB by any means and I don’t even expect he’ll be our starter in 2024, but I was not mad at the signing.
We also re-signed Jamel Dean to a pretty team friendly 4 year contract which surprised many Bucs fans. After giving Carlton Davis a deal last year a good chunk of change it was very unclear how things in our secondary would shake out with a number of guys due for deals. Dean is a playmaker and I’m stoked we have him around for at least a few more years.
Edit: We also signed long time Buc William Gholston to a 1 year deal which was awesome. Happy to have him back as he’s still excellent in run stopping.
2023 Draft Class
| Round | Pick | Player | Position | College |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 19 | Calijah Kancey | DT | Pittsburgh |
| 2 | 48 | Cody Mauch | OT | NDSU |
| 3 | 82 | YaYa Diaby | DE | Louisville |
| 5 | 153 | SirVocea Dennis | LB | Pittsburgh |
| 5 | 171 | Payne Durham | TE | Purdue |
| 6 | 18… |
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