This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/nfl by /u/SilentSentinel on 2025-03-05 15:25:10+00:00.

Team: Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Division: NFC South

Record: 10-7 (1st in division)

Playoffs: Lost in Wild Card

Table of Contents:

Preface

2024 Offseason

Week-by-week review

Team Stats

High Points

Low Points

Roster Review

Coaching & Front Office review

Awards

Team Needs

Outro: Why being a Bucs fan is fun

Preface:

The 2023 Bucs were an interesting team that simultaneously exceeded expectations while being obvious beneficiaries of a pretty weak division. Few expected the Buccaneers to return to the playoffs following a frustrating season where the team stumbled into the playoffs despite an 8-9 record and were rinsed by the Cowboys in the wild card round. All time great QB Tom Brady rode off into the sunset for good. The Bucs were staring down the barrel of a league leading 81.6 million dollars of dead money on their salary cap, the cost of running up the credit card to win Super Bowl LV and keep that excellent team together in the subsequent years. Instead, their bargain bin stopgap QB Baker Mayfield won a summer competition with Kyle Trask, and new OC Dave Canales helped Mayfield have a productive season where the Bucs once again won the weak NFC South and even managed to win a playoff game against a floundering Eagles team.

Their run ended with a 10 point loss to the Lions, and immediately the same doubts about this franchise crept back in. Was Mayfield going to continue to progress, or was this yet another blip before a downturn, something he’d experienced multiple times in his career. Would the Bucs continue to benefit from a weak division, or would another NFC South team improve enough to knock them off? Would the next Bucs draft class be productive early like 2023, or would it be a repeat of 2021?

The questions only increased when first year OC Dave Canales left to take the Carolina Panthers Head Coach position while taking several offensive assistants with him. Canales had not been Todd Bowles’ first choice when looking for an offensive coordinator prior to 2023, but the charismatic coach had done well to maximize Mike Evans and keep the offense productive despite a floundering run game. Would Bowles be able to find another playcaller to match or exceed Canales?

General Manager Jason Licht faced a challenging offseason as well. Mayfield far exceeded the value of the $4 million dollar prove it deal he signed in 2023, and was poised to hit the market yet again. How would Licht value Mayfield after a season of solid, but not spectacular play? Franchise legends Mike Evans and Lavonte David were both set to hit the market, Evans after a preseason standoff followed by an excellent contract year where he led the NFL in receiving touchdowns. Antoine Winfield Jr was set to cash in big following a first team all-pro season at safety. Navigating these potential large deals around the still sizable dead money hits of previous years (62.5m) while figuring out what to do with several injured and underperforming defensive pieces and shoring up key areas of need like the interior offensive line was going to be tough.

2024 Offseason:

Coaching Staff Changes:

Departures -

  • OC Dave Canales -> Panthers HC. I really liked Canales as the Bucs OC. It was his first year as an offensive playcaller after spending many years with Pete Carroll in Seattle. He came across as an excellent communicator with a high energy-positive demeanor. Although the Bucs run game was poor under Canales, it had been poor before he arrived as well, and the promise of helping Baker Mayfield in Tampa like he had helped do for Geno Smith in Seattle had been realized.
  • WR Coach Brad Idzik -> Panthers OC. Idzik came to Tampa with Canales, so it was not a surprise to see him leave for a promotion alongside him.
  • Assistant HC/Run Game Coordinator Harold Goodwin -> Panthers Assistant HC/Run Game Coordinator. Goody was a holdover from Bruce Arians’ original staff in both Arizona and Tampa. I doubt many Bucs fans were sad to see him go after how poorly the run game had been going for multiple seasons, but he’s an experienced coach who Canales valued as a voice in the room.
  • OL Coach Joe Gilbert -> Panthers OL Coach. Similar to Goodwin, Gilbert was originally brought in by Arians in 2019, but elected to leave with Canales.
  • ST Coordinator Keith Armstrong -> Retired Armstrong hung it up after 30 seasons of coaching in the NFL, meaning the Bucs had two major coordinator roles to fill during the 2024 offseason. Armstrong oversaw a strong unit in 2023, featuring a franchise record in field goal kicking accuracy from Chase McLaughlin (93.5%), and top-8 results in opponent kickoff return average, gross punting average, and average opponent drive starting position.

