The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will kick off their 2024 season on Sunday with a home game against the Washington Commanders. Kick off is scheduled for 4:25 p.m. ET at Raymond James Stadium, and the game will be broadcast locally by FOX.
The Buccaneers are seeking a fourth straight NFC South title and a fifth consecutive season with a playoff berth. They are doing so with a team very much like last year's squad, with a few key additions and no significant losses. Jason Licht and the team's brain trust were able to retain such key figures as Mike Evans, Baker Mayfield, Antoine Winfield Jr. and Lavonte David on new contracts, and the draft provided a new starting center in Graham Barton and a pair of intriguing offensive weapons in wide receiver Jalen McMillan and running back Bucky Irving.
The Commanders are coming off a 4-13 season in 2023 but have executed a massive team overhaul, beginning with a new coaching staff headed by Dan Quinn. Washington used the second-overall pick in the draft to land what they hope will be a long-term solution at quarterback in LSU Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels, and brought in Kliff Kingsbury to construct an offense around the dual-threat passer. Meanwhile, Washington used free agency and the draft to bring in at least a half-dozen new starters on defense, including Dorance Armstrong, Frankie Luvu, Jeremy Chinn, Bobby Wagner, Michael Davis and Mike Sainristil.
Here are four major storylines and four head-to-head player battles to keep an eye on as the Bucs get their 2024 campaign underway this weekend.
TOP STORYLINES
Hit the Ground Running – Liam Coen, heading into his first season as the Buccaneers' offensive coordinator, is determined to get the team's ground game back in gear after two seasons of finishing last in the NFL rankings. The preliminary results in the preseason were very encouraging, with the team averaging 4.1 yards per carry and the offensive linemen clearly excelling in moving defenders to create cutback lanes. How well and how quickly will this translate to the regular season? That's a key question for the Buccaneers, who got a resurgent season from quarterback Baker Mayfield last year but want to help him even more by fielding a balanced attack that will give him more favorable third downs and juice up the play-action game. Coen intends to significantly widen the variety of run plays the Buccaneers employ in order to keep defenses guessing, and it's likely he didn't show much of his ground-game playbook in the preseason. There is also the question of how much Coen will split the backfield load between starter Rachaad White and backups Irving and Sean Tucker. Both Irving and Tucker had strong preseason showings, averaging 4.4 and 5.7 yards per carry, respectively. Last season, White led all NFL running backs in offensive snaps but the Bucs drafted Oregon's Irving with the thought of creating more of a committee in the backfield.
Rookie Threat – How Daniels' skills will translate to the NFL is one of the more intriguing questions for the NFL as a whole in 2024, and the Buccaneers get to be the first defense to try to keep him in check. A dangerous and utterly fearless runner, Daniels is the only quarterback in FBS history to pass for at least 12,000 yards and run for at least 3,000 yards in his college career. He accounted for a total of 123 touchdowns with Arizona State and LSU and set another record by becoming the first player ever to throw for 350+ yards and run for 200+ yards in a single game. Daniels also throws a sublime deep ball, completing 63.6% of his passes that traveled over 20 yards in the air last year. Rookie quarterbacks often take some time to adjust to the NFL, understandably, but Daniels' ability to escape the pocket and get downfield should be just as much of a problem for pro defenses as it was for his college opponents. Todd Bowles is likely to get aggressive against such a green passer, disguising his defenses and bringing unexpected blitz packages to try to sow confusion and create mistakes and turnovers. How well the Bucs' defense succeeds in that effort could determine who comes out on top Sunday.
The Kickoff Reimagined – As Buccaneers Special Teams Coordinator Thomas McGaughey noted earlier this week, it's likely that most teams played their cards close to the vest when it comes to the NFL's new kickoff format. That means teams are still going to be learning and adjusting on the fly as the season begins, and while there weren't many big plays out of the new kickoff setup in the preseason that could change when coaches pull out their more advanced strategies. Any teams that figure out how to exploit the new rules early will have a distinct advantage over those that do not, and McGaughey would like to lead the Buccaneers into that former group. He's also working with a new and young set of return men, with the depth chart listing rookies Irving, McMillan and Kameron Johnson and Tucker, the second-year back. NFL rule changes are usually gradual in nature, as has been the case with shifting kickoff formats over the past two decades regarding where the ball is kicked from and where it is placed after a touchback. This year's changes are sweeping and have created a brand new play that should be both interesting and unpredictable in the early going.
Time to Bake, Pt. 2 – A year ago, one of the top storylines for the Buccaneers' season opener in Minnesota was Baker Mayfield and his first regular season start with the team after he had won a training camp competition with Kyle Trask. Now, after a career-best season that saw him throw for 4,044 yards and 28 touchdowns while leading the Bucs to the Divisional Round of the playoffs, Mayfield is firmly entrenched as the starter and the team's emotional leader. He even has a well-earned long-term contract in place. So where will Mayfield go from his rebound season? The Buccaneers have tried to make his situation even better in 2024, with a reworked interior offensive line featuring first-round center Graham Barton, another receiving weapon in third-round steal Jalen McMillan and a new offense in which he will have more responsibility on play calls in the huddle and at the line of scrimmage. When Mayfield and the Buccaneers' offense clicked in 2023, such as in a 34-20 December thrashing of the Packers in Green Bay in which he finished with a perfect passer rating, it looked like a top-10 unit. However, it took some time to hit that level consistently. If Mayfield and the Bucs' offense can start faster in 2024, he could even top his output from last season.
