The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are an Enigma Staring at the NFL
The Buccaneers were never supposed to get to where they got. In 2020, the team built a de facto super team rooted around the signing of then-six-time Super Bowl winning quarterback Tom Brady, knowing the window for success was thin. Look back to last season, and the story of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers shifts a bit.
A team that had lost the majority of its star power on offense, the same head coach that won them the Super Bowl, and the wave of expectations that came with having Brady at the helm, suddenly vanished in a mere three seasons. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, just a trio of years removed from the Super Bowl were projected to be one of the worst teams in the NFL.
Todd Bowles, the then-defensive coordinator, was promoted internally in order to keep a semblance of continuity from one coaching regime to the next. The quarterback power vacuum began after Brady’s retirement in 2022 and netted the team the arrival of ousted quarterback Baker Mayfield who only one season prior was exiled from Cleveland after a massive fall from grace. Awfully big shoes to fill for someone who had plenty of moxie and played with a chip on his shoulder.
Despite this, the Buccaneers signed Mayfield to a one-year contract for pennies on the dollar. It was supposed to be rebuild time for a Tampa Bay team that had cashed in on their hefty gamble not too long ago. Even if it was murky in Florida, the Buccaneers had a glimmer of hope– the very division they played in. The NFC South had been one of the NFL’s weakest divisions for years now. Out of the last four sub-.500 teams to make the playoffs, the NFC South had sent two of those– including the colorless Buccaneers in 2022 with Tom Brady. 2023 was set to be no different.
But the Buccaneers pulled it out. Baker Mayfield took on the anti-hero trope as he tried to will his way back to the same status that the Cleveland Browns saw in the first-overall draft pick. His trio of wide receivers included two Pro Bowl-awarded pass catchers in Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. Evans posted his best season since 2018 while Godwin eclipsed 1,000 yards for the fourth time in his career. Tampa’s offensive line also transformed into one of the best, holding their line for Mayfield who posted a 99.8 passer rating when not pressured according to Sports Info Solutions.
Offensive tackle Tristan Wirfs has entered into the league’s upper echelon of offensive linemen with PFF ranking him as the fourth-best pass blocker in the NFL. By all stretches, the offense has been the bright spot of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Yet, they’re still one of the league’s biggest mysteries. Year after year, the Bucs have managed to just scrape by. But is 2024 a repeat, or is it the year they finally falter and understand that they cannot get by via the bare minimum?
Tampa Bay went 9-8, barely winning the NFC South. Sure, Tampa’s offense looked sublime and ready for performance throughout the back half of the season, but not without growing pains. Through Weeks 6-9, the team went 0-4– a siren call for a team if done consistently. The Buccaneers were nothing short of up and down at times, hot when given momentum, but stone cold when the tide was against them. Their defense was middle-of-the-pack if not on the worse half of the league. Their rushing attack ranked dead-last, only averaging a measly 88.3 yards per game. The ground game wasn’t helped by their 29th-ranked run blocking who couldn’t seem to move a marshmallow on wheels.
The silver lining is that the team was able to overcome all of that to make a deep playoff run. During their four-game winless stretch, the group didn’t crack or splinter. Instead, they only grew closer and turned around a sinking ship. It took all hands on deck to grab the buckets of water and pour them overboard, but the Bucs managed to do it. The same type of culture became prevalent in their Wild Card game versus the Eagles where Tampa came in as heavy underdogs. The Bucs proceeded to vanquish Philadelphia for a showdown in Detroit. One could argue that the Eagles were already on a crash trajectory downwards anyway, losing six out of their last seven and three games in a row prior to their matchup with Tampa. Either way, the Bucs pulled away– marking the beginning of the enigma that has been presented to the NFL.
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But, the Buccaneers are a different team now. Only a year later the team looks drastically different when analyzing the skeleton. Former offensive coordinator Dave Canales left for the Carolina head coaching gig, Baker is locked into a mid-term contract for the foreseeable future (3-years, $100 million), and the team still hasn’t invested in their defense aside from their second and third round draft picks. Relying entirely on rookies in non-premium positions could end up working out, but with such an abysmal defensive performance last season, why not bring in a veteran presence?
However, there’s plenty of things going Tampa Bay’s way. The offense has consistently proven their worth statistically. While Canales may have left– Mayfield earned his new contract. The Buccaneers ranked ninth for on-target percentage. The team also landed in the top half for an overall offensive ranking.
If the Buccaneers can figure out their direction, they can easily win the NFC South again this year. The Panthers are rebuilding, the Saints have yet to find a formidable quarterback against stiff NFL competition, and the Falcons are yet to prove themselves with a new, unmeshed team.
“It’s a lot of guys that want to win. The chemistry starts here and it continues in training camp. It’s important for these guys to come in,” Todd Bowles said about the team showing up to voluntary OTAs. “We understand it’s voluntary and we thank them for coming in. They know they need to work. They’re very professional about it and they’re trying to help the young guys.”
Bowles has been a culture shifter his whole career, and he’ll try to firmly plant his flag on a Buccaneers team that seemed lost at times.
The biggest thing is to cut down on the ‘M.E.’s’ (mental errors) and the penalties,” Bowles said. That’s always the case when you first start out these things. Until the pads come on, you really don’t know, so you want to cut down on the penalties. We don’t want to beat ourselves. We can’t beat ourselves. If the offense makes a great play or the defense makes a great play, we can live with that – but we don’t want to shoot ourselves in the foot.”
“The underdog role doesn’t bother us,” linebacker Shaquil Barrett said. “We know our capabilities in the locker room, no matter what is projected or what people would think is going to happen in the game.”
