Tampa Bay Buccaneers
2018 Record: (5-11) 4th NFC South
2018 Season Recap:
Offense
Points: 24.8 (12th)
Yards: 415.5 (3rd)
Pass Yards: 320.3 (1st)
Rush Yards: 95.2 (29th)
Defense
Points: 29.0 (31st)
Yards: 383.4 (27th)
Pass Yards: 259.4 (26th)
Rush Yards: 123.9 (24th)
The 2018 edition of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers again viewed with a
great deal of promise, only to disappoint again with grave dysfunction.
The team’s starting quarterback began the season serving a three
game suspension, which forced the hand of the coaching staff to promote
journeyman (Ryan Fitzpatrick) to lead the charge in hoping to keep the ship
afloat. While expectations were lower to begin the season with Fitzpatrick at
the helm, he again found the fountain of youth to turn heads in the league,
posing the question to if he should remain as the Bucs starting pivot. Ryan was
absolutely perfect in the opening two weeks of the season but again was figured
out quickly by opposing defensive coordinators in week three and four,
ultimately giving back the role to Jameis Winston.
While Jameis started the next three contests after the team’s bye
week (week 5), he too couldn’t muster much of anything impressive and again
found himself relegated back to the bench. This rotating door of who to start
at quarterback continued until week 11 after dropping four straight, the Bucs
coaching staff waved the white flag and allowed Winston to remain the starter
for the rest of the season.
While many positives could come from the Bucs passing attack and
the great statistical achievements form the receiving core, the offense as a
whole was clearly not well rounded. Tampa Bay reached in the 2018 draft when
selecting running back Ronald Jones, as he clearly wasn’t up to the challenge
of being the club’s top runner, failing to suit up for many games on coaching
decisions. With no run game to speak of, defenses knew that Tampa would have to
pass the ball to compete, making them easy prey.
While the offense had its issues, the defense didn’t provide
anything concrete to assist this club ranking out as one of the league’s worst
on the season. With ownership getting more impatient by the day, relieving
their head coach was the only solution.
Another failed season transpired to the dismay of the home town
faithful.
2019 Offseason WorkBook:
The Coaching Staff
While ownership has swung and missed on more than one occasion in
securing a sideline boss to lift this team to the next level, this time they
may have finally found their man.
After heading to retirement and spending one season in the booth,
the Bucs managed to convince Bruce Arians to head back to field and take the
reins of rebuilding this team back to respectability. Arians is a very
intelligent mind that could find a way to expel the most from Jameis Winston,
while utilizing his fantastic receiving corps.
Coming along for the ride, Arians hired former quarterback Byron
Leftwich as offensive coordinator, while hiring New York Jets cast off Todd
Bowles to run the defense. We are extremely encouraged with both hires as
Bowles, a former head coach himself could provide a great deal of assistance to
overall game plans, while Leftwich has the potential to learn and perfect his
craft.
There is light at the end of this tunnel with these men running
the show in Florida.
The Offense
When you sit back and review what Tampa Bay has on the offensive
side of the ball, on paper things do look quite impressive but require a lot of
tinkering.
The Bucs offensive line is a unit that haven’t played horribly,
but could use a large talent infusion to take them over the top. Adding a few
key cogs in the system will only improve this group, and we wouldn’t be
surprised to see the Bucs sign or draft a few players to round out the line.
While we began with the offensive line, understanding what to do
with the quarterback position at this point is a head scratcher to say the
least. Bruce Arians has already made claims that he believes he could fix the
issues which plague the former first round pick. This will absolutely be the
final season for Jameis in Tampa if he’s unable to produce consistency for the
entire season. He has the talent to make waves; it’s just a matter of putting
it all together without any side steps.
As mentioned above, the Bucs receiving core is a fantastic group
lead by quiet all-star Mike Evans and having a supportive bunch around him like
Chris Godwin and DeSean Jackson, should make any coach and quarterback smile.