KEY MATCHUPS
- Commanders T Brandon Coleman vs. Buccaneers OLB Chris Braswell
It's a rookie-on-rookie battle. After struggling up front on offense in 2023, the Commanders used a third-round pick on TCU tackle Brandon Coleman, and he won a training camp battle with Cornelius Lucas to earn the starting left tackle job. Considering the investment the Commanders have made in their young quarterback, that's a key position for the team to get right. The 6-4, 313-pound Coleman has great length to keep rushers at bay and he's hard to get around, moving lightly on his feet. Buccaneer edge rushers will try to exploit his NFL inexperience, attempting to get him off balance so they can beat him with speed-to-power moves. One of those edge rushers is another rookie, Buccaneers second-rounder Chris Braswell, who figures to feature prominently in the OLB rotation. That role could even grow larger if either Yaya Diaby (ankle) or Joe Tryon-Shoyinka (neck) are still limited by injuries that kept them out of preseason games. Braswell is a high-motor pass rusher with a quick first step and the ability to execute the aforementioned speed-to-power maneuvers.
- Buccaneers WR Mike Evans vs. Commanders CB Benjamin St-Juste
Mike Evans turned 31 a couple weeks ago, but on the field he remains ageless, as he's coming off one of the best seasons of his career. Evans finished his 10th NFL campaign with 79 catches for 1,255 while tying for the NFL lead with 13 touchdown receptions, and he's closing in on 100 career scoring grabs. Only 10 players in NFL history have hit that mark. Evans has a size advantage over most cornerbacks he lines up against, but Commanders CB Benjamin St-Juste is bigger than most NFL corners at 6-3 and 200 pounds. Last year, St-Juste broke up 17 passes and secured one interception while making 16 starts. He was targeted frequently by opposing quarterbacks; according to NFL Next Gen Stats he led all defenders with 77 targets and 51 receptions allowed over the first 11 weeks of last season. Evans will likely test the Commanders defense on a handful of deep balls, as the deceptive long-strider is one of the NFL's best on go balls. Next Gen Stats reveals that he ranked in the top five in targets, receptions, yards and touchdowns on vertical routes in 2023.
- Commanders QB Jayden Daniels vs. Buccaneers S Antoine Winfield Jr.
Containing a quarterback, particularly a very mobile one like Jayden Daniels, is never the job of a single defender, but the Bucs may not have a more important player on the field against the Commanders rookie than Winfield. Because Daniels is so adept at the deep ball, Winfield first has to make sure he's the last line of defense if the quarterback decides to go over the top. But Winfield also has to be ready to react quickly and swarm to the ball if Daniels takes off on the run. It's a complicated assignment, but Winfield is coming off his first All-Pro season and few safeties are better equipped at handling such a challenge. He's a sure tackler and is quick to diagnose plays and get to the football, and his pair of goal-line punch-outs last season demonstrate that he never gives up on a play. Daniels has the confidence to throw the ball into tight windows, which is something Winfield may be able to exploit if he can make quick breaks on the ball. Daniels also has instant acceleration skills and great speed, so taking the right angle on his scrambles will be critical for Winfield and the entire Bucs defense.
- Buccaneers C Graham Barton vs. Commanders DT Jonathan Allen
The Buccaneers also have a rookie making his first start in a key spot on the offensive line, as they took Duke tackle Graham Barton with the 26th overall pick and inserted him at center. Barton is going to get a quick indoctrination into the NFL on Sunday because the strength of the Commanders team is their interior line duo of Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne. Allen made the Pro Bowl in 2021 and 2022 with 9.0 and 7.5-sack seasons, and he recorded another 5.5 sacks and 17 QB hits last season. Allen's pressure rate in 2023 (9.2%) was actually down from his career high of 14.2% in 2021 but he actually recorded a quicker average get-off at the snap (0.93 seconds) than he had in any of the previous three years. Barton and the rest of the interior line will have their hands full in an attempt to keep pressure off Mayfield from straight up the middle, which is the fastest way to blow up a pass attempt. Barton showed off the tools that made him the Bucs' first-round target in the spring during the preseason, consistently driving defenders off their spots and creating rush lanes with his strength and smooth movement skills and hand placement.
Another Key Storyline this week is our Stories of Courage special guest, Nadia Diaz. Nadia's life as a single mother of four is a vibrant tapestry of love and resilience. But in December 2022, her world was upended when a sudden pain in her bones led to a devastating diagnosis of leukemia. After visiting three hospitals in Orlando, her brother, a medical interpreter, orchestrated a transfer to Tampa's Moffitt Cancer Center. Nadia faced rounds of chemotherapy and spinal treatments every other day for over 3 months, living near the Moffitt hospital throughout. Against the odds, remission came swiftly, and she was finally able to return to her beloved children in Orlando. Despite the trials she faced, Nadia's strength and the support of her family illuminated her path, while her unwavering love for painting and the Bucs provided her with moments of joy and hope. We are honored to host Nadia and her family at this week's game.
