The Tampa Bay Buccaneers' high-volume and quick-paced search for a new offensive coordinator ended up back at home.
On Friday, the Buccaneers announced that they have promoted Josh Grizzard to that role after he spent one season as the team's pass game coordinator. In his previous position, Grizzard worked extensively with Offensive Coordinator Liam Coen to develop an attack that proved to be one of the most productive in franchise history, and in the NFL in 2024. Grizzard, one of six candidates interviewed by the Buccaneers between Saturday and Tuesday, now replaces Coen, who was named the Jacksonville Jaguars' head coach last Friday.
Grizzard will be the fourth different offensive coordinator the Buccaneers have employed in the last four years. However, while Coen – and before him in 2023, Dave Canales – were new to the organization and had different schemes to install, Grizzard should offer continuity as well as fresh ideas.
"Josh is bright and innovative and was instrumental in our game planning and play design over the last year," said Buccaneers Head Coach Todd Bowles. "After interviewing several outstanding candidates throughout this process, it ultimately became clear that our best option was here in our building. We had a lot of success offensively last season and during our conversations, Grizz provided some great ideas on how we can build on that. His familiarity with our offense, our players and the staff will ensure the continuity that is crucial for sustained success."
In particular, the promotion of Grizzard to the coordinator role should make the transition easier for quarterback Baker Mayfield, who will now be working under his ninth play-caller since entering the league in 2018. Mayfield produced his best season yet in 2024, setting career highs with 4,500 passing yards, 41 touchdown passes, a 71.4% completion percentage and a passer rating of 106.8. He also ranked in the top four in the NFL in all of those categories while more than doubling his previous career high with 378 rushing yards.
Overall, Tampa Bay's passing attack ranked third in the NFL with 250.4 yards per game and fifth with 7.46 yards per pass play. The Buccaneers produced the second most first downs per game (23.2) and had the league's best third-down conversion success rate (50.9%), the latter a new franchise single-season record.
Grizzard brought 11 years of coaching experience with him to the Buccaneers in 2024, including the last seven at the NFL level with the Miami Dolphins. He started with the Dolphins in 2017, spending three seasons as a quality control coach before being promoted to wide receivers coach in 2022. After two seasons in that role, he then spent two more years as an offensive quality control coach before being hired by the Buccaneers.
The Dolphins also had one of the NFL's most productive offenses during Grizzard's tenure. In 2023, Miami ranked first in yards per game (401.3), passing yards per game (265.5) and yards per carry (5.1) while finishing second in points per game (29.2), yards per play (6.5) and yards per pass attempt (8.0).
Grizzard also coached for four seasons at the collegiate level, as he was a graduate assistant/quality control coach at Duke from 2013-16. Prior to that, he was a student assistant for the Yale football team in 2012 after previously playing on the team as a defensive back from 2008-11.