While Jackson has voiced his displeasure with the club wanting to be released,
Arians has moved into damage control to keep him aboard.
The largest problem on this offense has been and still is the
running back position. With no long term answer on the horizon, we have no
doubt that Tampa Bay will try and relegate this in the draft or free agency.
The Defense
When we look over the Bucs defense, it becomes more difficult to
understand why this group underachieves to the levels that they do.
The Bucs employ a defensive line that could rival some of the best
in the league, led by Gerald McCoy and Jason Pierre-Paul. Adding to that Tampa
Bay houses two of the bright young talents at the line backer position in
LaVonte David and Kwon Alexander. While we understand that injures have taken their
tole over the course of the season, the building blocks are present with other
depth pieces we haven’t even mentioned.
Perhaps the greatest weakness on this defense resides on the backend,
as it seems this is an area that they can’t seem to figure out. Over the course
of the past few seasons, the Bucs have attempted to solidify the defensive back
position with Vernon Hargreaves and Carlton Davis, but the results haven’t been
as plentiful as ownership had hoped. It was our contention in the last draft
that Tampa Bay completely missed the boat selecting Vita Vea and passing on all
world talent Derwin James. Having gaping holes at the safety position while continuing
to have a plethora of talent on the defensive line, spreading the wealth would’ve
been greatly advised.
While most will say hindsight in 20/20, but in our minds, James
was a slam dunk pick that could’ve elevated this unit, Vea’s prospects were
derailed all season long with injures.
Coach Arians teamed with Todd Bowles should be able to improve this
group, but change will come to how this group is put together.
Team Free Agents / Team Salary Cap
Its always an extreme issue when your team holds a record below
the .500 mark and possesses little cap room to retool in the offseason.
The Bucs have 26 free agents to contend with, some which are tough
decisions to make. Kwon Alexander, Adam Humphries, Peyton Barber (RFA), and
Donovan Smith headline this group of priority players to garner new contracts
with aging talent looking to be shown the door.
If resigning your top players wasn’t a challenge already, the Bucs
hold a mere 15 million (+$15,041,449) in cap space leaving them quite
handcuffed to make any big moves. The Bucs will have to get super creative in
how they rebuild this roster including making a choice on how to handle Jameis
Winston. Electing to give him his 5th year option, the Bucs are now on
the hook for 20+ million for this season to their quarterback, unless they offer
up a long-term deal to lower that cap number.
All isn’t lost this offseason in terms of money, as the Tampa
brain trust has left many outs on the books to collect massive dollars. This is
a results driven league, and holding two top end talents on the defensive line
(McCoy & Pierre-Paul) is currently eating a whopping 27 million between the
two with no dead money attached. One of these players should be on a different squad
this season.
Moving down the list of expendable players, Tampa Bay will entertain
cutting bait with the following. Disgruntled receiver DeSean Jackson currently
holds a cap hit of 10 million with no dead money attached. Adding to that,
LaVonte David, Cameron Brate, and Beau Allen hold a healthy 21.7 million together
against the books, also with no dead money attached. In releasing all these
players, Tampa could generate an additional 31.7 million to help rebuild this
club. While we understand all these moves won’t happen, they do have many
options at their finger tips.
The NFL Draft
While the 2018 season wasn’t anything to write home about, the
2019 offseason should bring a great deal of excitement as Tamps holds the 5th
overall pick in this year’s draft.
Having 6 picks currently on the books, while missing their 6th
round selection, we wouldn’t be surprised to see the potential for the Bucs to
trade down in the draft. With that said, this draft houses a load of top tear
talent on the defensive line making a decision that much easier to cut either
Pierre-Paul or McCoy and use that 5th overall pick to replace the
position at a far lower cost.
Bruce Arians is a very intelligent man that knows how to build a team,
and we surely believe he will have a distinct role in how this draft moves.
Running back, defensive line, offensive line, and defensive back should be the
highest of priorities in this year’s draft.
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