Arrivals:

  • OC Liam Coen: The Bucs cast a wide net once in their OC search for the second year in a row. Their list of interviews included Ken Dorsey, Zac Robinson, Brian Johnson, Kellen Moore, Jerrod Johnson, Jake Peetz, and Coen. I don’t think Coen was most fans top choice for the job, but he did bring some intruiging things to the table, particularly a built in familiarity with Mayfield who was still set to hit free agency. Coen had spent the last few years bouncing between the University of Kentucky and the Los Angeles Rams in various roles. In his time at Kentucky, Coen authored two of the six seasons in school history where the team scored at least 50 touchdowns and turned Penn State transfer Will Levis into a top-40 draft pick. He had little NFL playcalling experience, but the Bucs believed he could work with Mayfield and hopefully meet or exceed what Canales had done in 2023.
  • ST Coordintor Thomas McGaughey: McGaughey was brought in from the New York Giants after being let go there. While very experienced, Giants fans did not seem to like him much from what I remember seeing at the time.
  • OL Coach Kevin Carberry: Carberry was previously the assistant Offensive Line Coach for the New Orleans Saints. Prior to that, he was the offensive line coach for the Rams and part of the group that was let go following the Rams dissappointing 2022 season (although he was also on the 2021 Super Bowl staff).
  • Assistant OL Coach Brian Picucci: Picucci was a quality control coach under Coen at Kentucky.
  • Pass Game Coordinator Josh Grizzard: Grizzard spent all of his previous time in Miami as a quality control coach and Wide Receivers coach.
  • WR Coach Bryan McClendon: A former Georgia Bulldogs receiver, McClendon returned to the university as the Wide Receivers Coach and Pass Game Coordinator in 2022. He helped then OC Todd Monken’s offense win a national championship with weapons like Brock Bowers and Ladd McConkey.

Free Agency:

Players released:

  • EDGE Shaquil Barrett: Barrett was a fan favorite after exploding with 19.5 sacks after signing a prove it deal in 2019. He was a key part of the Bucs super bowl team, but an achilles tear in 2022 sapped his explosiveness, and the Bucs released him to avoid some additional salary becoming guaranteed. Barrett signed a 1 year, $8 million dollar deal with the Dolphins in free agency.
  • WR Russell Gage: Gage was a promising signing during the 2022 offseason, but he was limited by injuries that year and then suffered a torn patellar tendon during 2023’s training camp. Definitely a what if type of signing, as it felt like he never really got his Bucs career off the ground. Gage bounced around to the Ravens and 49ers this season.
  • C Ryan Jensen (retired): Jensen was another fan favorite player, the enforcer of the offensive line during Brady’s years with the team and a Pro Bowl level Center. Unfortunately, Jensen was injured during one of the first training camp practices of the 2022 season, and his injury was a big part of why the team dissappointed that year. There was some hope that he could return, but he aggravated his knee injury and eventually decided to retire from football in February of 2024.

Notable Free Agents not re-signed:

  • LB Devin White: The former 5th overall pick was a key part of the Bucs super bowl run, but his play went downhill along with his attitude over the subsequent seasons. His high level athleticism led the Bucs to continue to ride with him as a starting linebacker into the 2023 season, but eventually he was splitting time with other players as his undisciplined, freelance style of play led to coverage busts at a high rate, and his poor tackling hurt the Bucs run defense as well. White signed a one year, “up to” $7.5 million dollar deal with the Eagles in free agency, but was eventually released and landed with the Texans.
  • WR David Moore: Moore was a depth receiver who made a few nice plays in certain games, including a long touchdown against the Eagles in the playoffs. He followed Canales to the Panthers on a one year deal to try and crack their rotation.
  • G Matt Feiler: Feiler was a stopgap option the Bucs signed to compete at left guard. He started the first 6 games of the year and was right around replacement level, before eventually losing the job to Aaron Stinnie. He was out of the league this year.
  • G Aaron Stinnie: Stinne was the other left guard the Bucs used in 2023. He was similarly replacement level and signed a one year deal with the Giants in free agency.
  • S Ryan Neal: Neal was an attempt by the front office to find a starting calibur safety on the cheap after he graded well for the Seahawks in 2022. Neal was quite terrible for the Bucs and th…

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